INDUSTRY & BUSINESS
Shell Chemical Revamps Diversification l e a d s to r e shuffling o f m a n a g e m e n t ; four n e w divisions f o r m e d E F U C T I M : Jan. 1. 19">9. Shell Chemi cal is reorganising to reflect the companv's product lines. Operating in the past as a strictly functional organiza tion. Shell will go to an integrated de partmental setup, according to Richard C. MeCurdy. company presidejit. Viw years ago. Shell established its ammonia division, which, until now, lias been it> sole mtegiated division. Since that time. Shell has had an extensive diversification program, which was not planned as such but resulted from the company's entry into α number of dif ferent fields. Now. Shell will have a synthetic rub ber di\ ision as one of four nc\». fully integrated .md nigh-autonomous units At the helm —John P. Cunningham. mm manager of the synthetic rubbei sales division. This new division will be responsible tor all rubber products ΛΙ\(Α will operate the plant and research laboratory at Torrance. Calif. • O t h e r N e w Divisions. In addi tion. Shell is setting up three other di visions which reflect the remaining main lines of its business. They are: agri cultural chemicals, industrial chemicals, and plastics and resins. T h e new agricultural chemicals di vision will be directed by Sumner 11. McAllister, now manager of the agri cultural chemical sales division. It will operate Shell's plant at Den\ ei and handle all products now sold by that division. Martin Buck, who is now assistant to the president, will head up the new plastics and resins division. it will handle all of the company's activities in phenol, Bisphenol-A, and Epon res ins, and will operate a part of the Hous ton plant. At present. Shell has no op erating phenol plant but is building one in Houston. Balance of Shell's Houston facilities, as well as its research laboratories there and its plants at Xorco, La., and Dominguez and Martinez, Calif., will form the new industrial chemicals di vision. This will be directed by Alfred \V. Fleer, now general manager of manufacturing, technical. This divi sion will handle all products now sold by the chemical sales division, except plastics and resins. 28
C& ΕΝ
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19 5 8
The one existing integrated d i \ ision. v\ ith ammonia plants at Ventura and Shell Point. Calif., will he m a n a g e d by Caw re η ce M. Roberts, now in charge of operations m that d i \ ision. r u d e r Shell's new setup, the head office in New York will he involved mainly in matters of broader interest a n d decisions affecting the company as a whole. Company policy will be set b \ tour vice presidents, all h e a d q u a r tered in New York. McCurdy savs that Ceo V. Steck. now a vice president, is retiring George R. Monkhouse. who has be*Mi m charge of the ammonia div ision in San Francisco, vv ill come to t h e h o m e office to join Cecil \Y. H u m p h r e y s . in addition, Bernard M. D o w n e y , now general manager of manufacturing operations, and George W . H u l d r u m , Jr., now manager of chemical sales division, advance to v.p.
alxnit 100 chemists .ind chemical engi neers. Major chemical research at Huntsville is on materials. Some work is done on liquid propellant develop ment. Solid and liquid fuel research conducted for the Army by chemical companies w ill not be affected immedi ately. Most of t h e Army's own fuel research takes place at the Jet Propulsion L a b . operated under contract by Caltech. All army-owned property at J PL, Cal tech contracts, and the budget are transferred to NASA. This includes 5S0 scientists a n d engineers. The Army will continue, through June at least, to work on t h e Sergeant solid propellant missile at J P L . A space agency official says coopera tion between NASA and Huntsville probably will exist only in t h e docu ment signed by Clcnnan and Brucker. Reasons:
More Space Cuts Due Army
• T h e Army makes decisions on pri ority and decides whether or not an NASA research request can be handled. • NASA does not ha\ e additional funds that would he needed to pay the Army for its Himtsv ille work.
