NOVA Chemicals and Statoil ink MOU for ethane supply

(Plastemart) -- NOVA Chemicals, a developer and manufacturer of plastic resins, chemicals and end-products, and Statoil Marketing and Trading (Statoil) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for ethane supply from the Marcellus Shale Basin.

Statoil will supply additional ethane to NOVA Chemicals' cracker project in Corunna, Ontario. Randy Woelfel, CEO of NOVA Chemical stated that the ethane supply will help in the diversification of the company's supply base for the Corunna project and will also support the future growth plans. Statoil's President, Martin Jones commented that they have been working with NOVA Chemicals for several years and seek to continue the commercial relationship. The company is delighted to sign a purchase and sale agreement with NOVA Chemicals to deliver ethane from the Marcellus Shale Basin.

In addition to this definitive supply agreement and customary reviews and approvals, NOVA Chemicals has ended up with a pipeline transportation agreement to ship ethane from the basin to the petrochemical market in Sarnia, Ontario.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Hengyi Petrochemical plans to set up a 1.5 mln tpa Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) plant. As per Chemical Weekly, upon completion of the project in about two years' time, the PTA production capacity of the company's subsidiary Zhejiang Yisheng Petrochemical will increase to 2.56 mln tons.

The company also plans to invest in two lines to produce caprolactam (CPL), to increase overall caprolactum capacity to 100 KT.

MRC

(BASF) -- Following a strong start to the year, BASF had a good and very solid second quarter. Sales improved by 13.9% to EUR 18.5 billion and income from operations (EBIT) before special items by 1.4% to EUR 2.2 billion despite the suspension of oil production in Libya. In the second quarter of 2010, the Libyan activities contributed an EBIT before special items of EUR 280 million. On a comparable basis, EBIT before special items thus increased by 16%.


Compared with the extraordinary growth in the first quarter, the growth rates have normalized in the second quarter as expected. In addition, for the first time since the first quarter of 2010 currency effects were negative (minus 6%) due to the weak U.S. dollar. The inclusion of the Cognis businesses made a positive contribution to sales. In the chemicals business, sales volumes increased 5%. Due to the suspension of oil production in Libya, the contribution to earnings before taxes from Oil & Gas was lower compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

MRC

(Arabian oil and gas) -- ConocoPhillips reported USD 3.4 billion second-quarter earnings and USD 3.4 billion adjusted earnings. This compares with second-quarter 2010 earnings of USD 4.2 billion and adjusted earnings of USD 2.5 billion.

The Q2 report follows the comapny's announcement that it will split it's upstream and downstream businessness, with the downstream side spun off into a new, independent, publicly-listed company.

ConocoPhillips recently announced its Board had approved pursuing the separation of the company's Exploration & Production (E&P) and Refining & Marketing (R&M) businesses into two leading energy companies. Both companies will be uniquely positioned in their respective industries, with the management focus, financial strength and technical capability to successfully invest in the industry's highest returning projects.

The upstream company will be the largest U.S. pure-play E&P business, positioned for profitable growth from a rich resource base and a portfolio of quality investment opportunities.

MRC

(Arabian oil and gas) -- Shell has reported Q2 net earnings of $8 billion, a 77% increase on Q2 2010, when the company banked USD 4.5 billion. Cash flow from operating activities for the second quarter 2011 was USD 10.0 billion. Excluding net working capital movements, cash flow from operating activities in the second quarter 2011 was USD 12.3 billion, compared with USD 8.6 billion in the same quarter last year.

Oil and gas production fell 2 percent to 3.05 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, due to field sales and a warm second quarter which hit European gas demand.

Excluding divestments, output rose 2 percent -- a sign that the company's large recent investment in new projects was beginning to show returns. In a company statement Peter Voser, Shell's CEO highlighted the company's major projects in Canada and Qatar as key contributors to growth.

MRC