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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has opened its laboratory and production facility in North Dakota, putting it in pole position to serve oil and gas customers in the Bakken Shale Formation and expand its extensive tailored formulations that facilitate extraction, said the producer in its press release.
With this new facility in Killdeer, Solvay’s Global Business Unit Novecare is among the first specialty chemical players to serve oilfield services companies in North America’s second largest reserve of tight oil and shale gas. Novecare’s eighth laboratory and production unit is at the heart of the Bakken area, giving it key access to customers.
Solvay Novecare develops tailor-made, bio-based specialty formulations that help oilfield services operators manage and reduce water consumption, optimize stimulation operations and improve well yields. The business unit, which last year acquired Chemlogics, develops and produces these formulations at plant and laboratory facilities near its customers in the field. Each formulation is designed to fulfill their distinct needs, depending on the unique geological conditions of the shale formations.
As MRC wrote before, Solvay has completed the divestment of its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) compound business Benvic Europe to U.S. investment company OpenGate Capital, enhancing the resilience of the Group’s portfolio.
Solvay S.A. is a Belgian chemical company founded in 1863, with its head office in Neder-Over-Heembeek, Brussels, Belgium. The company has diversified into two major sectors of activity: chemicals and plastics. Solvay supplies over 1500 products across 35 brands of high-performance polymers – fluoropolymers, fluoroelastomers, fluorinated fluids, semi-aromatic polyamides, sulfone polymers, aromatic ultra polymers, high-barrier polymers and cross-linked high-performance compounds.
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Solvay opened laboratory and production facility in North Dakota
Sabic becomes largest patent developer in the Middle East by passing 10,000 patents mark
MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC has passed the milestone of having more than 10,000 patents either issued or pending approval, making it the largest owner of intellectual property in the Middle East, said the producer in its press release.
SABIC has also significantly increased the rate at which it obtains patents with 2013 seeing a record 373 patent applications filed by the company, a rise of over 300% from the figure in 2010. 2014 could see a further increase with 159 new patent applications applied for in just the first three months of the year.
On average, SABIC files a new patent application every 18 hours, each based on the work of approximately four researchers. This represents greater efficiency than any other top ten company in the chemical industry.
"Intellectual property is an important tool to help SABIC achieve its business goals,” said Ernesto Occhiello, SABIC Executive Vice President, Technology and Innovation. “Our 10,400 global patent dockets are a reflection of our emphasis on innovation to support our growth," Occhiello said, pointing out that SABIC also has over 550 active disclosures under review.
John Abokhair, SABIC Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, said "Our patent estate is used as one of several indicators to measure our return on investment in our research and development effort. We apply a ‘value-add’ analysis to make sure that our IP estate is used as a tool to help push our business forward. Our teams work closely with our technology and business leaders to maximize the value we gain from our innovation through strategic intellectual property protection."
As MRC wrote before, SABIC, Kringlan Composites and other industry partners are working to further advance the development of the world’s first thermoplastic composite wheel. This ground breaking innovation leverages SABIC’s proprietary ULTEM resin and Kringlan’s proprietary three-dimensional composite design capabilities to create a material solution that can be used to replace traditional materials, such as metal and aluminum alloy, helping reduce weight and emissions and potentially save manufacturing costs across industries from aerospace to automotive, and consumer goods.
SABIC is a diversified manufacturing company, active in chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers and metals. It is the largest public company in Saudi Arabia. It is the largest company in the Middle East.
SABIC is currently the second largest global ethylene glycol producer and is expected to become number one after the introduction of these new projects. SABIC is the third largest polyethylene manufacturer, the fourth largest polyolefins manufacturer and the fourth largest polypropylene manufacturer. It is also the world's largest producer of mono-ethylene glycol, MTBE, granular urea, polyphenylene and polyether imide.
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Lukoil is ready to be paid at West Qurna-2
MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lukoil Overseas has said it is ready to begin recovering costs and getting paid for production at its West Qurna-2 project in Iraq, said Upstreamonline.
The Russian operator informed the Iraqi Ministry of Oil that it has "fulfilled its contractual obligations for first commercial production" at the major project on Wednesday. Lukoil said it had "successfully maintained an average daily production of at least 120,000 barrels for 90 days", meaning it has passed the threshold to begin recovering costs and receiving remuneration.
Daily production is currently at 200,000 bpd, it added. Lukoil brought the field on stream at 120,000 bpd in late March after a series of delays. The Russian operator is looking to hit 400,000 bpd by the end of this year and has already set its sights on a start of exports by around the start of August.
In August, Lukoil plans to complete work on the central processing facility for the field, which will include nine trains, each capable of handling as much as 50,000 bpd. That ramp-up will eventually include a natural gas processing plant, and Lukoil’s goal is to boost production to a maximum of 550,000 bpd from its Mishrif activities.
Earlier this month Lukoil penned a new agreement to allow investors to get a faster return on costs for the construction project at West Qurna-2. The agreement has been changed to include the construction of the Tuba-Fao pipeline and will allow for change in the procedure for project investors to recover costs.
