Iranian province to export petrochemicals to Armenia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- East Azarbaijan province, one of the 31 provinces of Iran, is to export petrochemical productions to Armenia soon, said Zawya.

According to provincial official Ghlomali Rasti, an agreement was signed between the northwestern Iranian province and an Armenian delegation on export of such items as combine and tractor parts to Armenia in near future.

In the agreement, he said, the province has voiced readiness to sell petrochemical items to Armenia.

The two parties also agreed to raise the volume of exchanges by 30%.

The present volume of exchanges between Armenia and East Azarbaijan stands at about USD200 million annually.

As MRC wrote earlier, Iran has expanded the range and volume of its petrochemical production significantly over the past few years, and the NIPC has become the second largest producer and exporter of petrochemicals in the Middle East.

Kavian Petrochemical Complex, one of the world"s biggest petrochemical complex in Asalouyeh, commenced production of ethylene in late December.

The Islamic Republic exported a total of 18.2 million tons of petrochemical and polymer products, worth about 14.2 billion dollars, to more than 60 countries in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended March 19, 2012).

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ukraine moved one step closer to a breakthrough shale gas deal with global energy major Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday after local authorities in the eastern Donetsk region approved a planned production sharing agreement, reported Reuters.

In May 2012, the winner of the tender on an agreement of production sharing of shale gas exploration at Olesko (Lviv region) and Yuzovsky (Donetsk and Kharkiv region) areas became Chevron and Shell, respectively.

Deputies of the Donetsk regional council voted to approve the deal with Shell, removing one of the final hurdles to an agreement, as MRC informed previously.

"If exploration is successful in the Yuzivska area, we will be able to produce a few billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year in just five-six years and eight to 10 bcm in 10 years," Environment and Natural Resources Minister Oleh Proskuryakov told the council. "Secondly, the Yuzivska area production sharing agreement is the biggest project in Ukraine that will attract tens of billions of dollars in investment," Proskuryakov said.

"Shell sees investment at USD10 billion under the most likely scenario and over USD50 billion under the optimistic scenario."

Proskuryakov had earlier said his ministry expected to finalise and sign the deal in the first quarter of this year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Foster Wheeler has become the direct supplier of the FW Graf Wulff circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) scrubber technology to the North American market, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Although Foster Wheeler has provided this technology globally for more than a year, it was previously offered in the North American market exclusively through a third party under a licensing arrangement.

"We strongly feel that this move will allow us to provide a higher level of responsiveness and service to our North American clients," said Byron Roth, CEO of Foster Wheeler North America.

Foster Wheeler supplies the CFB scrubber technology globally through its five operating units located in North America, Europe and Asia which are supported by Foster Wheeler’s scrubber technology center, FW Graf Wulff, located in Friedrichsdorf, Germany.

"This move unifies Foster Wheeler’s market strategy to be the sole supplier of the technology to all markets around the globe."

As MRC reported earlier, Lanxess had awarded a subsidiary of Foster Wheeler's Global Engineering and Construction Group an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) contract for a new ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber plant to be built in Jiangsu Province, China. Besides, Foster Wheeler was awarded a contract by Shell Global Solutions to develop the basic engineering package for a world-scale mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) facility at Ras Laffan, Qatar.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nghi Son Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (NSRP) has issued a letter of award to an engineering, procurement and construction consortium comprised of JGC Corp., Chiyoda Corp., Technip Group, SK Group and GS Group, said Apic-online.

As MRC wrote earlier, NSRP, a joint venture owned 35.1% each by Idemitsu Kosan and Kuwait Petroleum International, 25.1% by PetroVietnam and 4.7% by Mitsui Chemicals (MCI), is building a complex in Vietnam’s Nghi Son Economic Zone that includes a 200,000-b/d refinery, as well as the production of polypropylene (PP) and aromatics.

The refinery will be based on a "stable supply" of Kuwaiti crude, said MCI. The project "will fully employ construction and operation technology of both Idemitsu and MCI to capture rapidly growing demand for petro-leum products in Vietnam, while also responding to the expanding global markets for aromatics (paraxylene and benzene) and PP products." Earlier reports said the project included the production of 400,000 t/y of PP.

MCI noted that the project will supply aromatic feed-stock for its core products, including phenols and purified terephthalic acid, under competitive conditions, thereby strengthening its operations.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ContiTech is investing some EUR13 mln in a new plant for air-conditioning and power steering lines in the Russian city of Kaluga. Construction of the plant is expected to begin in February next year; the first series parts are scheduled for production in December 2013, said company in its press release.

"Following our acquisition of the US-based Parker Hannifin Corporation’s automotive air-conditioning pipes operations, this investment will help us to further expand our global presence and broaden our customer base,” explains Matthias Schonberg, Head of the Fluid Technology business unit.

“The Russian automotive market is one of the strongest-growing markets in the world. This new factory will help our Air Conditioning and Power Steering & Chassis Control segments to gain a foothold in this strategically important market.” With this move, ContiTech is therefore following its customer Renault-Nissan, which holds a majority stake in Russian automaker AvtoVaz.

The manufacturing facility will be constructed on the 60-hectare site where a Continental tire plant is currently being set up. Both facilities will be able to share the existing infrastructure there. The Fluid production hall measures 4,800 m2, and an administration building will also be constructed. The workforce in the new Fluid plant is expected to increase to 160 by 2015. The first employees are already being trained in Germany. The plant will initially supply air-conditioning and power steering lines for Renault/Dacia and power steering lines for AvtoVaz (Lada). In future, all products for the Russian market are to be manufactured directly on site owing to the better proximity to customers.

As MRC wrote earlier, Kaluga is one of the centers of the Russian automotive industry. It is located some 170 km southeast of Moscow, midway between the automotive regions of St. Petersburg, Moscow and Togliatti. A number of ContiTech’s customers, including Volkswagen, PSA/Citroen and Volvo Trucks have already established production facilities in Kaluga and the surrounding area.
MRC