BASF Plastic Additives Middle East appoints new managing director for Bahrain

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF Plastic Additives Middle East (PAME), the state-of-the-art production facility for customer-specific antioxidant blends (CSB) in Bahrain, named Michael Wille its new Managing Director, said the company.

The appointment marks an important step in BASF’s support of the fast-growing polymer industry in the Middle East. As the leading manufacturer and supplier of plastic additives in the region, BASF plans to continue to boost the local production of CSB – additive blends tailored to meet specific customer needs. CSB are an integral part of the portfolio the company offers to the plastics industry.

Welcoming Wille on board, Frank Fasdernes, Vice President, responsible for the operating division Performance Chemicals in the Middle East, BASF, said: "We are pleased to have Michael Wille assume the role of Managing Director for Bahrain. His expertise and strengths in engineering and leadership will drive the continued growth of the company in this high-potential region and beyond. His well-deserved appointment is the outcome of his relentless efforts in BASF’s global expansion since 2002."

"Since it began operations in 2012, BASF PAME has been the first wholly owned production facility for BASF’s Plastic Additives business in the Middle East and one of the largest of its kind in the world. We are proud to operate the site with the highest safety and environmental standards. Michael Wille will lead the competent team in Bahrain to maintain these standards and to ensure that we fulfil our commitment towards providing local production and services to the fast growing polymer market in the Middle East, especially to our key customers in the countries of the Gulf Corporation Council," added Alberto Giovanzana, Vice President, Plastic Additives, Europe Middle East and Africa, BASF.

Over two decades, Wille has held several senior international positions within BASF, contributing to the company’s growth and expansion of operations across markets in Europe and Asia, primarily in the field of engineering and operations.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- French oil and gas giant Total through its subsidiary Total E&P Activites Petrolieres is all set to foray into the Orinduik Block offshore Guyana by exercising its option to acquire a stake of 25% from Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas, said Compello.

The stake in the Orinduik Block located in the Suriname Guyana basin will be purchased from Eco Atlantic (Guyana), a subsidiary of Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas.

Eco revealed that the option exercise was received by it prior to the delivery of the final 3D seismic data due to be given to Total, which would have activated a 120-day exercise window for the option.

After completion of the transaction, Eco Guyana will have a reduced stake of 15% with Total having 25% stake and Tullow Oil to continue to be the operator of the Orinduik Block with 60% stake.

Eco CEO Gil Holzman said: "The entrance of Total into the Orinduik Block provides further endorsement of the prospectivity of this License. With Tullow as Operator and the technical contribution that both Total and Eco now bring to the project, we look forward to working with these two world class players in further progressing the exciting exploration of the Orinduik Block.

"This deal also further validates Eco’s long-term strategy, to identify highly prospective assets in frontier basins, with stable governments with favourable Petroleum Agreement terms and world class partners." As per the terms of the deal, Total will pay an option exercise fee of $12.5m to Eco after receipt of relevant approvals.

Eco expects the proceeds to help it meet its share of the costs needed to drill two or more wells on the Orinduik Block and also in recovering the amount spent on the completed expanded 3D seismic survey.

Recently, the company through a technical report on the Orinduik Block said that the offshore Guyanese block contained gross P50 of 2,913.3MMBOE and Net (40%) 1,165.3MMBOE, identified from a total of 10 leads.

Eco chief operating officer Colin Kinley said: "Total entering the blocks four months earlier than anticipated is welcomed, as they add significant technical horsepower to the interpretation and now bring them into the planning for drilling. Tullow announced last week drilling is anticipated early Q3 2019."
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian petrochemical producer SIBUR has begun talks with banks about a possible initial public offering, CNBC cited Sibur's CEO Dmitry Konov as saying on Tuesday, reported Reuters.

SIBUR could list shares on the Moscow Exchange and later consider other international bourses, Konov was quoted as saying.

