YASREF awards Jacobs general engineering services contract for Saudi Arabia refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. through its local subsidiary in Saudi Arabia, Jacobs ZATE, has been awarded a three-year, general engineering services (GES) contract from Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company Ltd. (YASREF) to help optimize the production at Yasref's Yanbu Industrial City facilities in Saudi Arabia, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Jacobs will provide a range of services, from basic engineering to Front End Engineering Design (FEED), detailed design, procurement through to construction management, commissioning support and handover for a portfolio of YASREF's capital expenditure projects for the Yanbu refinery.

"This new contract reaffirms our world-class engineering services that will be delivered through our local expert teams, with reach-back to our global subject matter expertise", said Jacobs Energy, Chemicals and Resources Vice President and General Manager EMEA David Zelinski. "We bring access to a full-spectrum technical professional services firm to the west coast of the Kingdom while growing our presence in the country."

The YASREF full conversion refinery is the key facility in Yanbu Industrial City, covering about 5.2 million square meters. YASREF uses 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Arabian heavy crude oil to produce premium transportation fuels, as well as high-value refined products. The facility became operational in 2014, contributing to the Kingdom's vision to reliably supply domestic and international markets with high quality, clean refined products and fuels.

Jacobs has been operating in Saudi Arabia for more than 40 years, developing strong partnerships with the Kingdom's industrial leaders including, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden). Examples of the company's work in the region include BP Khazzan Oman Gas Field, Sinnovate Smart Technology Hub, Zuluf Gas/Oil Separation Plant FEED, King Abdulaziz Project for Riyadh Public Transport, Sadara Chemical Company, Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport, Ma'aden Wa'ad Al-Shamal Phosphate Company and numerous infrastructure projects with the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (MODON).

As MRC wrote before, WorleyParsons has been awarded a general engineering service (GES) contract by YASREF. YASREF operates a full-conversion refinery that covers about 5.2 million square meters in the Yanbu Industrial City in Saudi Arabia. WorleyParsons will deliver engineering and consultancy services for the refinery to optimize the production of YASREF’s facilities. The services will be provided from WorleyParsons’ offices in Saudi Arabia for a term of three years with an option to extend for a further three years.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Freeport LNG Marketing, LLC (Freeport LNG) announced that it has entered into a binding mid-term sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Trafigura PTE LTD (Trafigura) for 0.5 million tons per annum (mtpa), to be supplied from its natural gas liquefaction and LNG loading facility on Quintana Island near Freeport, Texas, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The SPA with Trafigura will commence on July 1, 2020, soon after the expected completion of construction of the third liquefaction train.

"We welcome Trafigura's more than 25 years of global commodity trading experience to Freeport LNG's expanding operations. We view this as the start of a long-term relationship that will be key in growing our future business," said Michael S. Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Freeport LNG.

"Trafigura puts the security of supply for its customers at the heart of our LNG strategy. We view this agreement as a further proof of our commitment to this and are proud to count Freeport LNG as our partner," said Hadi Hallouche Head of Oil Asia at Trafigura.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into the proposed purchase by Germany’s BASF of Solvay’s nylon business, saying such a deal could reduce competition in the supply of the nylon production chain, as per the press-release of European Commission.

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: "Nylon is used in everyday products like clothes, sports shoes and carpets. But it's also an important industrial input, for example contributing to make lighter engines and cars. However, only a few manufacturers provide essential inputs to produce different nylon products, so we need to carefully assess whether the proposed acquisition would lead to higher prices or less choice for European businesses and, ultimately, consumers."

The proposed transaction involves Solvay and BASF, two companies active in the nylon industry, where both manufacture nylon compounds and nylon fibres.

Solvay is currently the only manufacturer in the European Economic Area with production assets at all levels of the nylon production chain, from ADN to nylon compounds and nylon fibres. Currently, Solvay sells an important part of its production of intermediates at various levels of the value chain to other companies active in making nylon compounds and fibres. BASF is also vertically integrated, but does not produce ADN. It currently only sells a small part of its production of intermediates because it uses almost all of its production internally, for the production of nylon compounds and fibers.

