Brazil's Petrobras finds new offshore oil well

(Bloomberg) -- Petrobras, the state-run oil company in Brazil, announced Tuesday it has made another discovery in what is proving to be one of the country's most productive offshore regions.
The new well is in the Santos Basin, where large pockets of oil are being found under a layer of salt deep beneath the ocean floor.

Located 144 miles off the coast of Sao Paulo state, the new well is more than 18,000 feet deep and holds "good quality" oil, Petrobras said. The well is in a region of the South Atlantic where seven of Brazil's 18 oil discoveries this year have been made. The well has still to be declared commercially viable.

"The well is still being drilled, with the aim of determining the lower limit of the reservoirs and identifying other possible zones of interest," said the company in a statement.

The U.S. Geological Survey assesses there could be as much as 100 billion barrels of offshore oil yet to be discovered in Brazil. The Santos Basin could hold as much as 46 billion barrels.
MRC

Brazil prosecutor files criminal charges in Chevron oil spill case

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- A federal prosecutor in Brazil will file criminal charges Wednesday against executives from US oil major Chevron and drilling-rig operator Transocean, charging the employees with environmental crimes related to an offshore spill in November. A federal judge will decide whether to bring the charges to trial.

A federal prosecutor in Brazil will file criminal charges Wednesday against executives from US oil major Chevron and drilling-rig operator Transocean, charging the employees with environmental crimes related to an offshore oil spill in November.

The prosecutor, Eduardo Santos de Oliveira, said in a telephone interview Monday that after an extensive investigation "there exists information and evidence that criminal conduct occurred" by employees at the two companies before, during and after the November drilling accident that caused an estimated 2,400 to 3,000 bbl of oil to seep from the seabed at Chevron's Frade field.

Transocean was operating the rig responsible for the well where the accident took place.

Some 12 Chevron and five Transocean employees will be charged with environmental crimes that carry potential prison terms of between two and five years, Oliveira said.

A federal judge will then decide whether to bring the charges to trial.
MRC

DuPont feature amine-free antistat solution for BOPP and PP film

(plastemart) -- A new amine-free antistat solution for BOPP (bi-axially oriented polypropylene) and PP (polypropylene) film delivers a unique combination that helps ensure safer chemistry for food packaging. The new product - GRINDSTED AR100 - will be featured in by DuPont at NPE along with other bio-based additives.

⌠DuPont has strength and depth in antistat solutions for polyolefins, and our new product is something that the market has been seeking for some time, said Bjarne Nielsen, senior applications manager, DuPont Polymer Additives. ⌠Antistats are an important additive in many different packaging applications serving a well-defined purpose: preventing the attraction of dust and other fine particles to the polymer surface that would otherwise render a packaged product unattractive. There is a widespread desire today to avoid traditional ethoxylated amine chemistry wherever possible as demands for unquestioned safe chemistry in food packaging grow steadily.

The new product is aimed at the food packaging industry. ⌠Brand owners are striving to improve all aspects of product safety, and the fact that GRINDSTED AR100 can be used at any loading level to obtain the optimal, desired performance and that it is a 1:1 alternative makes it an obvious choice in PP packaging applications, said Mick Potenza, DuPont Polymer Additives account manager, USA. ⌠We expect the product to be a leader in its field on both sides of the Atlantic.
MRC

Styrolution to streamline its operations in Europe

(chemweek) -- Styrolution has announced a program to streamline its operations in Europe and add capacity in emerging markets. Roberto Gualdoni, Styrolution CEO said that the company will terminate its agreement with Ineos to offtake styrene and polystyrene (PS) from Ineos's Marl, Germany site. This will lead to the closure of the complex after the agreement runs out at the end of this year. The complex is designed to produce 350,000 m.t./year of styrene and 180,000 m.t./year of PS.

Styrolution, meanwhile, will upgrade its styrene copolymers capacity at Ludwigshafen. ⌠We will have an independent state-of-the-art logistics center within our complex at Ludwigshafen, Gualdoni says. That will result in separating, and making independent, the production and logistics processes. The plants, producing Styrolution's Luran styrene acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN), Luran S acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA) copolymers, Terluran acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and Terlux methyl methacrylate ABS copolymers, will be expanded in the process. The company does not disclose its copolymers capacity but says that capacity will increase overall by 20%-30%.


Separately, Styrolution is in the process of selling its Tarragona, Spain acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plant under a previously announced plan. The facility, operating under the name Elix Polymers, will be acquired in the next few weeks by private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, Gualdoni says.

The program involves two separate capacity expansions in Asia. Styrolution is building a 40,000-m.t./year ASA plant at Ulsan, Korea that is due to start up at the beginning of July this year. The facility will complement similar plants in Europe and North America. ⌠We are trying to focus on emerging markets and out of Korea we are supplying practically all of Asia, mainly focusing on China and on specialty areas of our portfolio, Gualdoni says. ASA copolymers are used in the automotive and construction industries.

Styrolution, meanwhile, is increasing capacity at its ABS specialties plant at Vadodara, India. Capacity will rise from 80,000 m.t./year, to 110,000 m.t./year by 2014. The project will be achieved through debottlenecking, which involves the installation of a styrene acrylonitrile resins facility and expansion of compounding capacity.

MRC

Chemtura expands polyurethane prepolymers capacity in Italy

(chemtura) -- Chemtura, a manufacturer and supplier of agrochemicals, specialty chemicals, homecare, pool and spa products, has expanded the production potential of its Vibrathane or Adiprene range of polyurethane prepolymers at the Latina Scalo plant located in Italy.

Investment in additional Adiprene(R) / Vibrathane(R) polyurethane prepolymer production capacity at Chemtura's Latina Scala, Italy, manufacturing facility.The company has completed the engineering work at the Latina location and has also begun further production.

According to Stephen Lewis, Chemtura Urethanes' EMEA business director, the increasing requirement of the Vibrathane or Adiprene prepolymers has resulted in the company increasing its capacity in Europe. This demand was initially driven by the commercialization of MDI-based product lines. Local production capacity is significant for the Urethanes business. The clients require capacity to efficiently and rapidly react to demand in the local market and to satisfy the lead-time demands of their own customers. The capacity expansion at Latina will offer the flexibility to the customers.


Chemtura Urethanes' president, Matthew Hellstern commented that this investment has strengthened the Urethanes business's strategic growth in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions. The company is planning to improve Latina-based EMEA technical development centre that will enable the team to provide better technical support capacities for the clients in the region.
MRC