Nan Ya Plastics shuts No.3 MEG in Taiwan for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nan Ya Plastics (part of Formosa Petrochemical) has undertaken a planned shutdown at its No.3 monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the unit was taken off-stream on October 5, 2017 for a maintenance turnaround. The unit will remain under turnaround for about one month.

Located in Mailiao, Taiwan, the No. 3 MEG unit has a production capacity of 360,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, on 25 May 2016, restarted MEG plant No. 4 in Thailand after a turnaround, which began on 17 April. Located at Mailiao in Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 720,000 mt/year.

Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company's plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd on Friday withdrew its request to install anti-fish-spawning mats in construction areas for its embattled Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, potentially delaying the USD5.91-B project, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) regulator last month barred Kinder Morgan from installing the mats, which are placed on the bottom of waterways to prevent fish from laying eggs, saying they had “not yet been authorized."

The company then sought relief, saying they were essential to stopping fish from being harmed during construction, and that a delay in installing them could push back the date for shipping oil on the expansion. But in a letter to the regulator on Friday, a Kinder Morgan lawyer said the mats were effective only if put in place before the spawning season, which has begun, and that the window to install them had now passed.

The lawyer also said the company would remove some mats that it had already installed. The letter did not address potential delays to the project’s timeline that were mentioned by the company in a separate letter last month.

The NEB and Kinder Morgan Canada, a unit of Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company’s mention of potential delays to the project last month marked a departure from its longstanding public stance that the project remained on track despite mounting opposition and regulatory hurdles.

While the project has federal approval, it faces opposition from environmental and aboriginal groups and the provincial government of British Columbia, through which the pipeline passes.

The NEB has so far granted permission only for construction of a marine terminal associated with the project. The fish mats, which came to light in part due to a blog post by the company, constitute work along the pipeline route and were not authorized, the NEB has said.

Backed by the energy sector, the project aims to nearly triple the capacity of the existing pipeline from Canada’s oil-rich Alberta to the west coast by late 2019.

A legal challenge being heard this and next week in Vancouver could overturn Trans Mountain’s approval.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Wood Group is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of Amec Foster Wheeler, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Wood Group's new ordinary shares will be admitted to the premium segment of the Official List and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange with effect from 8 a.m. (London time) Oct. 9.

Holders of ordinary shares of 50 pence each in the capital of Amec Foster Wheeler on the register at the Scheme record time, being 6 p.m. on Oct. 6, will receive 0.75 of an ordinary share of 4 2/7 pence each in the capital of Wood Group in exchange for each Amec Foster Wheeler Share. As a result, 294,510,216 New JWG Shares will be listed on the Premium Listing segment of the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and will be admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange's main market from 8 a.m. Oct. 9.

Following the admission to trading of the New JWG Shares, the Wood Group's issued share capital will consist of 677,685,600 ordinary shares with each share carrying the right to one vote. Wood Group holds no ordinary shares in treasury. The total number of voting rights in Wood Group will therefore be 677,685,600. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest, or a change to their interest, in Wood Group under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

The admission of Amec Foster Wheeler Shares to the premium segment of the Official List and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange will be cancelled with effect from 8 a.m. (London time) Oct. 9.

As of Oct. 6, Ian McHoul, Linda Adamany and Roy A. Franklin have been appointed to the Wood Group Board as Non-executive Directors. Since the publication of the Prospectus, Ian McHoul has been appointed Senior Independent Director of Britvic plc effective Sept. 1 and a non-executive director of Bellway plc effective Feb. 1, 2018. Roy Franklin has been appointed Non-Executive Chairman of Premier Oil PLC effective Sept. 1 and resigned as a non-executive director of Santos Ltd effective Sept. 30.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — China National Offshore Oil Co (CNOOC) completed trial runs at its 200,000-bpd Huizhou refinery in the southern Guangdong province on Oct. 2, China Securities Journal reported on Monday, as per Reuters.

The test runs were completed 16 days after crude oil was pumped into the unit, the Journal reported. The new plant is part of the second phase of CNOOC’s Huizhou refining and chemical complex, which also includes a 1.2-MMtpy ethylene plant, a JV with Royal Dutch Shell.

The new ethylene complex’s construction is expected to be completed at the start of 2018, the report said.

CNOOC is the parent of offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Ltd.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fluor Corporation has announced that it was selected by LyondellBasell, one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies, to perform the engineering and procurement for its propylene oxide (PO) and tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) project located at its Channelview and Bayport complexes outside of Houston, as per Fluor's press release.

Fluor booked the undisclosed contract value into backlog in the third quarter of 2017.

The project represents the single-largest capital investment in LyondellBasell’s history. When completed, the plant will produce 1 billion pounds per year of PO and 2.2 billion pounds per year of TBA. At the peak of construction, the project is expected to create up to 2,500 jobs and approximately 160 permanent positions when operational.

PO is a building block of many everyday products, including bedding, furniture, carpeting, coatings, building materials and adhesives. The TBA will be converted to fuel additives that help gasoline burn cleaner and reduce automobile emissions.

"This facility is a strategic part of LyondellBasell’s organic growth plans and we are pleased to continue our partnership on this project," said Mark Fields, president of Fluor’s Energy & Chemicals business in the Americas. "Using our Zero Base ExecutionSM approach, the LyondellBasell and Fluor team developed a fit-for-purpose solution that optimized the plant design, leveraged global procurement opportunities and implemented a cost-effective modularization approach. Our integrated solutions approach substantially reduced the facility’s capital costs and helped LyondellBasell achieve their final investment decision on this world-scale chemical facility."

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world and has world-leading PO/TBA technology. Fluor has participated in the project since the commencement of front-end engineering and design in 2015. Project completion is expected in 2021.

LyondellBasell is one of the world’s largest plastics, chemical and refining companies and a member of the S&P 500. LyondellBasell manufactures products at 56 sites in 19 countries. LyondellBasell products and technologies are used to make items that improve the quality of life for people around the world including packaging, electronics, automotive parts, home furnishings, construction materials and biofuels.
MRC