The CEO said Sibur could list 15 percent of its shares, but declined to give a timeframe, saying it would depend on market conditions, CNBC reported.

As MRC wrote before, in June 2018, SIBUR said its plans to build a gas chemical complex in Russia's Far East will require preliminary investments of up to USD8 billion and it is still looking for Asian partners. SIBUR said a year ago that it had been in talks with a number of Chinese investors about participating in the project to build the complex in Amur.

SIBUR is a uniquely positioned vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. We own and operate Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes and are a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. As of 31 March 2014, SIBUR operated 27 production sites located all over Russia, had over 1,400 large customers engaged in the energy, chemical, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), automotive, construction and other industries in approximately 70 countries worldwide and employed over 27,000 personnel.
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MOSOCW (MRC) -- Petrofac has bagged multiple well engineering contracts with a combined value of about USD20m, as per Compello.

Petrofac secured an exclusive five-year Well Operator Services contract from independent Exploration & Production company, Tailwind Energy Ltd (Tailwind), following Tailwind’s recent purchase of the Triton Cluster. Under the terms of this arrangement, Petrofac will act as Well Operator for the Gannet E, Belinda and Evelyn licence areas in the Central North Sea.

The company has also been awarded discreet Well Engineering scopes by two major International Oil Companies (IOCs) and three National Oil Companies (NOCs) for projects in Iraq, Turkey and New Zealand. These additional scopes reflect the continued global growth of Petrofac’s Well Engineering capabilities.

Petrofac engineering and production services well engineering managing director Alex Macdonald said: "We’re delighted to be expanding our global service delivery as we continue to support IOCs, NOCs and new entrant Operators with outsourced Well Engineering services. As evidenced by the number of awards we’ve secured so far this year, we’ve consistently proven our delivery and execution capabilities to new and existing clients.

"Going forwards, our teams will continue to focus on safe, effective deployment of our Well Engineering activities to enable our clients to unlock maximum value from their oil and gas assets."
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF’s Coatings division has opened a new laboratory for automotive OEM coatings at its site in Munster, Germany, said the company.

The modular Lean Lab concept aims to ensure optimized, digitalized and transparent processes and efficient use of resources in the laboratory area throughout Europe. Discrete working processes of the lab employees and the use of standardized and automated processes allow BASF to meet future market requirements quickly and flexibly. In line with this, the workforce in Munster is supported by a lab dosing machine that was specially developed for BASF and is the only one of its kind in the coatings industry.

"BASF cooperates very closely with all major automotive manufacturers worldwide to develop advanced coatings technologies. Through the digitalization of processes, optimized use of resources, and automation, we can respond even more efficiently and address our customers’ needs,” says Dirk Bremm, president of BASF’s Coatings division. Since 2014, BASF has invested € 24 million to completely overhaul an existing laboratory building for this purpose, which included adding an extra story. The building now features four bright and airy laboratory levels with spacious offices and state-of-the-art lab workplaces that are all digitally linked. Discrete work processes are intelligently designed to foster customer-specific product developments, manufacture paint samples and perform application tests. An optimized logistics concept also ensures that all materials for daily work – and for this work only – are available, which positively impacts resource efficiency.

A lab dosing machine that is unique in the coatings industry and was specifically built for the lab in Munster facilitates work and assures quality. BASF collaborated with machine manufacturer FRICKE Dosing + Filling Systems from Minden, Germany, to develop the machine. At 12 meters long and weighing 8 tons, it can manufacture standard formulas from over 300 liquid raw materials. “It is said that digitalization affects everyone. BASF’s Lean Lab clearly demonstrates how certain occupations, such as that of a laboratory technician for coatings, are being redefined. It is still about researching the features and appearance of colors and paints, but it takes place a high-tech environment today. Young people who take this job need knowledge in chemistry, technology and IT alike. This proves to me that vocational training is modern. It is attractive. It is the starting point of a career,” says Karl-Josef Laumann, Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
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