Jacobs wins engineering package from Borealis on Belgium chemical plants

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jacobs has received a five-year frame agreement for work at three Borealis facilities in Belgium, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to officials' announcement.

Company officials did not disclose the contract value, but noted that the three facilities covered under the contract are Borealis Polymers N.V., Borealis Kallo N.V. and Borealis Antwerpen Compounding N.V.

Under the terms of the contract, Jacobs’ scope of work includes study, engineering, procurement, construction management, and personnel support services on a variety of projects at the three facilities.

Each project is expected to have a total installed cost varying in range up to USD13 million (EUR10 million).

"This agreement is a continuation of a 10-year working relationship with Borealis in Europe," said Jacobs vice president Mark Bello. "We look forward to bringing our recognized chemicals and polymers experience to support Borealis in Belgium."

As MRC wrote earlier, Jacobs Engineering Group has recently received a contract from Borealis to provide engineering, procurement, project management and construction management services for a project to increase cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) capacity at its manufacturing site in Stenungsund, Sweden. Company officials did not disclose the contract value.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With 50 years of experience in polyolefins, Borealis supports key industries including infrastructure, automotive and advanced packaging and offers a wide range of base chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Turkish petrochemical producer Petkim has announced plans that it will be increasing the capacity of its ethylene and pure terephthalic acid (PTA) producing units, reported Fibre2fashion with reference to a company's statement.

The company announced that it would be increasing the annual capacity of these units from 3.2 million tons to 3.6 million tons, with an investment of USD138 million.

Petkim General Manager Sadettin Korkut informed that the enterprises would be beginning operations by next year, and produce income from the logistics operations.

The expansion project is included in the New Product Generation capital expenditure (CAPEX) programme, and CAPEX expenditure for the project to increase the capacity of these enterprises has reached to 58 million Turkish liras, during the first quarter, he added.

As MRC wrote previously, Petkim together with its key owner, Socar plans to transform Aliaga into an industrial cluster. The transformation has several positive effects on Petkim. Star refinery, Petlim and Petkojen projects are the key earnings drivers. Among these initiatives, the building of Star refinery by Socar-Turcas, the container port project Petlim and co-generation plant project Petkojen are the key additions. Star refinery allows Petkim to receive feedstock at lower cost and better quality. Petlim utilizes the port area belonging to the company more efficiently. Petkojen lowers the overall energy cost of the company by turning the boilers to dual mode.

Petkim (part of SOCAR) is the leading petrochemical company of Turkey. Specializing in petrochemical manufacturing, the company produces ethylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene and other chemical building blocks for use in the manufacture of plastics, textiles, and other consumer and industrial products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CECA, Arkema’s Filtration and Adsorption subsidiary, and Saudi company Watan Industrial Investment have set up a joint venture, majority-owned by Arkema, which will operate an oilfield production chemicals blending plant and storage facility in Saudi Arabia, as per the company's press release.

Based within the Dammam industrial city, the new site will enable CECA to meet the high demand for oilfield production chemicals in the Gulf region.

This investment in the Middle East, following the organic peroxides investment announced last October, further illustrates Arkema’s objectives to develop its High Performance Materials segment while reinforcing its presence in fast-growing countries, where the group aims to conduct 30% of its business by 2016.

Oilfield production chemicals represent a strategic activity - with a strong growth - for CECA which supplies oil companies in Africa and the Middle East, but, to date, had no commercial or industrial presence in Saudi Arabia.

Under the terms of this partnership, the joint venture is about acquiring a storage and blending facility in Dammam, scheduled to become operative in the second half of 2014.

The site will enable CECA to establish a long-term presence in the Gulf region and in particular in Saudi Arabia, which has one of the world’s largest conventional oil reserves. Thanks to these facilities, CECA will also be able to offer its customers local service and prompt response to fulfil the specific requirements of their oilfields.

“The oilfield production chemical market is growing at a steady rate of 5% per year, and the Middle East is one of the most dynamic regions. This partnership in Saudi Arabia offers us an ideal opportunity to serve the region’s major producers, and will enable us to capitalize on local growth. With this new site located in a strategic region, we aim to become a major player in the region” Marc-Antoine Mallet, Managing Director of CECA , is delighted to say.

