Amec awarded Al-Zour, Kuwait petchem contract

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Amec Foster Wheeler announced the award of a contract by Petrochemical Industries Company K.S.C., a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Company, for the integration project between its Olefins III, Aromatics II and ZOR Refinery in the State of Kuwait, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The contract covers Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) leading to Project Management Consultancy (PMC) for the project.

The new petrochemical facility will be integrated with the new Al-Zour 615,000-bpd refinery, which will be one of the largest refineries in the region.

"This award reflects our expertise, as well as our successful track record in large, complex FEEDs, and project management,” said John Pearson, Amec Foster Wheeler's President, Oil, Gas & Chemicals. “It is directly aligned to our strategy of extending from FEED into later phase scopes in downstream, and to building on our existing strength in chemicals. I'm also delighted that this adds to our existing portfolio of work we are delivering for KPC's group of companies, with multiple PMC contracts underway."

As per MRC, Indonesia’s PT Pertamina (Persoro) and Saudi Aramco have let a contract to a subsidiary of Amec Foster Wheeler PLC to provide engineering and project management services for the upgrade and expansion of the 348,000-b/d Cilacap refinery on Java, Indonesia.
MRC

CEFC courts teapots for first domestic refinery acquisition

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Privately-run conglomerate CEFC China Energy has approached several independent Chinese oil processors seeking to acquire its first domestic refinery operation, its next move towards becoming a global integrated oil player, said Reuters.

New details of CEFC's attempts to buy a refinery in China come less than three weeks after the little-known Shanghai-based firm announced its first major upstream oil investment, a USD900 million deal for a 4 percent stake in an Abu Dhabi oilfield.

Talks with a handful of the small independent refiners known as "teapots" are just getting started, but CEFC's efforts are a rare early example of a private Chinese investor looking to cash in on Beijing's policy encouraging the small operators to venture into the global oil market to take on established state-run majors such as Sinopec Corp.

Chairman Ye Jianmin told a board meeting last July that CEFC aims to become a second Sinopec - China's second-biggest oil and gas major and Asia's largest refiner -- by acquiring global assets and consolidating teapot refineries.

"CEFC has made it quite clear that it wants to invest in refining and held meetings with us," said one teapot executive who met with CEFC's Ye for such discussions.

"We'll need some time to deliberate and observe, as the company, ambitious as it is, lacks solid industry experience," said the executive, who declined to be named as the discussions were not public.

Ye's team has made frequent visits since mid-2016 to Shandong province, China's hub for teapots, courting at least four independent companies, including largest teapot refiner Shandong Dongming Petrochemical Group and two small plants in the port city of Rizhao, according to three industry executives with knowledge of the meetings.

More recently CEFC has a new target, local government-backed Shandong Hengyuan Petrochemical Co, which owns a 70,000-bpd plant in the landlocked city of Linyi and a controlling stake in a refinery in Malaysia.

All the plants CEFC has approached so far have Beijing's greenlight to import crude oil, part of more than 20 local refiners that began emerging as market players in late 2015, helping to lift China's crude oil purchases to an all-time high last year while mopping up some of a global supply glut.

A refinery in the world's second-largest oil consumer would add to an asset network CEFC has built over the past two years - a Romanian refinery, service stations in Europe, an oilfield in Chad and the Abu Dhabi oilfield stake - said industry executives familiar with its strategy.

"It's part of the company's organic expansion by looking at refining opportunities," a CEFC spokesman said in an email in response to a request for comment. Wang Youde, chairman of Hengyuan Petrochemical, confirmed his company was approached by CEFC last year, but said he was not aware of any material progress in discussions.

Zhang Liucheng, vice president of Shandong Dongming, said his company also held meetings with CEFC for similar discussions, declining to give further details.

Alongside the talks, CEFC last month joined Dongming in a USD566 million venture to build an oil terminal and storage farm in Shandong, facilities that are badly needed to ease logistics bottleneck gripping the teapots sector.
MRC

Evonik breaks ground on stretching, polishing plant for large-format aircraft materials

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik marked the start of construction of a new stretching and polishing plant at the Weiterstadt site with a groundbreaking ceremony on March 2. The Essen-based Group is investing a two-digit million euro amount in the plant, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Evonik’s Performance Materials Segment will then become a complete provider of cast and stretched polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) sheets for the aviation industry.

The new plant will produce of stretched aircraft materials made from PLEXIGLAS. It is being constructed directly next to the existing production facility for the cast PMMA blocks that serve as the primary products for the stretching process. The plant allows production of stretched PMMA sheets that are more than twice as large as the currently available formats, yet satisfy the stringent standards of the aviation industry.

"The new plant fits perfectly with our position as a leading supplier of polymer materials. It is the embodiment of our expertise in building complex technology platforms and integrated structures and operating them efficiently. It also indicates our commitment to serve the aviation industry as a reliable partner," said Dr. Michael Pack, member of the Management Board of Evonik Performance Materials GmbH.

Compared with cast PMMA materials, stretched PMMA sheets have higher impact strength and increased chemical resistance. The material is therefore especially suited to meet the extremely high requirements of the aviation industry.

"As the world’s only producer of these extra-large format stretched PMMA sheets, we are once again living up to our claim of being an innovation leader in acrylic products. With our PLEXIGLAS brand we guarantee the highest possible quality and absolute reliability," said Martin Kramer, head of the Acrylic Products Business Line. "The new plant is a concrete example of how we’re putting our vision, ‘Evolution in acrylics is our passion’, into practice for the benefit of our customers."

