Total wins 10 exploration licenses in Brazil

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French oil major Total SA Thursday said it was awarded ten exploration licenses on several blocks in Brazil, during the country's 11th oil and gas exploration auctions, reported The Wall Street Journal.

The announcement is consistent with the group's strategy of looking for oil and gas in risky areas such as deep offshore sites, as in Brazil. The oil major is engaged in a world race to find new oil and gas reserves to address the increasing demand in emerging markets.

"Total has expanded its prospecting and operating acreage in the country, which was one of our main objectives in 2013," Total's senior vice president for exploration Marc Blaizot said in a statement.

Total will hold a 40% interest in five blocks located in the Foz de Amazonas basin, and a 45% in one block in the Ceara basin. It will be the operator for the six blocks.

In addition, Total has acquired a 25% working interest in three blocks in the Espirito Santo basin and a 50% interest in one block in the Barreinrinhas basin.

The acquisitions will "bolster our solid portfolio of prime assets on both sides of the Atlantic, in Africa and the Americas," Mr. Blaizot also said.

We remind that, as MRC informed ealier, last September Total announced its plans to invest over EUR1 billion at its Belgian refining and petrochemical complex to boost its diesel-making capacity and create cost-cutting synergies. This investment could bring Europe's largest refiner extra cash of USD500 mln a year.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and production to power generation, transportation, refining, petroleum product marketing, and international crude oil and product trading. Total is also a large-scale chemicals manufacturer.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Vietnamese government has approved to an oil refinery and petrochemical complex by the energy giant PTT Plc, paving the way for a detailed feasibility study within a year, as per Plastemart.

In November 2012, PTT submitted a proposal to the Vietnamese government to build a 660,000 barrel oil refinery for an estimated USD27 billion.

Chief executive Pailin Chuchottaworn yesterday said Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung agreed in principle to the construction of the complex in the south-central coastal province of Binh Dinh. The study will be evaluated by the Vietnamese Industry and Environment ministries before being sent to the prime minister for final approval.

Construction at the refinery is expected to start in 2016 with commercial operation scheduled for 2020.

We remind, as MRC wrote previously, PetroVietnam, state-run Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, had announced last year that it was going to construct the second oil refinery in the country.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The planned methanol unit will utilize abundant, low-cost natural gas in the US Gulf region as a feedstock and will benefit from the existing infrastructure at Celanese's Clear Lake facility, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

It will have an annual capacity of 1.3 million tons and is expected to begin operations in mid-2015. US-based Celanese and Japan-based Mitsui have established a 50:50 joint venture for the production of methanol at Celanese's integrated chemical plant in Clear Lake, Texas, the companies said Wednesday.

Clear Lake is located about 30 miles southeast of Houston. The planned methanol unit will utilize abundant, low-cost natural gas in the US Gulf Coast region as a feedstock and will benefit from the existing infrastructure at Celanese's Clear Lake facility, officials said.

As a result, the total shared capital and expense investment in the facility is estimated to be approximately USD800 million. Celanese's portion of the investment is estimated to be approximately USD300 million, in addition to previously-invested assets at the Celanese Clear Lake facility.

"We are excited to expand our Clear Lake operations to include the strategic upstream production of methanol," said Mark Rohr, CEO of Celanese. The attractive economics of natural gas in the US Gulf Coast region, combined with our existing infrastructure and an outstanding strategic partner in Mitsui, provides Celanese with this unique growth opportunity."

The planned methanol facility will have an annual capacity of 1.3 million tons and is expected to begin operations in mid-2015. "We are very pleased to have Celanese as a strategic joint venture partner for the US methanol project," said Masami Iijima, CEO of Mitsui.

"Mitsui will be able to generate additional value in the gas product chain starting from our shale gas reserve we possess in the US to methanol with Celanese's capabilities in manufacturing, operations and safety," he added. "This partnership should be long-term and be expanded towards further joint projects in the future."

As MRC wrote earlier, Celanese Corp. and Indonesia's Pertamina have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), advancing an earlier agreement to develop fuel ethanol projects in Indonesia. The two companies will now begin the detailed project planning phase for the joint development of synthetic fuel ethanol projects based on Celanese's TCX ethanol process technology.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A federal judge in Kansas City, Kansas, ordered Dow Chemical Co on Wednesday to pay USD1.2 billion in a price-fixing case involving chemicals used to make foam products in cars, furniture and packaging, according to court documents, said Reuters.

Dow was one of several chemical company defendants named in a 2005 class action lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to fix urethane chemical prices, but it was the only defendant not to settle.

In January, Dow went to trial in Kansas City and in February a federal jury rendered a USD400 million verdict against the chemical company after finding that it conspired to fix prices of urethane.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John W. Lungstrum denied Dow's request to overturn that verdict and the USD400 million in damages were tripled under U.S. antitrust law, bringing Dow's overall payment to USD1.2 billion.

David Bernick, an attorney for Dow, said he would appeal the judgment, saying the statistical formula used by an expert to calculate the price-fixing was not reliable.

"Dow looks forward to pursuing these and other grounds for reversal in its appeal," a Dow spokesman said in a news release. "Dow has always denied plaintiffs' allegations of price fixing." Joe Goldberg, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said he was pleased with the judgment.

"The jury found the conspiracy caused approximately USD400 million in damages to thousands of businesses around the United States," said Goldberg.

Other defendants in the case have settled. In 2006 Bayer AG agreed to pay USD55 million. In 2011 Huntsman International LLC agreed to pay USD33 million and BASF Corp agreed to pay USD51 million. In settling, none of the companies admitted any wrongdoing.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. As of 2007, it is the second-largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue (after BASF) and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization (after BASF and DuPont). Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Abu Dhabi's state-owned International Petroleum Investment, Ipic, said its 2012 net profit surged on the back of better operating performance at its key units and a recovery in the market value of listed equities, said Reuters.

Ipic, which has interests in companies including Spain's Cepsa and Austrian oil group OMV, said net profit for 2012 rose to Dh6.4 billion (USD1.74billion) from Dh164.1 million in 2011.

"The profit increase...was attributable to the robust operational performance of CEPSA, NOVA Chemicals, and Borealis along with the recovery of certain listed equities held by Aabar," IPIC said in a statement on Tuesday. Through its Aabar Investments unit, it also owns a stake in Italian lender Unicredit.

As MRC wrote earlier, Uzbek government terminates the agreement with International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) of the United Arab Emirates to build a chemical complex in Navoi region, reports KazTAG. The reasons for termination of the agreement, reportedly was that the parties were unable to reach the figures that have been determined by the conditions of the document, so it was decided to proceed with the divorce.
In 2010 the company Uzkimesanoat and International Petroleum Investment Company agreed to build a complex for the production of ammonia and urea in the Navoi region worth USD1.34 billion.

International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) was created in 1984 to focus on oil-related purchases overseas. The company operates as a 50-50 venture between Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC).
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