NOVA Chemicals begins Bakken Shale ethane use

MOSCOW (MRC) -- NOVA Chemicals announced Friday that the first barrels of ethane supplied from natural gas associated with oil production from Bakken Shale are being utilized at its Joffre complex in Canada's Alberta province, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The ethane was produced at Hess Corp.'s plant in Tioga, North Dakota, and transported across the border into Alberta via the Vantage Pipeline. The Vantage Pipeline connects to the Alberta Ethane Gathering System (AEGS) in Empress, Alberta, for the final journey to Joffre.

NOVA Chemicals is the contract operator of both AEGS and the Vantage Pipeline.

The Vantage Pipeline has an initial design capacity of 40,000 bpd but is expandable to greater than 60,000 bpd, a volume that reflects more than 20% of Alberta’s existing installed ethylene production capacity.

Ethane extracted from associated gas produced from Bakken Shale is expected to be a growing and stable feedstock supply source for the Alberta petrochemical industry.

"The introduction of Bakken Shale-based ethane into the feedstock diet at Joffre marks an important milestone in the diversification of our ethane sources for the region and our NOVA 2020 strategy to capitalize on North American demand," said Todd Karran, acting CEO of NOVA Chemicals.

"The new supply sources we recently began to use, together with those currently in development, should enable us to run our existing polyethylene plants at full capacity, as well as support our PE1 Expansion project in Joffre and position us well for potential further growth," he added.

As MRC informed previously, in early 2013 NOVA Chemicals decided build two polyethylene (PE) plants and expand its ethylene capacity. NOVA has taken several actions to secure additional ethane feedstock supply for its crackers in Corunna, Ontario, and Joffre, Alberta.

Nova Chemical is one of the largest world's petrochemical companies, a manufacturer of polyethylene, styrene polymers, monomers, and many other related products.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Group is considering investing in UK shale-gas exploration to secure raw materials for its chemicals operations in the country after a shortage threatened to close a plant employing at least 800 people, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The country’s biggest petrochemical company has charged a team of five people to look into options including supporting the nascent shale industry by investing in exploration and production.

"The reason for putting together this team is to look at what the options might be for us," said Tom Crotty, a director of the Rolle, Switzerland-based company. "We may buy into something that’s already there" or pick up acreage in the 14th onshore licensing round, he said.

Energy-intensive industries such as chemicals are having to compete with companies that have access to lower-cost materials in the US, where shale drilling caused gas prices to drop to about a third of European levels. While Britain under the Conservative-led government would like to replicate the US fracking boom, exploration has yet to get off the ground.

INEOS’s petrochemical plant at Grangemouth in Scotland faced closure last year as supplies of feedstocks from the North Sea dwindled. The combined petrochemical and refining operation, which employs 1,400 people, had lost about 150 million pounds (USD252 million) a year in the last three years, according to the website.

The company announced a "survival plan" in October to secure the long-term future of the site that includes building a gas terminal to import ethane from the US. It was forced to run one of its ethylene plants below capacity because of insufficient feedstocks, and the unit is expected to operate fully from 2017 following raw material deliveries from the US.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a final greenhouse gas (GHG) Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) construction permit to C3 Petrochemicals in Alvin, Texas, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

C3 plans to construct a new propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant at its existing facility near Alvin, which is south of Houston in Brazoria County.

The permit is another in the series of permits drafted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and issued by EPA under a program to facilitate timely permitting for applicants in Texas.

"The joint permitting program we have developed with TCEQ is helping Texas business and keeps a keen eye on protecting the environment," said EPA regional administrator Ron Curry. "We are working to help Texas businesses take advantage of growth opportunities while building greener facilities with better controls for greenhouse gas emissions."

The plant will convert propane to propylene, an important component of many consumer plastics. The company plans to produce polymer-grade propylene (PGP) and chemical-grade propylene (CGP). The PDH process will use a continuous catalytic regenerator that does not use combustion or steam and results in lower GHG emissions.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Coatings giant PPG industries Inc. 's ( PPG ) North American architectural coatings business has agreed to buy Masterwork, an independent paint distributor also based in Pittsburgh, said Nasdaq.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. However, financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Masterwork operates a 13-store network in western Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. The addition of Masterwork will strengthen PPG Industries' company-owned stores network. The PPG-owned stores strive to deliver consistent and integrated customer experience.

PPG Industries is taking steps to grow its business inorganically through numerous acquisitions. The acquisition of Akzo Nobel 's ( AKZOY ) North American architectural coatings business has reinforced its branded paint product offerings and scale in the North American architectural paint market.

Moreover, in an effort to strengthen its position in the aerospace industry, PPG Industries acquired specific assets of the privately-held specialty coatings company Deft Incorporated, last year. The recent acquisition of Hi-Temp Coatings Technology also strengthened PPG Industries' protective and marine coatings business.

PPG Industries has a diversified base of products and markets, and is looking for opportunities to grow its businesses strategically along with implementation of cost controlling strategies. It should gain from continual strength across the North American automotive and aerospace market. However, the company remains exposed to factors like the yet to be recovered European market, raw material cost pressure and foreign currency headwinds.

As MRC wrote before, PPG Industries in 2013 announced the closing of the previously announced separation of its commodity chemicals business and merger of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Eagle Spinco Inc., with a subsidiary of Georgia Gulf Corporation.

PPG Industries Inc. is an Americain international company that produces paints, chemicals, optical components, specialty materials, glass and fiber glass. The company consists of more than 150 production units and offices in more than 60 countries. PPG industries is in the list of the top 500 U.S. corporations in terms of sales of. As MRC reported previously, PPG Industries plans to open its first factory in Russia near Tver. As of today, PPG Industries has no production facilities in Russia.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bio-based materials and packaging firm Avantium has received USD50 million in financing from a group that includes beverage giant Coca-Cola Co. and blow molder Alpla Werke Alwin Lehner GmbH, said Plasticsnews.

In a June 5 news release, officials with Amsterdam-based Avantium said their firm would use the investment to advance polyethylene furanoate (PEF), a bio-based alternative to PET. The firm already is working with Coke to make bottles from the material.

The new investment will allow for industrial validation of PEF, as well as finalizing the engineering and design of the first commercial-scale plant for the product.

"PEF is a 100 percent bio-based plastic with superior performance compared to today's packaging materials and represents a tremendous market opportunity," CEO Tom van Aken said in the release. "Our proprietary YXY technology to make PEF has been proven at pilot plant scale as we are now moving to commercial deployment."
In addition to Atlanta-based Coke and Hard, Austria-based Alpla, firms involved in the new round of financing for Avantium include French food conglomerate Danone and British investment firm Swire Pacific.

Coke next generation materials and sustainability research director Yu Shi added in the release that Coke "believes performance and sustainability can go hand-in-hand to make a world of difference for consumers, the environment and our business."

Avantium currently makes PEF at a pilot plant in Geleen, the Netherlands. Its first commercial-scale plant — with annual capacity of 110 million pounds — is expected to be operational in 2017.
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