Socar opens liquid polypropylene capacities in Georgia

(abc) -- State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) starts export of gaseous hydrocarbons from its Georgian terminal.

The Company reports that SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev has opened and commissioned a complex of structures on transshipment of liquid polypropylene at the Black Sea Terminal (BST Ltd) of SOCAR which started operating on 16 May 2008.

Polypropylene will be produced at SOCAR sub-company Azerikimya, located in Sumgait.

The new terminal facilities are designed for transshipment of liquid polyethylene and liquid polypropylene. Their construction was delayed because of troubles with delivery of manufacturing equipment from South Korea. New capacities, in addition to liquid polyethylene and liquid polypropylene will enable, if necessary, also transship liquefied or compressed gas.

Currently the Company orients to transshipment of 8,000-9,000 tons of LPG per month or 110,000-120,000 tons per year with annual capacity of the new terminal up to 150,000 tons.

Terminal BST Ltd is designed for transshipping 10 million tons of oil per year. It is able to accept Aframax tankers.

MRC

(upstreamonline) -- France's Technip and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering of South Korea have formally signed the contract for a floating LNG project from Petronas.

The deal for engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) of the FLNG unit was signed off in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, Petronas said.

The 1.2 million tonne-per-annum FLNG vessel will be used to develop the Kanowit discovery off Bintulu, Sarawak.

Technip and Daewoo had earlier been awarded the USD2 billion project to build the facility which is set for start-up in 2015. When it is operational it will boost Malaysia's LNG capacity from 25.7 mtpa to 26.9 mtpa.

Petronas wrote on Tuesday: "The facility is expected to change the landscape of the LNG business where the liquefaction, production and offloading processes of LNG, previously only possible at onshore plants are now able to be carried out hundreds of kilometres away from land and closer to offshore gas sources.

"As such, the facility will also play a significant role in efforts to unlock the gas reserves in Malaysia’s remote and stranded fields currently deemed uneconomical to develop and evacuate."

In a later statement, Technip wrote: "The detailed design of the topsides will be executed by Technip’s operating centers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Paris, France. Engineering of the hull and building of the FLNG facility will take place at Daewoo’s shipyard in Okpo, South Korea."

MRC

(bnamericas) -- Growth in demand for PET in Latin America through 2020 could be stymied by consumption in Asia, domestic government policies and inadequate infrastructure, according to GBI Research.

Increased PET consumption in Asia is anticipated to hamper the availability of the resin in Latin America, which is strongly dependent on Asian PET imports. PET market dynamics in Latin America are closely connected with developments in Asia's PET markets.

Anticipated increase in Asian PET domestic consumption towards 2020 is likely to decrease the exports to Latin America which is likely to lead to a decrease in the availability of PET in the region. State-run policies in the region may limit PET demand growth given that most of the petrochemical industries are state owned.

The analyst also pointed to the region's underdeveloped infrastructure as hampering growth as countries are unable to capitalize on the potential of oil fields.

PET demand in Latin America is expected to witness a compound annual growth rate of 5.3% through 2020 primarily driven by Brazil, and the carbonated soft drinks and food packaging markets.

According to GBI estimates, the Latin American PET market was worth USD3.01bn in 2011.

MRC

(noodls) -- Tecnaro , which specializes in biocompounds, signed a contract with Braskem, the world's leading biopolymer producer, for a new line of Green PE applications.

Tecnaro GmbH will produce compounds using Braskem's Green PE, a biopolymer made from sugarcane ethanol, in its special series called ARBOBLEND, which is a biopolymer compound that can be processed, depending on the formula, by injection molding, extrusion (film) or thermoforming.

"The goal of this partnership is to develop applications that are still largely unexplored, which will expand the portfolio of products made with Green PE," said Claudia Cappra, renewable chemicals sales manager at Braskem.

Tecnaro was chosen by Braskem to expand the penetration of its biopolymer in the Europen market through a line of products made from renewable resources. "We are very satisfied with our partnership with Braskem, which will allow us to take another important step forward in exploring opportunities in Brazilian and European markets," said Lars Ziegler, head of F&E at Tecnaro GmbH.

MRC

(taipeitimes) -- Formosa Petrochemical Corp reported the largest drop in monthly revenue among the Formosa Plastics Group’s four core companies, stock exchange filings showed.

The refiner said in the filing that its revenue last month fell 22.8 percent to USD2.21 billion from April due to recent declines in global crude oil and ethylene prices, which have affected sales of its petrochemical products.
Meanwhile, weakening petrochemical demand from China also contributed to sales declining last month from NTD86.16 billion in April.

On an annual basis, Formosa Petrochemical’s revenue dropped 3.8 percent, the filing showed.

Formosa Petrochemical president Tsao Mihn said that China consumption is slumping. While bank credit may be readily available in China, 40 percent of processing plants in the country are barely breaking even and 30 percent are in the red, while many companies are not borrowing because of fears they will not be able to repay the loans, he said.

Tsao worried that China had yet to bottom out and said that manufacturers were still cutting their inventories.
MRC