Dow Chemical wins legal dispute against Nova Chemicals over Alberta plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A judge has awarded Dow Chemical Canada USD1.06 billion in damages against Nova Chemicals Corporation in a dispute over a massive ethylene plant in central Alberta, as per The Star.

The dispute centred around the operation of a production facility in Joffre known as E3. E3 started operating in 2000 as a joint venture, with Nova running the facility.

Dow Canada alleged breach of contract over the E3 joint venture agreements, claimed that Nova took part of the ethylene and other products that belonged to Dow and failed to run the facility at full production.

Nova said it faced an ethane shortage and ran the facility as full as it could subject to mechanical issues that constrained production.

Justice Barbara Romaine of Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench ruled in favour of Dow and against a counterclaim filed by Nova in a case that included claims and counterclaims for damages between 2001 to 2012.

“Dow has established these facts and has proved on a balance of probabilities that Nova has breached the joint venture agreements both as Operator and as Co-owner and has converted some of the ethane that Dow was entitled to from E3,” Romaine wrote in a lengthy redacted judgment released.

“I also grant Dow a declaration that the conduct of Nova as Operator constitutes Wilful Misconduct and Gross Negligence.”

Romaine said Dow established that there was no ethane shortage, that Nova always had enough ethane to fill E3 and had the ability and freedom to acquire additional ethane.

She also said Dow showed that Nova failed to operate E3 to maximize production and that the facility had more capacity than Nova submitted at trial.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -– ADNOC, Saudi Aramco sign deal to invest in $44B mega refinery and petrochemicals complex in India, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, witnessed the signing of a framework agreement, between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Saudi Aramco (Aramco) and a consortium of three Indian oil companies, to explore a strategic partnership and co-investment in the development of a new USD44 billion mega refinery and petrochemicals complex at Ratnagiri, on India’s west coast.

The framework agreement was signed by His Excellency Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO, Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco, Sanjiv Singh, Chairman of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, M.K. Surana, Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, D Rajkumar, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. B Ashok, CEO of the Ratnagiri Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd also witnessed the signing.

H.H. Sheikh Abdullah said: “This agreement strengthens the already close ties between the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and between the UAE and India. The UAE is unwavering in its commitment to its strategic multi-lateral relationships with both Saudi Arabia and India, as well as being a reliable partner in India’s energy security. We look forward to exploring further opportunities to expand our energy partnerships and to collaborating on new, broader, opportunities that will further strengthen and deepen the long-standing economic links between our three countries."

The agreement defines the principles of the joint strategic cooperation between Saudi Aramco and ADNOC to jointly build, own and operate the complex in collaboration with a consortium of Indian national oil companies currently consisting of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Saudi Aramco and ADNOC will jointly own 50% of the new joint venture Company Ratnagiri Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd, with the remaining 50% owned by the Indian Consortium.

His Excellency Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO, said: “This project is a clear example of our expanded downstream strategy, where we will make strategic, commercially-driven, targeted investments, both in the UAE and abroad. By investing in this project, we will secure off-take of our crude to a key growth economy, as well as one of the world’s largest and fastest growing refining and petrochemical markets.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. was honoured with the 40th Adhesion Society of Japan (ASJ) Technology Award for the development and commercialisation of the isocyanate 1,5-Pentamethylene diisocyanate (PDI) - a plant-derived isocyanate - and the Stabio polyisocyanate curing agent, reported GV.

The product is used in automotive and plastic coatings and adhesive products, offering improved chemical resistance, abrasion resistance and gloss. According to the company, the high reactivity of Stabio allows for curing at lower temperatures and shorter times, leading to increased energy efficiency. Being plant-derived (PDI 70 % biomass) also makes the material environmentally friendly.

Development is now advancing for new applications to create materials with unique textures, including a product with light weight but strong transparent and a gel with unique softness, said Mitsui Chemicals. Going forward, the company aims to develop new uses with a focus on its Mobility, Health Care and Food & Packaging business sectors.

As MRC wrote earlier, in March 2016, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Hankuk Carbon Co., a company listed on the Korea Exchange, entered into a strategic alliance agreement to engage in collaborative business activities relating to the processing of composite materials.

