Petrobras intends to sell its Argentina business but retain Texas refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras, is in talks to sell off its Argentine unit as part of a USD9.9 billion divestment plan, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the company's CEO Maria das Gracas Foster.

Speaking to reporters, Ms. Foster declined to provide any additional details about the talks because of their sensitive nature. Petrobras officials also declined to comment about other assets that the company may have up for sale.

Petrobras, however, has taken its Pasadena Refining System, a refinery located in Pasadena, Texas, off the market, Ms. Foster said. "Pasadena is no longer part of the divestment plan," Ms. Foster said.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, Petrobras kept its five-year investment plan flat for the first time in years. The company's new investment plan is a relief to those investors who'd feared another increase. Petrobras has one of the largest investment budgets of any firm in the world at USD236.7 billion for the next five years, as it seeks to develop some of the biggest oil discoveries the world has found in decades. But its ambitions have weighed heavily on its share price in recent years, as production increases have failed to materialize and some projects have been mired by delays and cost overruns.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. or Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest company in the Southern Hemisphere by market capitalization and the largest in Latin America measured by 2011 revenues.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- EU antitrust regulators are investigating a bid by Swedish refiner Nynas to acquire most units of Royal Dutch Shell's Harburg refinery, concerned that the combined entity may have too dominant a position in three products, said Reuters.

The European Commission, which acts as the competition watchdog in the 27-country European Union, said it was worried there would be reduced or no competition in the markets for naphthenic base oils, naphthenic process oils and transformer oils.

It said the merged company would be the only producer of naphthenic base oils in Europe. These oils are used to produce industrial greases, metalworking fluids, adhesives, inks, insoluble sulphur, industrial rubber and fertilisers.

"The proposed merger would remove the only competing producer of naphthenic base oils in the European Economic Area," EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement.

"The Commission needs to make sure that it would not raise production costs for European companies as well as prices for the customers of the various end products," he said.

The EU competition watchdog set an August 8 deadline for its decision on the deal. The companies unveiled the deal in 2011.

As MRC wrote earlier, Shell, one of the largest gas producers in the US, will build the facilities in Geismar, Louisiana, along the Mississippi River south of Baton Rouge, and in Sarnia, Ontario, on the southern shore of Lake Huron just east of Michigan.

Each plant will be able to produce 250,000 tpy of LNG by chilling natural gas to negative 260 degrees so it can be compressed into a liquid and stored in high-pressure insulated tanks.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The U.S. Department of Transportation has fined Exxon Mobil Corp USD1.7 million over pipeline safety violations relating to a 2011 oil spill in the Yellowstone River, said Reuters.

Exxon's Silvertip pipeline, which carries 40,000 barrels per day of crude in Montana, leaked about 1,500 barrels of oil into the river in July 2011 after heavy flooding in the area.

Exxon has previously said the accident cost the company about USD135 million.

"The risk of flooding on Yellowstone River was a known threat that could cause the pipe in the river to lose physical support and potentially rupture," the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration said in a report on Monday.

In January, it said the spill would have been about two-thirds smaller had company workers responded quickly. Exxon has 30 days to contest the violations in the notice.

As MRC wrote earlier, in early March ExxonMobil won a legal victory in its effort to fight damages of about USD1.5 billion stemming from a 2006 gasoline spill in Maryland. The case stems back to February 2006 when 26,000 gallons of gasoline leaked from underground storage tanks owned by Exxon Mobil at a fueling station in Jacksonville.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Foster Wheeler has signed an evergreen agreement with Valero Energy for the provision of home office engineering and project support services to Valero’s Pembroke refinery and other facilities in the UK, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and bookings will be recorded as work is released by Valero.

Foster Wheeler will provide home office front-end engineering design and detailed engineering design services to support new development and modification projects at the Pembroke refinery and other facilities.

Foster Wheeler will also provide other support services including project control and cost estimating. Valero acquired the Pembroke refinery in 2011.

"We know this refinery well, having executed projects for the refinery since the 1980s," said Umberto della Sala, chief operating officer of Foster Wheeler.

"The combination of our knowledge of the refinery, together with our in-depth refining expertise, particularly in revamp projects, and our flexible and responsive team, give us an excellent opportunity to build a strong, long-term relationship in the UK with Valero," he added.

"We have already successfully executed projects for Valero elsewhere, particularly in the US."

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

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MOSCOW (MRC) --The licensing enables Cryo to design and offer Air Products' unreacted olefin recovery technology, which has been proven through the development, testing, and successful operation of three full-scale facilities that Air Products designed and supplied to PP and PE producers in the US, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Air Products has licensed its proprietary adsorption-based monomer recovery technology to Pennsylvania-based Cryo Technologies, a global supplier of custom engineered process equipment.

Air Products says its process for unreacted olefin recovery combines partial condensation with pressure swing adsorption to deliver two product streams: a recovered hydrocarbon product for recycle and subsequent polymer production, and a nitrogen stream for reuse in facility operations, such as polymer degassing and pneumatic transportation.

The Air Products technology, developed with Department of Energy (DOE) support under an industrial technologies program, enables nearly 100% recovery of hydrocarbons and nitrogen from the feed, creating a high-purity nitrogen product.

The technology license agreement enables Cryo Technologies to design and offer Air Products’ unreacted olefin recovery technology, which has been proven through the development, testing, and successful operation of three full-scale facilities that Air Products designed and supplied to polypropylene and polyethylene manufacturers in the US.

As MRC wrote earlier, Air Products has agreed to acquire all of DuPont's interest in DuPont Air Products NanoMaterials, the two companies' 50-50 joint venture serving the global semiconductor and wafer polishing industries. The venture state-of-the-art applications and formulation laboratories in the US and Taiwan.

Air Products is a worldwide supplier of industrial gases and equipment, specialty and intermediate chemicals, and environmental and energy systems.
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