Transfer o f Jet Propulsion L a b is only first s t e p ; A r m y e x p e c t s to lose Huntsville X HI·: AHMY expects to lose all of its space research scientists and labora tories soon. T h e loss will include many chemists and engineers. President Kisenhow er's transfer of t h e Army's Jet Propulsion Laboratories. P a s a d e n a . Calif., to the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( N A S A ) is just the opening wedge, army officials say. Eisenhower blessed a compromise worked out by space agency adminis trator T. Keith Clciman and army sec retary Wilbur M. Brucker that keeps t h e Huntsville. Ala., Army Ballistic Mis sile Agency in army hands. Huntsville is to cooperate with NASA on civilian space projects. However, army officials see Huntsville gradually being reduced in size. They expect the ballistic mis sile agency to be h a n d e d over to the civilian space agency within a year, and t h e remainder of the Army's space and long-range ICBM projects to go to it within two years. • N o Victory. T h e compromise is t e r m e d an army victory by everybody except the Army. O n e spokesman says, " I t is hardly a victory; we have won only a temporary battle." Under the agreement, t h e Army k e e p s 1369 Huntsville missile agency scientists a n d engineers, including
Carbide Buys Plant Former C a r t h a g e H y d r o c o l plant d o w n f o r y e a r bought f r o m Amoco Chemicals C J M : OF THI. chemical industry's big gest white elephants lumbered into the news again last work when Cnion Cairbide said it was taking over the old Carthage Hydrocol site a t Brownsville, Tex. Carbide is buying the remaining usable facilities from Amoco Chemi cals (C&EN, Dec. S. p a g e 1 7 ) , a sub sidiary of Standard Oil ( I n d . ) , a n d is negotiating with the Brownsville Navi gation District (Port of Brownsville) for a long term lease on the 306 acre site. C a r b i d e is not yet certain what it will d o with the purchase, but feels that it's a good investment in any case. Originally . the plant m a d e syntheticgasoline a n d chemicals from natural gas. It was built in 195() by Carthage Hydrocol. formed jointly by nine co operating chemical companies. A Re construction Finance Corp. loan of S18 million m a d e the plant a reality. But process a n d mechanical difficulties m a d e economic operation impossible, a n d C a r t h a g e closed the plant in 1953.
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SAMPLE BETAPROPIOLACTONE
GLAD TO BE ABLE TO HELP... C e l a n e s e presents industry with BPL*— c h e m i c a l with a w i d e - o p e n future S u c h is t h e versatility . . . a n d p o t e n t i a l . . . of C e l a n e s e B P I ( b e t a - P r o p i o l a c t o n e ) t h a t t h e s c o p e of its use must he b r o a d indeed. B P L itself c a n b e useful within a wide r a n g e of a p p l i c a t i o n s . In a d d i t i o n , it* r a p i d re activity with a l a r g e g r o u p of o t h e r c h e m i c a l s m a k e s it t h e s t a r t i n g point for s y n t h e s i s of m a n y n e w m a t e r i a l s useful to e in t h e
t e x t i l e a n d leather i n d u s t r i e s . . . as a com ponent i n tlie p r o c e s s i n g of plastics, p a i n t s , dye*t uffs and s y n t h e t i c fibers... in s t a r c h e s and adhesive* . . . i n m e d i c a l a n d h o s p i t a l a p p l i c a t i o n s . . . in a g r i c u l t u r a l a n d food tech nology . . .in n u c l e o n i c s a n d a s t r o n a u t i c s . A i m i n g the m u l t i t u d e of uses yet to he d e v e l o p e d , tested, a n d p r o d u c e d , may b e one in which you're i n t e r e - t e d . As a l w a y s , we'll be m-ore than h a p p y t o h e l p you. if we c a n .
F o r f u r t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n on Celanese B P L . a n d / o r e v a l u a t i o n sample>. just write on your letterhead.
Functional Fluids Gasoline Additives Glycols Ketones Oxides
Polyols Plasticizers Salts Solvents Vinyl Monomers
BPL™
A%îk NP1-' S u n i q u e ch»*mica ^^II2"~'^*'2~~C^CX structure «iives it "difunc lionality"—the ability to react with o t h e r rhernir a 1 - . in t w o d i f f e r e n t d i r e c t i o n s , to p r o d u c e various important derivatives.