As MRC reported before, Arkema and Polymem, a French SME specializing in the manufacture of filtration modules from hollow fiber membranes, have recently jointly developed a new ultrafiltration hydrophilic membrane technology to produce high quality water over the long term. This ultrafiltration technology using membranes manufactured by Polymem from a brand new nanostructured Kynar PVDF polymer developed by Arkema, makes the treatment of water using membranes more effective and less energy-intensive.

CECA, a subsidiary of the Arkema Group, is a key player in specialty chemicals. CECA constantly strives to improve its customers’ performance by creating and developing adsorbents, chemical intermediates, and additives. CECA operates an extensive network of industrial facilities in Europe, together with two research centres (GRL and CRRA) dedicated to customer innovation.

Watan Industrial Investment is a private Saudi company established in 2007 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Watan’s core business is the development of industrial projects in various industrial sectors benefiting from the continuous growth of the Saudi economy, especially in chemicals and petrochemicals. Watan Industrial Investment is particularly active in the field of industrial gases as well as in strategic joint ventures with Arkema.

Arkema with annual revenue of EUR6.1 billion is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc. Arkema operates 11 organic peroxide plants on the three continents, has operations in more than 40 countries, some 14,000 employees and 10 research centers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF is the first European manufacturer to have completely switched a production plant for XPS (extruded polystyrene rigid foam) to a new polymeric flame retardant (PolyFR), as per the company's statement.

Styrodur insulating panels produced at BASF’s plant in Tudela, Spain, are now made exclusively with the polymeric flame retardant, which has a superior environmental profile while offering the same flame retardancy. BASF’s other Styrodur production plants in Ludwigshafen and Schwarzheide, Germany, and Bibbiano, Italy, will all be switched to the new flame retardant by the end of 2014.

BASF thus continues its successful strategy as the market leader for polystyrene-based insulating materials in Europe. "Through our concerted efforts, BASF is supporting the sustainable development of the European polystyrene foam industry," said Giorgio Greening, Senior Vice President of BASF’s global business unit for polystyrene foams. "We have pushed ahead the development and introduction of this alternative flame retardant. Our goal is to enable our customers to make the switch successfully and in good time."

In 2011, BASF announced its determination to switch to the new flame retardant in close cooperation with its customers. BASF is also already using PolyFR in the majority of its range of expandable polystyrene (EPS) products. The changeover of all EPS grades in Europe will also be completed by the end of 2014, and thus earlier than required by law.

As MRC wrote before, BASF now offers high performance Ultramid (polyamide), which is derived from renewable raw materials. BASF uses an innovative approach that replaces up to 100% of the fossil resources used at the beginning of the integrated production process with certified biomass.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Witnessed by the Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Russian President Vladimir Putin, China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) and SIBUR has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement during a state visit of President Putin to China, as per SIBUR's press release.

The arrangements provide for both parties to deepen strategic cooperation.

As part of the cooperation, the parties will discuss potential expansion of trading operations and look into collaboration opportunities in gas processing and petrochemicals projects.

The parties believe that the strategic partnership between Sinopec and SIBUR will facilitate further strengthening of the companies’ leading market positions through sharing of the joint expertise and resources.

Sinopec commented, "This partnership will help diversify and secure Sinopec's long-term sourcing of petrochemical products and expand Sinopec's overseas footprint, facilitating strategic collaboration and continual exchange of expertise".

SIBUR commented, "The partnership between SIBUR and Sinopec, a global chemical industry leader, will enable SIBUR to maximise the efficiency of new large-scale projects, expand its competencies and distribution markets, and support the Russian petrochemical industry in achieving a new level".

As MRC informed previously, last September, Sinopec Corp. and SIBUR entered into a joint venture developed on the site of the Krasnoyarsk Synthetic Rubber Plant (KZSK). Sinopec purchased 25% + 1 share of KZSK. The deal was approved by Russian and Chinese regulators.

SIBUR is a uniquely positioned vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. We own and operate Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes and are a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. As of 31 March 2014, SIBUR operated 27 production sites located all over Russia, had over 1,400 large customers engaged in the energy, chemical, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), automotive, construction and other industries in approximately 70 countries worldwide and employed over 27,000 personnel.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical company with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its principal business includes: exploring, developing, producing and trading crude oil and natural gas; producing, storing, transporting and distributing and marketing petroleum products, petrochemical products, synthetic fiber, fertilizer and other chemical products. Its refining capacity and ethylene capacity rank No.2 and No.4 globally. Sinopec listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai in August 2001. Sinopec Group, the parent company of Sinopec Corp., is ranked the 5th in Fortune Global 500 in 2012.
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