The proposed transaction would create an important player in the nylon compounds market with a market size almost double that of the closest competitor. The merged entity would also control substantial parts of the merchant markets and of the production capacities at all levels of the nylon production chain. Moreover, no other player would be similarly fully integrated in the production chain. Competitors will thus depend on the merged entity to continue to supply them with one or more essential inputs.

In addition, there is no indication that competition could be preserved by new entrants, since access to essential inputs (such as ADN) is limited and critical to be able to compete effectively.

BASF, headquartered in Germany, is a large diversified chemical company active in a range of sectors including chemicals, performance products, functional materials and solutions, agricultural solutions and oil & gas. It is active in the polyamide value chain, in particular in the production of Hexamethylene Diamine, Adipic Acid, adipate Salt, Base Polymers and Engineering Plastics.

Solvay, headquartered in Belgium, is activein the polyamide value chain, in particular in the production of ADN, Hexamethylene Diamine, Adipic Acid, adipate Salt, Base Polymers and Engineering Plastics.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Evonik Business Line Catalysts (KA) has extended its long-term partnership with a global leader in refinery catalysts, as per the company's press release.

Evonik manufactures their state of the art hydroprocessing catalysts in its plant in Calvert City, Kentucky. Based on that long-term partnership, the partner company invested in capacity expansion in Calvert City to produce its newest generation of catalysts and to increase overall capacity.

"This investment demonstrates the high expertise of the Business Line in efficient operations and custom manufacturing of state of the art custom catalysts. Furthermore it underlines the commitment of both parties for the future", says Dr. Oliver Meyer, Vice President Catalysts Americas.

As MRC informed before, Evonik raised the prices for its superabsorbent polymers, offered in Europe and the Americas, up to 15% with effect as of 4 May, 2018. The price increase has become unavoidable to compensate higher raw material costs.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik is reducing bureaucracy, streamlining processes, and cutting administrative and selling expenses. To achieve the target of permanently reducing the cost base by EUR200 million by the end of 2020, management and employee representatives have agreed on key points, said the company on its web-site.

The associated analysis of all administrative and sales functions has been completed. "Our goal is to build a best-in-class specialty chemicals company," said Christian Kullmann, Chairman of Evonik's Board of Management. "To get there we need three things: a balanced portfolio, leading innovative capability, and a new, performance-oriented corporate culture. To this end, we are now making a big step forward on the cost side. We want to accelerate decision-making and strengthen cost-awareness."

In fall 2017, Evonik set itself the target of permanently reducing administrative and selling expenses by EUR200 million worldwide. About two-thirds of the cost savings will come from administration and a third will come from sales functions.

The first EUR50 million of these permanent savings will be achieved this year and will mainly comprise material costs. To realize the remaining EUR150 million, a detailed analysis of all administrative support functions was carried out in recent months.

As a result of this analysis, up to 1,000 jobs will be cut in administration and sales by the end of 2020. Management and employee representatives have agreed to implement the process in a socially acceptable manner. The agreement that rules out business-related dismissals for employees in Germany has been extended until mid-2023. Evonik will also be using natural fluctuation to reduce the number of jobs in administration and sales worldwide. Vacant positions will be examined to see whether it is necessary to fill them.

"Within the bounds of a policy document we will agree on important and proven social-plan instruments as well as starting with new, innovative ones," said Martin Albers, Chairman of the General Works Council. “At the same time, within this framework, we have managed to achieve the greatest possible job security for our colleagues with the ruling out of business-related dismissals for a period of five years. In doing so, the executive board, the employee representatives and the IG BCE union have demonstrated that trustworthy cooperation and a collaborative set-up can lead to success, even for difficult processes."

In 2016 Evonik Resource Efficiency said it would invest in a capacity expansion of its performance foams business at its production site in Darmstadt, Germany.

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