ABB solutions improve energy efficiency at giant petrochemical complex

(ABB) -- ABB solutions will help boost the efficiency and stability of the power network at Saudi Arabia's giant Sadaf Jubail petrochemical complex, and also integrate electrical control systems in its six petrochemical plants.

A two-part power factor and power management solution will significantly increase the power factor of the site's power network, and integrate the electrical and process information management systems at the site's six manufacturing facilities into a single, unified system.

Owned by Saudi Arabia Petrochemical Company (Sadaf) and located at Al Jubail on the Gulf coast, the complex is one of the largest petrochemical sites in the world, producing more than 4.7 million tons of petrochemicals a year.


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(Reuters) - Saudi Basic Industries Corp 2010.SE, the world's largest chemicals producer, said it will launch a joint venture firm with Japana's Asahi Kasei Chemicals and Mitsubishi Corp. The new company, Saudi Japanese Acrylonitrile Co, will build a plant to produce acrylonitrile and sodium cyanide in Jubail. The facility will have capacity of 200 KTa of the former and 40 KTa of the latter, SABIC said in a statement on Wednesday.

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(Fibre2fashion) -- Toray Industries Inc and Toray Advanced Materials Korea Inc announced that the companies have decided to enter the high-performance polypropylene spunbond business in Indonesia. The companies plan to establish P.T. Toray Polytech Jakarta (TPJ) in the group's site in Tangerang, Indonesia, in September this year and build a production facility with an annual capacity of approximately 20 KT. The new plant is expected to start full-scale operations in June 2013.

Demand for disposable baby diapers is expected to grow at a rapid pace in the ASEAN countries on the back of high economic growth and changes to lifestyle brought about by rising national incomes. Particularly in Indonesia, the market for disposable baby diapers is estimated to grow at a pace of 14% a year, increasing approximately from 1.9 billion diapers in 2010 to 3.7 billion diapers in 2015.

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(ICIS) -- The US holds domestic resources of natural gas of about 2.170.000bn cubic feet (bcf), a record level that is attributed largely to expanding shale gas reserves, the Potential Gas Committee (PGC) said on Wednesday.

The Potential Gas Committee, based at the Colorado School of Mines, said that its 2010 biennial report on the nation's gas resources showed a gain of more than 4% in recoverable gas since the committee's 2008 evaluation.

The committee report said that its new total for available gas supply is the highest in the PGC's 46-year history.

Shale gas resources account for 687.000 bcf of the total, or nearly one-third of US natural gas supplies, the report indicated.

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(ICIS) -- Japan's industrial production slumped in March, shrinking a record 15.3% from February, indicating a severe economic damage wrought by the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit the northeastern part of the country last month, official data showed on Thursday.

Compared with the same period last year, March production fell 12.9%. Transport equipment, general machinery and chemicals productions were among the worst hit, according to preliminary data from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

Japanese industries are grappling with rolling blackouts that prevent normal operations, including those of the petrochemical sector, following the 11 March disasters.

But METI expects an improvement in production in April and May, with the growth forecast for each month at 3.9% and 2.7%, respectively.

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