INEOS named three possible sites for its US EO investment

(ICIS) -- INEOS Oxide has nominated three sites on the US Gulf coast as possible locations for its planned 500,000 tonne/year ethylene oxide (EO) and derivatives capacity investment, INEOS said on Friday.

The Switzerland-registered chemicals major also said that operation of its new deep-sea ethylene terminal at its Zwijndrecht facilities in Belgium is expected to start in 2012, as planned.
INEOS said that it would choose between Plaquemine, Louisiana, Battleground, La Porte in Texas and Chocolate Bayou, also in Texas, in a detailed study for the EO, glycol (EG) and derivatives plants.

⌠The work we have done since March has reaffirmed that the US is the obvious location for INEOS Oxide to consider its next expansion, said INEOS Oxide CEO Hans Casier. ⌠It is a market we know well, where INEOS Group already has a well-placed manufacturing presence that is capable of taking full advantage of competitively priced feedstock, he added.
The advent of shale gas has given the US access to relatively cheap ethane and there are projects planned by a number of companies to add new cracking capacity for the production of ethylene.

INEOS is a major importer of ethylene in Europe, with an annual requirement of close to 1.5m tonnes/year. The new ethylene terminal in Belgium will allow the company to tap into deep sea ethylene supplies and will meet the bulk of that requirement.


MRC

(Lukoil) -- The OAO Lukoil Board of Directors held a meeting in Moscow today to approve the Lukoil Group Strategic Development Program for 2012-2021. According to the Program, the key objective of the Company for the period is to reach the dynamics of sustainable production growth. The average annual growth rate of hydrocarbon production over the next ten years is expected to be at least 3.5%. The major part of the production increment is expected to come from the Company's promising projects in Iraq, Central Asia, the Caspian Sea and the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District.

Production will also continue to grow in the traditional regions due to a significantly greater amount of reserves involved in development. Hydrocarbon production will be completely compensated for by an increment in reserves due to a higher oil recovery factor resulting from broad application of state-of-the-art field exploration and development technologies.

The Program pays special attention to ensuring a balance between the free cash allocated for development purposes (implementation of investment projects), on the one hand, and for shareholder payments, on the other. As a result, the Company's free-cash flow in the coming decade will increase significantly, while shareholder value will grow several times over.


The new strategy will be presented to the financial and investment community in the first quarter of 2012.

LUKOIL Group's investment costs for 2012-2014 are expected to be approximately USD 48 billion, including USD 13.9 billion in 2012. These investments will be used to create groundwork for the Company's consistent and sustainable production growth in the coming decade. In particular, large production projects in Iraq (West Qurna-2), in the Caspian Sea (Filanovsky field), in West Siberia (Pyakyakhinskoye field), in Uzbekistan (the Kandym group of fields) and a number of other projects will be launched.


MRC

(Braskem) -- Braskem's Green Plastic has won the 2011 Eco Award as the best project in the Sustainability in Products or Services category. Made from sugarcane ethanol, green plastic was given its name because of its recyclability and the fact that it benefits the environment by capturing up to 2.5 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per ton of polyethylene produced. Up until then, all polyethylenes were produced from petroleum-based raw materials.

Braskem's global leadership in the production of biopolymers, thanks to its capacity to produce up to 200,000 tons of Green Polyethylene per year, is aligned with its strategy of innovation and commitment to sustainable development, meeting the expectations of Brazilian and international society with initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The award, created 29 years ago by the American Chamber of Commerce in Brazil (Amcham Brasil), has become one of the most important in the sustainability area. The winners were judged to have had the best business models and strategies incorporating sustainability, either in relation to processes or products and services.

MRC

(Reuters) - Qatar signed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell on Sunday to develop a USD 6.4 billion (4.0 billion pounds) petrochemicals complex in the Ras Laffan industrial city in the Gulf Arab state. Qatar's energy minister, Mohammed al-Sada, and Shell chief executive Peter Voser signed the agreement in Doha. "We estimate the cost to be USD 6.4 billion but at this stage one should be cautious," Sada said.

Asked whether the agreement replaced a similar one signed with U.S. group Exxon Mobil, Sada said: "No, this is not a replacement. This is a continuation of our strategy. There will be other petrochemical plants in the pipeline."

While industry sources said last year they believed Exxon had pulled out of the agreement, chief executive Rex Tillerson denied that and told reporters the company was waiting for Qatar to make its decision.

The plant agreed with Shell will have the capacity to produce 1.5 million tonnes of mono-ethylene glycol per year and 300,000 tonnes of linear alpha olefin, mostly for export to Asian markets, an official statement said. State-run Qatar Petroleum will have an 80 percent equity interest in the project and Shell will hold the remaining 20 percent.

Qatar is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), gas chilled for export by ship

MRC

(PlastEurope) -- French oil and chemical group Total plans to invest about EUR1bn in expanding its chemical activities, with half the money earmarked for petrochemistry and the other half for special chemistry. In financial 2010, the group's petrochemical activities - including its plastics divisions - accounted for about EUR 10.7 bn in revenues, while special chemistry yielded EUR 6.8 bn. Speaking to Germany's Handelsblatt, Francois Cornelis, the group's deputy CEO and board member responsible for Total Chemicals, clarified that Total would hold on to its polystyrene business, which it plans to structurally improve in Europe and expand in Asia.

Following the October 2011 merger of the styrene activities of both BASF and Ineos in Styrolution, Total dropped down to the position of world's second largest styrene player. With global capacities of about 1.6m t/y, the French group continues to play a lead role, with the world's third largest styrene producer Styron trailing quite some distance behind.

Together, these three players account for about one third of the world's PS market. As for the direct feedstock VCM, Total occupies fourth spot in the global rankings, but its 2.2m t/y monomer capacity make it a fully integrated player.

MRC