"With our new plant, we’re supplying the largest sheets available anywhere in the world with the lowest possible thickness tolerances," said Roland Mickal, head of the Transportation market segment at Acrylic Products.

This is Evonik’s second investment at the Weiterstadt site: The construction of a production plant for high-grade PMMA flat film was announced as recently as mid-February, with investment again in the two-digit million range.

As MRC informed earlier, Evonik is expanding its production facilities in Birmingham (Alabama, USA) and Darmstadt (Germany). This will create additional capacity for the production of biodegradable polymers marketed globally under the brand names RESOMER and RESOMER SELECT. These poly-lactic-glycolic-acid (PLGA) copolymers are primarily used to manufacture bioresorbable medical devices and controlled-release formulations for parenteral drug delivery.

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik benefits specifically from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world.
MRC

Petrobras and French company sign USD 2.2 billion deal

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petrobras and French oil company Total have signed agreements that will bring financial benefits to the Brazilian company, as per BrazilGovNews.

The Brazilian State oil company will receive USD 2.22 billion with the partnership. According to a statement issued after the deal, USD 400 million refer to a line of credit.

The signed agreements, according to Petrobras, seal the strategic alliance between the two companies. The partnership comprises joint activities in upstream and downstream segments, as well as actions to strengthen technological cooperation on operations, research and technology.

Upstream is the stage of oil production that encompasses prospecting, identifying and locating oil sources, in addition to the transportation of extracted oil to the refineries where it is processed. Downstream involves the logistics of transporting products from refineries to final consumption.

The alliance comprises multiple agreements, including the assignment to Total of 22.5% of Petrobras’ stake in the concession area called Lara and of 35% of Petrobras’ stake and operations in the concession area of the Lapa field in Block BM-S-9 (Petrobras will retain 10% of the latter).

Contracts were also signed for the sale to Total of 50% of Petrobras' stake in Termobahia, including thermal plants Romulo de Almeida and Celso Furtado, both located in the state of Bahia.

After the signing, Pedro Parente and Patrick Pouyanne, the CEOs of Petrobras and Total, issued a joint statement: "We are excited about our strategic alliance becoming a reality. This new partnership, together with strong technological cooperation, will create synergies and value by combining our operational excellence and reducing costs in our projects to the benefit of both companies. "

Petrobras and Total are currently partners in 19 oil exploration and production consortia. In Brazil, they are partners in the Libras area, a field located in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin. It was the first contract signed under the production sharing system.

Abroad, the two have also partnered for operations in the Chinook field (in the Gulf of Mexico, in the US), the Akpo deep-water field in Nigeria and the San Alberto and San Antonio/Itau gas fields in Bolivia, as well as for the Bolivia-Brazil pipeline.

As MRC informed before, Brazil's state-controlled oil producer Petrobras is seeking to sell its 5.8 billion Brazilian real (USD1.4 billion) stake in petrochemical producer Braskem SA. Petrobras hired Brazilian bank Banco Bradesco SA as a financial adviser and started to pitch the sale to foreign investors in 2016. Petrobras owns a 36% stake in Braskem, Latin America's largest petrochemical producer. The sale would help Petrobras meet its target of selling USD15.1 billion worth of assets in 2015-16, a key part of its plan to cut debt as oil prices plunge to 12-year lows.

Braskem S.A. produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC

PVC production in Russia increased by 6% in January-February 2017

MOSCOW (MRC) - Production of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in Russia increased to 152,100 tonnes in the first two months of this year, up 6% compared to the same period of 2016. All producers increased the volumes of PVC, the only exception was Kaustik (Volgograd), as per MRC ScanPlast.

February production of unmixed PVC in Russia decreased to 73,300 tonnes, compared with 78,900 tonnes in January 2017. Lower output was largely caused by a shorter February. Overall PVC production reached 152,100 tonnes in January-February 2017, compared to 143,100 tonnes a year earlier. All Russian producers increased production volumes, the only exception was only Kaustik (Volgograd).

The structure of PVC production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

RusVinyl (joint venture of SIBUR and SolVin) produced about 25,300 tonnes of PVC in February, with about 2,000 tonnes of which accounting for emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC), which was equal to January level. RusVinyl's total PVC production exceeded 50,600 tonnes in the first two months of 2017, whereas this figure was 49,800 tonnes a year earlier.

SayanskKhimPlast kept quite high capacity utilisation last month, the plant's SPVC production reached 20,200 tonnes, whereas this figure was 23,000 tonnes in January. SayanskKhimPlast's production of SPVC over the two months totalled 43,800 tonnes against 35,300 tonnes year on year (the low production in 2016 was forced long shutdown in February-July).

Bashkir Soda Company (BSC) in February 2017 produced about 20,200 tonnes of suspension PVC (SPVC), while in January it was 22,700 tonnes. The producer's PVC production increased to 42,800 tonnes in the first two months of 2017, compared with 42,200 tonnes year on year.

Kaustik (Volgograd) in February slightly decreased production, reaching about 7,000 tonnes, compared with 8,000 tonnes in January.
Total PP production at the plant over the reported period reached 14,900 tonnes, compared with 15,800 tonnes year on year.


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