NATPET achieves first with ABS certification

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ABS Quality Evaluations, Inc., a subsidiary of ABS Group, has awarded the National Petrochemical Industrial Company of Saudi Arabia (NATPET) the first issued RC 14001:2015 certificate globally, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The RC14001 Technical Specification (2015 edition) combines elements of the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care initiative with those of the ISO Environmental Management Systems Standard. This Technical Specification was recently revised in 2015 and enables a company to obtain, through an application and audit process, a certification that its management system conforms to both the ISO 14001 and RC14001 requirements.

"This recognition is a significant achievement for NATPET and further strengthens our commitments and promise for a better future through an improved organization," says Jamal J. Malaikah, President and COO of NATPET. "This requires us to continually increase our competitiveness, assure operations with the least possible impacts on the environment and enhance efficiency and effectiveness in our business to promote the safety and wellbeing of our employees, community and business partners."

"We are pleased to issue the first certificate globally for RC 14001:2015, which is a milestone for both ABS QE and our client," says Dominic Townsend, Vice President of ABS QE.

As MRC informed before, in December 2015, NATPET, a subsidiary of Alujain Corp., invested USD15 million into Siluria Technologies, a San Francisco-based developer of process technologies for petrochemical value chains. The Saudi producer of propylene and polypropylene (PP) joins other strategic such as the Oman-based Fine-Teck and Germany’s Linde. Last year, Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco) pumped USD50 million into Siluria.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud inaugurated the Sadara Chemical Company and the Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Co. (SATORP), said Process-Worldwide.

The two projects are among the largest facilities in the refining and petrochemicals industries that support the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.

Sadara and SATORP are the result of partnerships between Saudi Aramco and two global companies—The Dow Chemical Company and Total—which are leaders in their respective areas of business.

His Excellency Khalid Al Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources and Chairman of Saudi Aramco said, "Sadara and Satorp represents a bold undertaking for Saudi Aramco and its respective partners, Dow Chemical and Total. It is a major driver in achieving our goals of greater integration and value addition. Sadara and Satorp represents the concrete realization of our distinct yet complementary corporate visions -- it is one way in which Saudi Aramco is helping to deliver on its abiding commitment to the Kingdom.

The Sadara project is the largest integrated chemicals complex in the world to be built in one phase. It is a JV between Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical Company in Jubail Industrial City in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The first phase commenced operations in 2015, and the remaining operating units are scheduled for completion by the end of 2016. The production capacity is more than three million tons of various plastics and chemicals product annually.

Sadara is the first chemicals complex in the GCC region that uses naphtha as feedstock. The complex has a unit to crack naphtha that can process 85 million standard square feet of ethane and 53,000 bpd of naphtha as a feedstock to produce three million tons of high value and high performance plastics annually.

Once fully operational at maximum capacity, the project will employ more than 4,000 people. In addition, the PlasChem Park, a world-class industrial park for chemical and conversion industries created by a collaboration between Sadara and the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, will create 15,000 direct and indirect job opportunities for Saudis in Jubail alone.

The Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Co. (SATORP), a JV between Saudi Aramco and Total in Jubail, will support Saudi Aramco’s efforts to expand the value chain and achieve maximum value from the Kingdom’s resources. It can process 400,000 barrels of heavy Arabian crude daily into low-sulfur gasoline, diesel and jets fuel that comply with the standards in the United States, Europe and Japan. It also produces more than one million tons of paraxylene, benzene, sulfur and pure petroleum coke that fuels cement plants and electric power stations.

This JV will create approximately 5,700 new direct and indirect jobs. The construction of the project involved 45,000 workers with 80% of the work performed by local subcontractors with a Saudization rate of 65%.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan's JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp said that it would boost the amount of crude it refines for local consumption by 6% in December from the year before, said Reuters.

The country's top refiner said it would refine 1.14 million barrels per day of crude for domestic consumption, up on last December due to problems at multiple refineries at that time.

"December is expected to stay cold, so we expect kerosene sales to stay strong," a company spokesman said, adding that it stood ready to boost refining volumes, curb oil product exports or buy oil supplies domestically if warranted by levels of demand.

The company does not have scheduled refinery maintenance planned over the rest of the year, he added.

JX's November crude refining for domestic consumption was estimated at 1.05 million bpd, up 5% from the year-earlier period. That was higher than an original plan of 1.04 million bpd due to robust kerosene sales amid cold winter weather, the spokesman said.

