McDermott awarded multiple technology contracts for petrochemical complex in Indonesia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- McDermott International, Inc. announced it has been awarded two sizeable technology contracts by a subsidiary of PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk, PT Chandra Asri Perkasa, for the company's planned new petrochemical complex in Indonesia, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

McDermott's scope of work includes licensing and basic engineering packages for Lummus Technology's olefins technology, including Short Residence Time (SRT®) ethylene heater design and critical supply, and for butadiene extraction technology.

The steam cracker is expected to produce 1,100 kta of ethylene and 600 kta of propylene using Lummus Technology's proprietary, highly selective SRT VII cracking heaters. Additionally, the complex is expected to produce approximately 175 kta of butadiene using the market-leading BASF/Lummus Technology butadiene extraction technology.

"Lummus Technology has a strong relationship with Chandra Asri that goes back more than 25 years," said Daniel M. McCarthy, Executive Vice President of McDermott's Lummus Technology business. "We licensed several technologies for their first complex and look forward to working with them on the second complex, which will boost petrochemical production to help meet domestic demand in Indonesia."

McDermott's Lummus Technology is a leading licensor of proprietary petrochemicals, refining, gasification and gas processing technologies, and a supplier of proprietary catalysts and related engineering. With a heritage of technology development spanning more than 100 years, encompassing approximately 3,500 patents and patent applications, Lummus Technology provides one of the industry's most robust technology portfolios to the hydrocarbon processing sector.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Marathon Petroleum Corp. and Andeavor announced that the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 has expired in connection with the proposed transaction whereby MPC would acquire all of Andeavor's outstanding shares, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The parties have also received the necessary regulatory clearance by the Canadian Commissioner of Competition pursuant to the Competition Act (Canada).

Together, these matters satisfy certain conditions for the closing of the proposed merger.

The transaction is still expected to close in the second half of 2018, and remains subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Andeavor shareholders of the proposed merger, approval by MPC shareholders of the new MPC shares to be issued in connection with the transaction, and the receipt of other required regulatory approvals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Venezuela's crude shipments to India, its third largest export market, fell 21 percent in the first half of the year, according to internal documents from state-run PDVSA, adding to supply troubles for Indian refiners as they are increasingly pressed to diversify oil imports, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Venezuela's production decline to a 30-year low and export woes stemming from mismanagement, lack of investment and payment delays are affecting almost all of the OPEC-nation's customers.

But the impact on India is notable and comes as its refiners are now preparing for a "drastic reduction to zero" of oil imports from U.S.-sanctioned Iran.

Last week, PDVSA officials met with executives from India's Reliance Industries and Russia's Rosneft, which owns a majority stake in India-based Nayara Energy, to discuss trade issues, the state-run company said.

The talks focused on how to remedy export delays, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Venezuela sent almost 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) of heavy crude to India in the first half of the year, a 21 percent drop versus the 355,500 bpd shipped in the same period of 2017, according to PDVSA trade documents.

The decline is the second steepest after the United States, which has suffered a drop of about 30 percent in crude imports from Venezuela this year, the documents seen by Reuters show.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical Corp said on 3 July it will restart its 539,000 tonnes per year naphtha cracker as scheduled following planned maintenance, reported Reuters.

The maintenance on the cracker, which has been shut since May 9, was set to be finished on Tuesday, a company spokesman said.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in December 2017, Ube Industries, JSR Corp. and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC) received European Commission (EC) approval for the planned integration of their acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) subsidiaries.

Mitsubishi Chemical with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, is a diversified chemical company involved in petrochemicals, polymers, agrochemicals, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company's main focus is on three business pillars: petrochemicals, performance and functional products, and health care.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) announced that the Polybutylene Terephthalate Plant (PBT), owned by Sipchem Chemical Company, an affiliate of Sipchem, commenced commercial operations, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The plant is located in Jubail Industrial City. The PBT plant performance tests were completed successfully ensuring efficiency, capacity and product quality. The financial impact of full commercial operations will be reflected in the company financial results as of the third quarter of 2018.

The total production capacity of the PBT Plant is 63,000 MT/year. PBT is a high specialty thermal engineering polymer used in many applications, such as for car manufacturing, electrical/electronic products, and engineering plastic.

On this occasion, Eng. Ahmad Al-Ohali, Chief Executive Officer of Sipchem, commented that the commercial operation of the PBT plant, the first of its kind in the Middle East, is an important step in Sipchem expansion and growth strategy. The addition of the PBT plant will allow Sipchem to further realize the benefit of its integrated package of products and will strengthen the added value chain.

The PBT plant uses Butanediol produced by International Diol Company (IDC), an affiliate of Sipchem, as a feed material for producing the PBT.

Sipchem owns 100% of the capital of Sipchem Chemical Company.

As MRC informed before, in March 2018, Sipchem said it was planning to resume proposed merger talks with Sahara Petrochemical 2260.SE in a deal that could create a 14.7 billion riyals (USD3.9 bln) chemicals company. The two companies called off a planned merger in 2014, citing an inadequate regulatory framework in the kingdom for the collapse.
MRC