for improved products
Basic reasons A c ids Alcohols Aldehydes Anhydrides Esters
I..-L.H.·*»· s
Agricultu ral Automotive Aviation Building Electrical
elanese
Paper Pharmaceutical Plastics S u r f a c e Coatings Textiles
CHEMECALS
C E L A N E S E C O R P O R A T I O N O F A M E R I C A , CHENtf I C A L D I V I S I O N , D E P T . 6 5 4 - L . 1 8 0 * M A D I S O N A V E . , N E W Y O R K 1 6 : rt Se. · s A m c e l Co.. Inc.. and Ρ . ι " A m I C J Inc.. 1 ^ 0 Mauison A v e „ M . Y. 1 6 . Canadian A f f i l i a t e : C a n ^ o a n C m ,. · C^:v.· 'v^y L " i · • '.'• . ' U r e a . Toronto Vancouver
INDUSTRY & BUSINESS Originally designed to convert 90 million cubic feet ot gas and 280 mil lion cubic feet of air daily into 6000 barrels of gasoline, it utilized FischerTropsch reactions. By-products were to include 900 barrels of diesel fuel. 200 barrels of fuel oil. and 150 tons of chemicals everv 24 hours. Kight vcars Λ^,Ο. when it first started up. the Carthago plant contracted to suppb Stanolind Oil & Gas. an affiliate of Standard Oil (Inch), with its raw stream of water-soluble compounds. Stanolind built a plant nearby to refine and separate ethanol. butanol, acetic acid, aldehydes, and ketones from the crude fraction. Furthermore, I". S. In dustrial Chemicals, which had arranged ίο package and market these products, built a shipping terminal there. But by June 19Ô3. when Carthage shut down the operation, it had never achieved more than 30'< of expected production. The plant reverted to HFC, whose· mortgage by then still amounted to some $17.5 million. Since the government agency and Stanolind stood to lose the most, the two worked out a deal w hereby Stanolind evaluated the situation while holding an option on Carthage stock. In March 1954, Stanolind exercised its option, also buying the USI facilities. It revamped and added to the plant in an unsuccessful three-year attempt to make the process work. In the second half of 1957. Standard of Indiana decided to discontinue operation of the plant. Over the past \ ear, Amoco Chemicals has been dismantling the plant, transferring usable equipment to other locations. Carbide thus takes over a cannibalized skeleton, and must study its acquisition carefully before it can decide which way to move. The» location is good. Carbide feels, as far as both raw materials and markets are concerned. Plant and storage terminal are on deep water. Though not saying what it hopes to produce at Brownsville. Carbide points out that it does not expect to make synthetic gasoline or petroleum products nor to produce chemicals by the Fischer-Tropsch process. But the company says that both Union Carbide Chemicals and Union Carbide Olefins will be involved there. And natural gas is available by an existing 16-inch pipeline (extending 42 miles south from Weslaco), which is also included in the purchase. 30
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be able to carbonize 1440 tons of coal daily.
Briefs • Central Farmers Fertilizer will acquire a stock interest in National Potash. In addition, according to an agreement signed b\ both companies, potash materials produced by National will be distributed b\ Central. Deli\er\ of these materials to Central will not begin, how e\ ei. until Juh 1. 1959. Both e\pect to complete existing contracts tor sale and purchase of potash materials.
• American Enka is making plans to double capacity of its n\ Ion plant at Enka. \ . C. Cost: $7.5 million.
• J o n e s & Laughiin Steel awards a contract to Allied Chemical's Wilputte coke oven division to engineer and build 59 coke ovens at Pittsburgh, Pa. Jc\L estimates cost of the project at about $6 million. sa> s it's part of an over-all modernization program. When completed next fall, the new o\ens will
• Douglas Aircraft and the Ozalid division of General Aniline & Film jointly establish a new business enterprise: Datagraphic Systems, Inc., Santa Monica. Calif. Capitalized at $100.000. the firm will develop new machines, materials, techniques, processes, and systems tor microfilming and reproduction.
• Borden Chemical has started to huikî a coatings .inc\ adhesives plant at Uliopolis. III. Slated for startup by July 1959, the $500.000 facihtx will supplement current operations at Poabody, Mass.. and Middlesex. \ . J.
C & E N I n d e x of Stock Prices JAN.
MINERALS & FERTILIZERS
'54 OPENING PRICES
100
300 r 250
200
200.6
SEC Composite Index 150 138.3
1st Qtr.
NONFERROUS METALS
2nd Qtr.
3rd Qtr.
4th Qtr. 1958
300 250 ' 200
229.5 200.6
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\ ""'""'1 t 150
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Dosite Index 1 S E C Comj
100
1st Qtr.
2nd Qtr.
3rd Qtr.
4th Qtr. 1958
