China eyes tech breakthrough before shale gas leap

(Reuters) -- China wants to identify the right technology to unlock its potentially large shale gas resource in the next few years, aiming for a leap in shale production by 2020, two years after it embarked on a search of the unconventional fuel.

Top energy agency, the National Energy Administration (NEA) officially unveiled on Friday a target to produce 6.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of shale gas by 2015, or roughly 6 percent of China's current total gas production.

But it intends to dramatically boost output to 60-100 bcm in 2020, a level some experts say is over-ambitious as it faces techonological, environmental and regulatory roadblocks.

"The U.S. technologies may not be fully applicable in China's shale gas formation, they need to be revamped," Zhang Yuqing, NEA's head of Oil and Gas Department, said.

"The main task in the 12th five-year period is to lay a good foundation, especially some key technologies in shale gas exploration and development." China started the shale push in late 2009, inspired by a shale boom in the United States. Its state energy firms have since then entered multi-billion-dollar shale deals in the United States with Chesapeake Energy and Devon Energy Corp.

At home companies have drilled several dozens of wells and brought in firms such as Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corp and Hess Corp for joint studies. But China has yet to start commercial shale production, though it is widely believed to hold the world's largest shale resource.

The Ministry of Land and Resources revealed early this month China may hold 25.08 trillion cubic metres (tcm) of potentially recoverable shale gas resources. That compared to a U.S. Energy Informationa Agency's forecast in March 2011 at some 36 tcm.
MRC

(canplastics) -- Magna Seating, a unit of Canada-based auto parts maker Magna International, will build a car seat cover factory in northern Serbia, the country's investment promotion agency said.

The 34,400-square-foot plant will employ 132 people initially but this will increase to 444 by 2015, Aleksandar Miloradovic, spokesman for Serbia Investment and Export Promotion Agency, told the international media.

Plant construction, to begin in the second quarter of 2012, is estimated to cost USD3.75 million.

The plant will be located in Odzaci, 140km northwest of Belgrade, where local authorities will provide a 6.6 acre plot as part of efforts to attract foreign direct investments, Miloradovic said.

Magna International is headquartered in Aurora, Ont.
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(canplastics) -- Canadian-based chemical and resin supplier Nova Chemicals Corporation had a good year in 2011, reporting a profit rise of 22 per cent in the fourth quarter.

"We generated a profit of USD77 million compared to a profit of USD63 million in the fourth quarter of 2010," the Calgary-based company said in a press release. "For the full year 2011, we generated a profit of USD615 million compared to a profit of USD263 million for the full year 2010."

The company's Performance Styrenics segment reported an operating profit from continuing operations of USD1 million in each of the fourth quarters of 2011 and 2010, the company continued. For the full year 2011, the segment generated an operating profit from continuing operations of USD7 million compared to an operating profit from continuing operations of USD3 million for the full year 2010.

As the only sour note, Nova reported a decline in operating profit in its olefins unit, from USD210 million in Q4 2010 to USD190 million in Q4 2011. "The quarter-over-quarter decline was due to an increase in margin in our olefins segments that was more than offset by a decline in margins in our polyethylene segment," Nova said. For the full year though, the business unit generated operating profit of USD1.13 billion compared to operating profit of USD786 million in 2010. "The year-over-year improvement was primarily due to higher margins in our olefins segments,"Nova said.
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(canplastics) -- In a bid to strengthen its product offering of conductive compounds in Europe and globally, custom engineered thermoplastics compounder RTP Company has acquired the conductive compound product line from Clariant of Switzerland.


The terms of the purchase have not been disclosed. According to a news release, Winona, Minn.-based RTP Company will relocate production equipment to its manufacturing facility in Ladenburg, Germany, which opened in April 2011.


⌠The transaction includes technology and equipment that the RTP Company and Clariant will work to seamlessly transfer ensuring no interruption for established customers, the release continued.

⌠This expansion enhances our Ladenburg facility's capability to supply European and global customers for these materials, said Jean Sirois, RTP Company's European managing director.

RTP Company offers customized thermoplastic compounds in over 60 different engineering resin systems for applications requiring color, conductive, elastomeric, flame retardant, high temperature, structural, and wear-resistant properties.
MRC

(leparisien) -- The Swiss group Klesch, specialized in the resumption of companies in difficulty, deposited Thursday afternoon an takeover offer of the Petroplus refinery of Small-Crown (Seine-Maritime) which envisages to preserve 410 employment out of 550, declared in AFP a spokesperson.

The offer, lodged with the receiver, includes/understands a plan with engagements over 5 years aiming at bringing back the refinery Norman to profitability via investments of 160 million euros, specified this spokesperson of Klesch in France, confirming information of the Barber.

The objective of the group, it explained, is to make a success of the re-establishment and the return to the profitability of the refinery, currently in file for bankruptcy after the financial collapse of its owner, the Swiss refiner Petroplus.

This plan includes a guarantee on 410 employment on a total from approximately 550, specified the spokesperson, that is to say 140 suppressions of employment.
Klesch, controlled by the US investor Gary Klesch, had made share at the beginning of 2012 of its interest for Small-Crown, with the stop since January and which must start again in May thanks to a six month old temporary contract with Shell.

The bankruptcy of Petroplus illustrated the difficulties of the sector of the refining on the Old continent, which suffers from surplus production capacities because of regular fall of the request for fuels and refined products.
Klesch also recently announced of its interest for the refineries Petroplus de Coryton in the United Kingdom and d' Ingolstadt in Germany. He also addressed at the end of February a letter of intent where he says himself interested by another French refinery threatened of closing, that of LyondellBasell with Berre-l' Etang (Rhone delta).

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