BP invests USD20 million in batteries that can charge electric cars in five minutes

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP has invested USD20 million in Israel's StoreDot, a start-up that claims its batteries can charge electrics cars in five minutes, as per CNBC.

The oil giant said Tuesday that its venture capital arm BP Ventures was investing in the Tel Aviv-based firm as it looks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its operations.

"Ultra-fast charging is at the heart of BP's electrification strategy," Tufan Erginbilgic, chief executive of BP's downstream business, said in a statement on Tuesday. "StoreDot's technology shows real potential for car batteries that can charge in the same time it takes to fill a gas tank."

Daimler's trucking unit led a USD60 million investment in StoreDot in September last year. StoreDot claims the batteries are eco-friendly and can allow an electric vehicle to travel for more than 300 miles after a full charge.

StoreDot develops so-called "flash batteries," lithium-ion batteries that it says can charge electric vehicles in a matter of minutes. The batteries are powered by organic compounds and nanomaterials.

StoreDot is developing similar technology to charge mobile phones in five minutes. The firm wants to commercialize that product by 2019.

BP's venture arm invested USD5 million in FreeWire, a start-up that makes mobile electric car charging stations, at the start of the year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) – Honeywell announced that IRPC PLC will use a range of advanced process technologies from Honeywell UOP for a new aromatics complex in Thailand’s Rayong Province, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

As part of the project, Honeywell UOP will provide licensing, design, key equipment and state-of-the-art catalysts and adsorbents. When completed in 2022, the complex will produce 1.2 million metric tons per year of paraxylene used to make plastic resins, films and fibers. It also will increase its benzene production capacity from 114,000 to 495,000 tons per year. Benzene is a fuel additive and ingredient in plastics, lubricants, rubber, dyes and detergents.

"This complex will enable IRPC to significantly convert its available intermediate feedstocks to higher value aromatics products such as paraxylene and benzene," said John Gugel, vice president and general manager, Process Technology and Equipment, at Honeywell UOP. "This is the latest in a series of aromatics projects using advanced UOP technologies that have low capital and operating expense."

The project will include a Honeywell UOP CCR Platforming™ unit, which converts naphtha into high-octane gasoline and aromatics, and an LD Parex™ unit, which recovers high-purity paraxylene from mixed xylenes and uses a new, more energy efficient light desorbent. The complex also will include Honeywell UOP Sulfolane™ technology to extract aromatics from the feed; Isomar™ technology to convert xylene isomers into more valuable paraxylene; and Tatoray™ technology, which converts toluene and C9 aromatics into mixed xylenes and high-purity benzene, and that more than doubles the yield of paraxylene from the naphtha feedstock.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CB&I has announced it has achieved three significant project milestones at its Lotte Chemical (LACC) Ethane Cracker Project in Lake Charles, Louisiana, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

CB&I successfully set the first three of the four major modules at the project and expects to set the final module last month.

This is the first time that CB&I has modularized its patented SRT ethylene heaters, which is a key component of the ethane cracker that will be used to produce approximately one million metric tons of ethylene annually. The successful modularization, delivery and installation of the modules also marks the first time this has been executed in the U.S. in terms of size and complexity.

"There has been an excellent collaboration by the entire CB&I team on the LACC project," said Duncan Wigney, CB&I’s Executive Vice President of Engineering & Construction. "We have been able to execute multiple phases of the project, from technology licensing, to supplying storage and piping, to the EPC phase. These integrated, end-to-end solutions are what our customers look for to build the energy infrastructure of the future."

The LACC project team has also achieved an impressive safety record. To date, CB&I has safely executed more than 4.5 million work hours without a lost time incident.

In December 2015, LACC, LLC, a joint venture between Lotte Chemical Corp. and Westlake Corp., selected CB&I for the engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction phase of the project. For this project, CB&I also licensed its ethylene technology and performed front-end engineering design (FEED) services.

As MRC informed previously, in December 2017, CB&I announced it had received full notice to proceed by Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries Inc. (KPI) for the project management services for a propane dehydrogenation unit (PDH) and a polypropylene plant in the western Atyrau region of Kazakhstan.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell Industries has valued Brazilian petrochemical company Braskem SA at 41.5 billion reais (USD11.4 billion) in an offer to Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht SA months ago, reported Reuters with reference to newspaper Valor Economico.

LyondellBasell made the offer in February but talks stalled in early May, the paper reported, as the conglomerate tries to refinance its debt with Brazilian lenders. The paper did not say how it obtained the information.

The paper said Lyondell was being advised by Morgan Stanley, and Odebrecht by Lazard Ltd.

LyondellBasell said, "We do not comment on market rumors or speculation." Odebrecht, Lazard and Morgan Stanley did not immediately comment.

Most of Odebrecht’s stake in Braskem is pledged in collateral to Brazilian banks, and negotiations for refinancing of the conglomerate’s debt are ongoing.

As MRC informed earlier, Petrobras’s (Rio de Janeiro) minority stakes in Braskem and Deten Quimica were excluded from Petrobras’s divestment program, according to a government decree published in Brazil’s Official Gazette last week. The decree prevents Petrobras from immediately selling its minority stake in Braskem, which had been announced this year. A new decree will be required to release the stock sale. Petrobras’s board earlier approved a strategic plan for 2017-21 that included the divestment of all petrochemical interests.

LyondellBasell is one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies. The company manufactures products at 57 sites in 18 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.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The head of Ukraine’s Naftogaz said on Thursday EU-mediated talks over future Russian gas transit via the country to Europe must include Gazprom and must be based on firm commitments, reported Reuters.

Commenting on an invitation from the bloc to relaunch trilateral gas talks, Naftogaz chief Andriy Kobolev voiced doubts over Russia’s willingness to engage in serious talks.

He said Russia’s energy minister has agreed to the talks but not Gazprom.

"For the success of the talks, it is important to have Gazprom in the room," Kobolev told Reuters in Brussels. "I am struggling to understand what outcome we are trying to achieve because ... from what I know they are not ready to give any commitment."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow was ready for talks with Ukraine on continued gas transits after their contract expires in 2019, following talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week.

Russia’s Gazprom and five European companies, with German backing, plan to build the North Stream 2 gas pipeline on the Baltic seabed to connect Russia directly with Germany.

The pipeline bypassing eastern Europe would allow Gazprom to reduce gas flows through Ukraine, costing it valuable transit revenue.

Kobolev added that the EU’s decision to settle its antitrust case with Gazprom on Thursday would not bring any positive market changes, saying the commitments were too vague.

"It seems Gazprom is getting away with everything," he said.

We remind that, as MRC wrote earlier, Gazprom Export LLC in the beginning of 2018 completed the bidding procedure to sell helium from the Amur gas processing plant (Amur GPP). This resulted in the signing of the long term sales and purchase agreements (SPA) and the allocation of the vast part of the Amur GPP Helium quantities among the largest global industrial gas companies.
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