Total inks deal with Kuwait Petroleum Corp to buy stake in Zhanjiang refinery

(Reuters) -- Total has signed an agreement with two units of state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation to take a stake in the Zhanjiang refinery and petrochemicals platform in China.

Total, Kuwait Petroleum International and Petrochemicals Industries Company have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to take part in the development of the 300,000 bpd full-conversion refinery integrated with petrochemicals and marketing, in partnership with China's Sinopec. It would be designed to process Kuwaiti crude as feedstock and produce high-quality refined and petrochemicals products.

MRC

(Reuters) -- Total has signed an agreement with two units of state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation to take a stake in the Zhanjiang refinery and petrochemicals platform in China.

Total, Kuwait Petroleum International and Petrochemicals Industries Company have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to take part in the development of the 300,000 bpd full-conversion refinery integrated with petrochemicals and marketing, in partnership with China's Sinopec. It would be designed to process Kuwaiti crude as feedstock and produce high-quality refined and petrochemicals products.

MRC

(mausergroup) -- Effective as of March 1st , 2012 or as contracts allow, the Mauser Group will increase its prices for Plastic packaging and IBCs by USD 150 / ton for recovering recent raw material price increases for HDPE and PP material. All contractual obligations will be honoured.

MAUSER Group is a worldwide leading producer of industrial packaging with approx. 4,000 employees and consolidated revenue of some EUR 1 billion. Founded in 1896 and headquartered in Bruehl near Cologne (Germany), the company has influenced the international market through innovative packaging technologies.

The portfolio for customers in the chemical, agrochemical, petrochemical, and pharmaceutical sectors as well as in the food and beverage industries includes plastic packaging, fibre drums, steel drums, Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBC), and reconditioning services through the National Container Group (NCG), a MAUSER subsidiary.

MAUSER therefore provides sustainability-oriented full cycle services - from production to recycling (⌠ECO-CYCLE). With 60 MAUSER/NCG sites and multiple Joint Ventures in Europe, the Americas and Asia plus two licensee networks for plastic and steel packaging, the company is a presence around the globe.

MRC

(chemicalnorthwest) -- The polypropylene (PP) unit at Stavrolen's petrochemical plant in Budyennovsk, Russia, LUKOIL-held petrochemical entity was restarted on 11 March following a fire in December last year, LUKOIL informed.

The launching is provided by the raw purchase from Karpatneftekhim (Ukraine, Lukoil sub) and some Russian producers. Now about 6,000 tonnes of propylene are under transportation.

Stavrolen is a polyethylene producer. LUKOIL is ranked as the second by the crude oil output in Russia. The share capital is equal to 21264081.375 rub. The largest share of the enterprice is held by the top managers.

The proved reserves reached 17.3bn barrel of oil equivalent. The 2010-output gained 2.239mln barrel/day which is 1.2% higher prior year period.
MRC

(ajinomoto) -- Ajinomoto Co., Inc. ("Ajinomoto") and Toray Industries, Inc. ("Toray") have entered into an agreement to begin joint research for manufacturing the nylon raw material 1,5-pentanediamine (1,5-PD) from the amino acid lysine produced from plant materials by Ajinomoto using fermentation technology, and commercializing a biobased nylon made from this substance.

Biobased nylon is a type of nylon manufactured by polymerizing chemicals produced from plant materials. The biobased nylon that Ajinomoto and Toray will research and develop is produced from plant materials by decarbonating the amino acid lysine through an enzyme reaction to make 1,5-PD, which Toray then polymerizes with dicarboxylic acid.

The amino acid lysine is a core product of the Ajinomoto Group produced using fermentation technology. This biobased nylon fiber made from 1,5-PD is not only sustainable because it is plant-based, but also shows promise for development into highly comfortable clothing. For example, nylon 56 fiber manufactured using 1,5-PD is pleasing to the touch, yet has the same strength and heat resistance as conventional nylon fiber made from the petrochemical derivative hexamethylenediamine. It also absorbs and desorbs moisture nearly as well as cotton.

The two companies have already carried out successful test production of 1,5-PD using Ajinomoto's feed-use lysine, as well as test production of biobased nylon made by polymerizing 1,5-PD. They plan to further expand the scope of their collaboration to include development of production processes and evaluation of use in textile and plastics applications.
MRC