The refiner has 1.43 million bpd of crude refining capacity, or 37.6% of Japan's total.

As MRC informed earlier, etronas and JX Nippon Oil & Energy have signed an agreement for the sale and purchase of equity in Petronas LNG 9 Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petronas. Under the agreement, JX NOE will acquire a 10% in-terest in PL9SB, which owns the ninth liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction train within the Petronas LNG complex in Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia.

The Nippon Oil Corporation, or NOC or Shin-Nisseki is a Japanese petroleum company. Its businesses include the exploration, importation, and refining of crude oil; the manufacture and sale of petroleum products, including olefines (ethylene, propylene) and aromatics.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company and Electro Chemical were recently presented with Materials Technology Institute’s (MTI) 2016 Global Value Award for applying MTI guidebooks as they collaborated on a scrubber repair project that solved Dow’s corrosion problem, said Einnews.

The two companies’ earned the award based on eight criteria, including the positive financial, reliability, and safety impacts that the project has had on Dow operations. Internal training opportunities as well as standards, procedures, and process improvements at Electro Chemical also factored into the MTI Value Award Committee’s decision.

The project team, which included materials engineering experts from both companies, used MTI’s Guide for the Repair & Modification of FRP Equipment and Guide for the Repair & Modification of Lined Equipment to help evaluate the option of installing a Kynar PVDF thermoplastic liner in an existing FRP scrubber that was exhibiting end-of-life characteristics due to chemical corrosion.

Dow’s engineering group sought a long-term solution, and considered replacing the 13-ft. diameter, 30-ft. high vessel.

"We talked about replacing the scrubber, but we looked at the potential project and estimated that it would be very expensive," said Abiodun Olawepo, a Process Improvement Engineer at The Dow Chemical Company.

Instead, the project team elected to investigate the potential of a thorough but less problematic solution. Dow’s engineers turned to the industry’s leading supplier of fluoropolymer coatings and linings, Electro Chemical, to evaluate the feasibility of applying a thermoplastic liner in the section of the scrubber experiencing the most deterioration from age and chemical exposure.

"We came to the conclusion that we could do a field test to see if the FRP that we had was going to bond very well with the Kynar sheet liner," said Olawepo. "We thought, if we can do this, it could extend the life of the scrubber another 10-15 years. Ultimately, Dow engineers concluded that using the PVDF fluoropolymer liner could provide the protection the unit needed."

They avoided the costs of a replacement vessel, an extended shut down for its installation, and the associated costs of piping and foundation modifications.

As MRC informed earlier, Dow Chemical Co, whose merger with DuPont is now likely to close early next year rather than end-2016, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as it benefited from its focus on consumer markets such as automotive and electronics.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber. In 2014, Dow had annual sales of more than USD58 billion and employed approximately 53,000 people worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has received an order for supply of systems to support a large-scale polyethylene production train for ExxonMobil's Beaumont Polyethylene plant, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new production train is slated to be completed in 2019, and will produce 650,000 tons of polyethylene per year. MHI is currently building a Polyethylene plant comprising of 2 units, each with the same scale of production capacity, at ExxonMobil's Mont Belvieu, Texas facility, making this the third order following the completion in 2011 of a polyethylene plant in Singapore.

MHI will supply the reaction, finishing, and shipping equipment for the plant, as well as utility facilities for water, air and steam.

Polyethylene is a chemical that is used in the production of plastic products such as construction films, grocery bags, and product packaging.

MHI has participated in the project throughout the various stages of ExxonMobil's planning. In addition, MHI has a proven track record fulfilling orders for large compressor turbines for ethylene and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) liquefaction plants for ExxonMobil.

MHI's President and CEO, Shunichi Miyanaga, commented, "I feel very honored to have received consecutive orders from ExxonMobil, the leader in the petrochemical industry. We will aim to deliver a high quality plant, placing the utmost importance on safety management, just as with our other projects in Texas and Singapore."

The US market for chemical plants is highly active, owing to increasing production of shale gas. In April 2016, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc. (MHIA) moved its headquarters from New York to Houston, the home of major chemical plant customers. Going forward the company will undertake proactive sales activities in the increasingly vibrant U.S. chemical plant market.

As MRC informed earlier, in November 2016, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced it received a contract from ExxonMobil Chemical Company to provide engineering, design and construction management services as part of a new 650 kTa polyethylene facility to be located at ExxonMobil’s Beaumont polyethylene plant.

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.
MRC