LANXESS completes EUR 30m membrane filtration plant in Germany

(ICIS) -- Germany-based LANXESS has inaugurated a chemical plant to develop and produce membrane filtration technology for water treatment at its site in Bitterfeld, the specialty chemicals company said on Friday. The company has invested around EUR 30m (USD 42m) in the 4,000sqm project, which will create around 200 new jobs in the long term.

Membrane elements filter out unwanted substances from water such as salts, pesticides, herbicides, viruses and bacteria. The value of the global membrane market alone is estimated at around EUR 1bn/year and is set to rise, according to the company. LANXESS' first reverse osmosis membrane elements will be available on the market from early 2012.

The company added that in 2011 it is planning to invest around EUR 160m in its German sites, ⌠somewhat more than in 2010, LANXESS said without going in detail.

LANXESS announced in January 2010 that it would build the chemical plant at its Bitterfeld site as part of the group's strategy to further expand into the water treatment business.


MRC

(Arabian oil and gas) -- Saipem has today announced it has been awarded new offshore and onshore drilling contracts worth over USD 500 million. In offshore drilling, Saipem signed two contracts in Angola and Saudi Arabia.

In Angola, Saipem has been awarded a contract for the extension of the charter of Saipem 12000 drillship for 2 years by Total E&P Angola, starting from August 2015.

Saipem 12000 is an ultra deepwater drillship, capable of operating in water depths up to 12,000 feet in full dynamic positioning mode.

The second contract has been assigned to Saipem by Saudi Aramco for the charter of the jack-up Perro Negro 7, for drilling activities in the waters of Saudi Arabia. The contract starts in the second half of 2011, extending the existing contract for a period of 3 years.

MRC

(Arabian oil and gas) -- Lukoil is seeking quick approvals of its tender offers as the Russian supermajor looks to get drilling at the West Qurna II bloc before the year is out. "We hope that by October, the Iraqi ministry will approve all our tender offers", the London-listed company's chief executive Vagit Alekperov, Lukoil's CEO, told Dow Jones on Friday that he hopes to see contracts approved "by October," according to a Dow Jones report.

The phase II bloc is estimated to hold almost 13 billion barrels of reserves, which Lukoil - in conjunction with Norway's Statoil - hopes to raise at a rate of 1.8 million barrels per day over the life of their 20-year service contract.

Lukoil owns a 56.25% interest in the field, while Iraqi state-owned North Oil Company owns a 25% stake and Norway's Statoil holds the remaining 18.75%.

MRC

(Arabian oil and gas) -- The news follows Daelim's award of the USD 920 million main hydrocracker package announced in July. South Korea's Daelim Industrial announced to the South Korean stock exchange on Friday that it has signed a USD 707 million deal to build a plant in Saudi Arabia, as part of the mommoth USD 20 billion Sadara joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical. In the regulatory filing, the EPC firm told the exchange that contract is for delivery in 2014, without giving further specifics of the contract. The news follows Daelim's award of the USD 920 million main hydrocracker package announced in July.

MRC

(Arabian oil and gas) -- BP CEO Bob Dudley has been wooing Abu Dhabi's government ahead of its decision on the renewal of its long-term oil production contract for Adco, the emirate's largest onhore oil concession, and used a press conference to affirm the supermajor's commitement to raise production at Iraq's Rumaila oil field.

"Abu Dhabi and the emirates have been important to BP for 70 years," Dudley told a press conference in the Emirate yesterday. "And we'd want to continue to cooperate with people, technology."

BP currently has a 9.5% interest in the 1.4 million barrels per day Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco), under a long-term contract that is due to come to an end in 2014. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has confirmed that a decision on who is to participate in the renewed contract will be made within the next few months, and has warned IOCs to expect changes from the current contracts, under which margins are tight but not much is expected from ADNOC's partners.

MRC