Saipem has been awarded new E&C Offshore contracts

(Arabian oil and gas) -- In Iraq, Saipem has been awarded by South Oil Company the EPIC contract for the Iraq Crude Oil Export Expansion Project - Phase 2, within the framework of the expansion of the Basra Oil Terminal, off the Al Faw Peninsula in the Arabian Gulf, approximately 550 kilometres south-east of Baghdad.

The contract encompasses the engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of a Central Metering and Manifold Platform (CMMP), to be installed in a water depth of 28 metres, along with associated facilities.

Fabrication of the CMMP topsides will be carried out at Saipem's yard in Karimun (Indonesia), while the jacket and piles will be fabricated at the Saipem Taqa Al-Rushid (STAR) yard in Dammam (Saudi Arabia). Offshore activities will be performed in the third and fourth quarter of 2013.

In Nigeria, Saipem has been awarded the OFON2 - D030 contract by Total E&P Nigeria Limited, for new offshore facilities in the Ofon field, about 50 kilometres off the southern coast of Nigeria.

Saipem will carry out the engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of the OFP2 Jacket (comprising the 1,970 ton jacket structures and the 4,500 ton piles), as well as the transportation and installation of the complete new OFQ living quarter offshore platform.

MRC

(Arabian oil and gas) -- Unique System FZE, a Unique Maritime Group company, has been awarded a US$5.2 million contract to supply a 12 MAN ABS Classed saturation system and 3 air diving systems for the Leighton Offshore diving project, based in the Middle East.

Unique Maritime Group will provide their 12 MAN ABS Classed saturation system, complete with SPHL for subsea construction work activities and will deploy its equipment, consumables and skilled diving personnel on board client-designated vessels for the project.

The Iraq Crude Oil Export Expansion Project (ICOEEP), Phase 1, is being undertaken for Iraq's South Oil Company, by international EPCIC contractor Leighton Offshore as part of an $799 million contract.

The ICOEEP Phase 1 includes the following scope of work on a full engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning basis: Installation and commissioning of two 48 parallel pipelines, 20km onshore and 120km offshore, Installation of three SPM systems (single point mooring systems) capable of receiving and loading VLCC tankers and the fabrication and installation of a 600MT Subsea Valve Manifold.

MRC

(Iraq-BusinessNews) -- The American petrochemical producer Chevron Phillips Chemical is to invest $6 billion (7.2 trillion Iraqi dinars) to create a new facility in Basra. The Company has obtained a licence to operate in the city, and that Basra Investment Commission has also voiced its support for the project and is now seeking to allocate a plot of land. Once launched, the project is expected to provide up to one thousand jobs for local people.

MRC

(MRC) -- Last week the prices of blow molding grade HDPE in Russia began to decline on the back of slumping demand and sufficient supply, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

In early August, many Russian converters anticipated the deficit of blow molding HDPE during scheduled turnarounds of several producers in September - October. As a result, companies made polyethylene inventories as much as possible, and in late September on the back of demand growth the prices reached Rb61,500-66,000/tonne, VAT, CPT Moscow.

October did not keep the upward trend. Some converters report about a serious decline in demand for finished products. Some companies have sufficient inventories of blow molding HDPE since August. The resumption of PE production by Russian producers stabilized the situation.


By Monday, Stavrolen had resumed the production of HDPE after its turnaround on October 10. The deliveries of blow molding polyethylene to the domestic market has been planned on Wednesday. Gazprom neftechem Salavat had also resumed HDPE production by beginning of this week. Due to technical problems, the company stopped the capacities ahead of schedule on September, 1st. In October, Nizhnekamskneftechem resumed the deliveries of blow molding HDPE.


By the beginning of the week, a low demand and sufficient supply had resulted in falling of the prices of blow molding HDPE by Rb1,500/tonne to Rb61,500-64,500/tonne, VAT, CPT Moscow.


MRC

(Plasteurope) -- Brazilian masterbatch and additive manufacturer Cromex (Sao Paulo) appointed Resin Trade (Burton on Trent / UK) the exclusive distributor of its black, white, colour and additive masterbatches in the UK and Ireland. The UK group already distributes fellow Brazilian manufacturer Braskem's (Sao Paulo) entire portfolio in the UK and Ireland.

Cromex operates two masterbatch plants in Brazil. At its headquarters in Sao Paulo, the group can turn out 18,000 t/y of coloured masterbatches, whereas its plant in Simoes Filho has a nameplate capacity of 82,000 t/y of white and black masterbatches as well as additives. Cromex products are exported to more than 60 countries.

Founded in 1993, Resin Trade distributed more than 45,000 t/y of polymer between the UK and Spain in 2010, and expects that number to rise to 60,000 t/y in 2011. Aside from Cromex and Braskem, the UK distributor also handles the sales of Equate Petrochemicals' (Safat / Kuwait) PE and from its office in Alicante / Spain also distributes Octal Petrochemicals' (Musqat / Oman) PET resins in Spain and Portugal.

MRC