Japan venture to make monomer in Texas

PASADENA, Texas (Nov. 10)—Nippon Petrochemicals Co. and Sanyo Chemical Industries Ltd. plan to set up a joint venture in Texas to manufacture ethylidiene bicycloheptene, a monomer used in the production of EPDM. The plant, at an undisclosed location, will have an initial annual capacity to produce around 20,000 metric tons of EBH, said Smith Howland, president and chief executive officer of Nisseki Chemical Texas Inc, a Nippon Petrochemical subsidiary. The facility, which is due to come on stream in the fourth quarter of 2002, will supply EPDM manufacturing facilities in the Texas area, Howland said. The joint venture will be 66.7-percent owned by Nippon Petrochemical, with Sanyo Chemical holding the remaining shares.