The Tuba-Fao project will see the construction of two pipelines between the Tuba tank farm and the Fao tank farm, the main export hub in Iraq on the Persian Gulf coast. Pre-front end engineering design studies have already been carried out for the Tuba-Fao project which detailed a direct connection of the pipeline to single-point mooring facilities and an upgrade of the pumping systems.
West Qurna 2 is expected to provide a backbone of production for Iraq’s aspirations to boost its oil exports to 3.4 million bpd this year. Lukoil holds 75% of the field and operatorship, while Iraq’s state-controlled North Oil Company holds the remaining 25%.
Ultimately, Lukoil believes it can produce 1.2 million bpd from West Qurna with its next project after Mishrif — known as Yamama — expected to add another 650,000 bpd.Lukoil will complete front end engineering and design for Yamama in the middle of next year and hopes to begin construction by the end of 2015.
As MRC informed before, Lukoil is set to drill deep for unconventional gas in Saudi Arabia's challenging "Empty Quarter" desert region early next year after a decade-long hunt for conventional deposits that has proved futile. Lukoil Overseas official said the joint venture will drill the first well in the first quarter of 2015 and the second during the last six months.
Lukoil is one of the world's biggest vertically integrated companies for production of crude oil & gas, and their refining into petroleum products and petrochemicals. The company is a leader on Russian and international markets in its core business, which accounts for over 20% of Russian oil production and 18% of the total Russian oil refining. Lukoil also controls two of the largest petrochemical plants in Russia and Ukraine: Stavrolen and Karpatneftekhim.
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SABIC in move to support cleaner diesel technology
The new grade will be produced at SABIC’s manufacturing affiliate, Al-Jubail Fertilizer Company (Al-Bayroni) in Jubail, with a capacity of 80,000 tons per year. SABIC’s technical grade urea will enable cleaner diesel technology in engines through liquid injection of urea solution into the exhaust stream of the diesel engine prior to its catalytic converter. This allows the engine to perform better, to use fuel more efficiently while destroying the increased nitrogen oxides with urea.
Khaled Al-Mana, SABIC executive vice president, Fertilizers Strategic Business Unit, commented: "As a company with a strong commitment to a cleaner environment through sustainable products, SABIC has developed this strategic, innovative idea to produce high quality urea that helps reduce hazardous NOx emissions from diesel exhausts and industrial processes. The project is part of our sustainability strategy to share our expertise closely with our customers to develop products, applications and solutions that respond to their sustainability needs."
TGU is pure urea that will be produced in pastilles using the energy-saving Rotoformer technology, which gives the product superior physical and mechanical properties. TCU applications include heavy duty trucks, power and cement plants, non-road machinery, and marine transport.
As MRC wrote before, SABIC has broadened its stretch film portfolio to include one of the first commercially available materials in Europe to combine polypropylene (PP) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). The film’s high holding force (up to 12% compared to current solutions) for superior load stability is ideal for protecting heavy loads and is the result of SABIC’s constant focus on innovation and expertise in combination know-how. This film solution helps customers meet the demand for high-performance and optically-clear solutions, and can help them reduce costs.
SABIC is a diversified manufacturing company, active in chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers and metals. It is the largest public company in Saudi Arabia. It is the largest company in the Middle East.
SABIC is currently the second largest global ethylene glycol producer and is expected to become number one after the introduction of these new projects. SABIC is the third largest polyethylene manufacturer, the fourth largest polyolefins manufacturer and the fourth largest polypropylene manufacturer. It is also the world's largest producer of mono-ethylene glycol, MTBE, granular urea, polyphenylene and polyether imide.
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Washington Penn buys specialty compounded PP business from ExxonMobil
The deal follows ExxonMobil’s decision to stop producing those products in North America, officials with Washington, Pa.-based Washington Penn said in a June 6 news release. ExxonMobil customers impacted by the move now will transition to Washington Penn, they added.
"The product technologies are very complementary, and offer some exciting new opportunities to support the needs of our customers," Washington Penn President Martin Devine said in the release.
In a June 6 e-mail, an ExxonMobil spokesman said that the firm had made those PP compounds at a plant in Baton Rouge, La. That plant had been operated for ExxonMobil by Chemtrusion Inc., a toll compounding firm based in Houston. Production there will stop by the end of 2014, the spokesman added.
No further details were included in the release, and officials with Washington Penn declined to comment on what facilities or equipment are included in the deal. Both Washington Penn and ExxonMobil rank among North America’s 30 largest compounders, according to Plastics News estimates.
The deal is the second in two months for Washington Penn parent Audia International. On May 20, Audia — also based in Washington, Pa. — announced that it would spend more than USD50 million to build a major plastic materials plant in Nobles, Georgia. A local media report said that the new plant will cover 240,000 square feet on a 25-acre lot.
Audia officials said the new Georgia plant will support the three U.S.-based materials companies that the firm owns — Washington Penn; Uniform Color Co., a color concentrates maker in Holland, Mich.; and Southern Polymer Inc., a resin distributor in Atlanta.
Audia employs more than 1,000 at 10 manufacturing sites worldwide, including six used by Washington Penn. Earlier this year, the firm bought a liquid masterbatch plant in France from BASF SE.
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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