Mitsui Chemicals is a leading manufacturer and supplier of value added specialty chemicals, plastics and materials for the automotive, healthcare, packaging, agricultural, building, and semiconductor and electronics markets. Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese Chemicals company, a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Oil giant Saudi Aramco has spare capacity of 2 million barrels per day (bpd) and can meet additional oil demand in case of any interruption in supplies, the company head said, days after OPEC agreed to a modest increase in oil output from July, as per Reuters.

Aramco, the world's third-largest crude oil producer, is producing about 10 MMbpd and has the capacity to produce 12 MMbpd, Amin Nasser, the company's chief executive, said on the sidelines of a conference in New Delhi.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), de facto led by Saudi Arabia, and non-OPEC producers including Russia agreed over the last few days on a modest increase in oil production from July, following calls from major consumers to curb rising fuel costs.

"We have a healthy spare capacity ... that will be availed to meet additional demand and any interruptions in supply if it happens," Nasser said.

Nasser expects OPEC's decision to be implemented "very soon", although he did not comment on Aramco's likely output for the July-August period. "Whatever is concluded as part of this agreement, we will fulfill," he said.

OPEC and its non-OPEC allies met last week to review a pact to cut their combined output by 1.8 MMbpd that was put into place at the beginning of 2017.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said at the weekend OPEC and non-OPEC combined would pump roughly an extra 1 MMbpd in coming months, equal to 1 percent of global supply.

Global consumers have grown increasingly worried over the past few months about oil supplies, with the United States vowing to renew sanctions against Iran, and Venezuela seeing a big drop in its output due to U.S. sanctions and an economic crisis.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The technology company The Linde Group and the specialty chemicals company Evonik Industries have concluded an exclusive cooperation agreement on the use of membranes for natural gas processing, as per Evonik's press release.

The two companies will jointly promote membrane technology - Evonik on the membrane and polymer side and Linde’s Engineering Division as the system integrator for the complete membrane package units. Evonik’s established membrane technology will serve as the basis. The joint product will be marketed by Linde as the "HISELECT powered by Evonik" high-performance membrane package unit.

Tobias Keller, head of the Adsorption and Membrane Plants Product Line of Linde’s Engineering Division, says: "We’re delighted to be extending our successful collaboration with Evonik to the important gas separation market of natural gas processing. HISELECT membranes are opening up new and innovative options in gas separation, especially in combination with our other established processes. With this, we’re consolidating our position as the world’s leading company for gas separation technologies as well as suppliers of complete separation packages."

At the heart of the collaboration lies Evonik’s polymer-based membrane technology. The specialty chemicals company has developed this technology further for the area of natural gas and has recently commercialized it. It is the key component in Linde’s new HISELECT membrane, which the technology group will market globally in complete membrane package units for onshore gas separation and upgrading plants.

Dr. Axel Kobus, head of the Fibres, Membranes, & Specialties Product Line at Evonik, says: "Our latest membrane technology for upgrading of natural gas significantly expands our existing product range. We have used it to build up an attractive and powerful membrane portfolio for almost the entire gas separation market in less than 10 years, based on our polymer competencies. Our exclusive partnership with Linde in a major natural gas market strengthens our strategic positioning and reputation worldwide."

Linde and Evonik strengthened their collaboration in the area of membrane-based gas separation in 2016. The partnership resulted in the startup of a reference plant for helium upgrading in Mankota (Canada), which is the first ever plant of this kind to combine both separation methods, the membrane and pressure swing adsorption technologies. The plant processes more than 250,000 standard cubic meters of crude gas daily and produces industrial quality helium of 99.999% purity.

The SEPURAN product family includes membranes for upgrading biogas, nitrogen extraction, and upgrading helium and hydrogen. These are produced at Evonik’s site in Schorfling (Austria). The neighboring Evonik site in Lenzing produces the high-performance polymer starting material.

As a leading supplier in international plant construction, Linde’s Engineering Division has already delivered more than 4,000 plants worldwide.

As MRC reported earlier, Evonik Industries AG combined its isophorone chemistry and epoxy curing agents business in the new Crosslinkers Business Line effective July 1, 2017. The newly formed Business Line, headed by Min Chong, is part of the Resource Efficiency Segment,

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.
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