Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) is an international oil and gas exploration and production company, as well as a major North American chemical manufacturer. We are the fourth-largest U.S. oil and gas company, based on market capitalization of $48.6 billion at year-end 2008, with more than 10,000 employees and 20,000 contractors on four continents.Oxy is committed to respecting the environment, maintaining safety and upholding high standards of social responsibility throughout the company's worldwide operations. Oxy's success is built on technical expertise, business acumen, strong partnerships and proven ability to deliver superior results.OxyChem is a leading North American manufacturer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins, chlorine, calcium chloride and caustic soda – key building blocks for a variety of indispensable products such as plastics, pharmaceuticals and water treatment chemicals. OxyChem is the largest U.S. merchant marketer of both chlorine and its co-product caustic soda, and the world’s largest producer of caustic potash and calcium chloride. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company has manufacturing facilities in the United States, Canada and Latin America. OxyVinyls offers a full product line of PVC resins suitable for most vinyl production applications and maintains the highest quality standards in its manufacturing plants, all of which are ISO 9002 certified. Its reliable manufacturing operations lead the industry with an integrated raw material position. The resulting low-cost production position enables us to supply customers consistently, even through major swings in the commodity business cycle.

Got potash? If not, the Arab Potash Company (APC) would be glad to fix you up. The company mines the Dead Sea for potassium chloride, one of several potassium-based compounds commonly known as potash. The substance is used primarily for fertilizer, but also has industrial applications, for example in the manufacture of glass and ceramic. Canadian industry bigwig Potash Corp. bought more than a quarter of the company in 2003 and installed some of its own executives in APC management roles. Jordan Investment Corp. also owns more than a quarter of APC.

Spur Ventures is involved in phosphate mining and phosphate fertilizer manufacturing in a joint venture with Hubei Yichang Phosphate Chemical in China. The Canadian company, which holds a majority interest in the venture, produces NPK fertilizer -- a compound containing nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium -- in China's central province of Hubei. Spur Ventures also operates a phosphoric acid plant in Yichang, which has the capacity to produce 60,000 tons of phosphoric acid per year and will be used to supply the joint venture's fertilizer plant.

Martin Marietta Magnesia Specialties works the dynamics of dolomite and magnesium. A subsidiary of Martin Marietta Materials, the company manufactures and sells dolomitic lime and magnesia-based chemicals to customers in the industrial, agricultural, and environmental sectors. Magnesia Specialties' dolomitic lime products are primarily sold to customers in the steel industry. The firm's chemicals segment includes products used for animal feed, flame retardant, wastewater treatment, and paper production purposes. The company has manufacturing facilities in Connecticut, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.

One can get wrapped up in the chemical products produced by Asahi Kasei Spandex Europe and not have to worry about rehab. The company, a subsidiary of Asahi Kasei's fibers unit, produces manmade fibers under the brand name Dorlastan that are used in apparel, paper machine clothing, fishing line, and zippers. It had been a part of LANXESS, and before that of Bayer MaterialScience, until Asahi Kasei acquired the company in 2006. It was called Dorlastan Fibers until its new parent changed its name in 2007; prior to that name change, it was called Bayer Faser until the summer of 2004, when it took the name of its best-known product brand.

Cigarettes are certainly hazardous to your health, but the making of cigarette filter materials has been good for Daicel Chemical. The company was founded in 1919 to make celluloid (the first plastic) and still makes cellulose-based products such as cellulose acetate, used in filters and photographic film. Daicel primarily makes films for packaging and plastics. The company also produces an array of organic chemicals (acetic acid, acetic anhydride) used in fibers, paints, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Daicel's aerospace and defense systems/safety systems unit produces inflators for automobile air bags and rocket propellants.

Hudson Technologies, Inc., through its subsidiary, Hudson Technologies Company, provides refrigerant services and solutions in the refrigeration industry primarily in the United States. Its products and services include refrigerant sales; refrigerant management services consisting of reclamation of refrigerants and laboratory testing; and RefrigerantSide services, including system decontamination to remove moisture, oils, and other contaminants. The RefrigerantSide services also include predictive and diagnostic services for industrial and commercial refrigeration applications, which predict potential catastrophic problems and identify inefficiencies in an operating system. The company's products and services are primarily used in commercial air conditioning, industrial processing, and refrigeration systems. It sells reclaimed and new refrigerants to customers in air conditioning and refrigeration industry. The company serves commercial and government customers, as well as refrigerant wholesalers, distributors, contractors, and refrigeration equipment manufacturers; and industrial customers in petrochemical, pharmaceutical, industrial power, manufacturing, commercial facility, and property management and maritime industries. Hudson Technologies has a strategic alliance with The Linde Group to market its service offering outside the United States. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Pearl River, New York.

Velsicol was founded in 1931; the company was the subject of a management buyout in 1986 and then was acquired by private equity firm Arsenal Capital in 2005. Three years later Arsenal split the business in half and created a new company called Genovique Specialties that houses Velicol's former benzoate esters manufacturing operations. Velsicol Chemical knows what it takes to make things flexible. The Velsicol Chemical LLC is a top producer of chlorendic anhydride-based intermediates for flame retardants and pesticides; it also makes additives for epoxy resins and polyurethanes.

Badger State Ethanol, LLC is operating a dry-mill ethanol production facility in Monroe, Wisconsin. The plant started production mid- October, 2002 with a name-plate capacity of 40 million gallons of ethanol and 128,000 tons of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) each year. Since startup, the plant has continued to increase production up in excess of 50 million gallons of ethanol per year. Badger State Ethanol is proud of its role in helping to reduce America's dependency on foreign oil by producing clean burning, environmentally friendly, renewable fuel.

Chevron and Phillips Petroleum (now ConocoPhillips) formed 50-50 joint venture Chevron Phillips Chemical Company in 2000. Among the largest US petrochemical firms, the company produces ethylene, propylene, polyethylene, and polypropylene -- sometimes used as building blocks for the company's other products such as pipe. Chevron Phillips Chemical also produces aromatics such as benzene and styrene, specialty chemicals such as acetylene black (a form of carbon black), and mining chemicals. The company has several petrochemicals joint ventures in the Middle East, including Saudi Chevron Phillips Company (50%) and Qatar Chemical Company (not quite 50%).

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