Oil dips below USD107 on news of meet between Iran and six world powers

(plastemart) -- Asia saw oil prices fall below USD107 on news of an agreement to meet on April 13 between Iran and six world powers- United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.

News of this meeting has spread optimism of a negotiated resolution to the current dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Brent crude for May delivery dipped to USD125.5 per barrel in London. Rising crude inventories in developed countries and quickening inflation and weaker consumer demand caused by soaring fuel costs could also bring oil prices lower.

Saudi Arabia has pledged to increase production to replace Iran's lost output, but that would leave little global spare capacity.


MRC

Foster Wheeler subsidiary awarded project management consultancy contract

(plastemart) -- Foster Wheeler announced today that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract by PT Pertamina (Persero) (Pertamina), the national oil company of the Republic of Indonesia, to provide project management consultancy services for the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) Project at the Cilacap Refinery, on the island of Java, Indonesia.

Foster Wheeler will manage the engineering, procurement and construction contractor on behalf of Pertamina. The value of Foster Wheeler's contract was not disclosed and will be included in the company's first-quarter 2012 bookings.

The RFCC project is intended to build a 62,000 bpd RCC Complex, which includes a RFCC, a new LPG Merox(TM) unit (Merox is a trademark of UOP LLC), and propylene recovery and gasoline hydrotreating units. The addition of an RFCC unit should enable the refinery to increase fuel production, especially fuel-air high-octane fuels intended to meet European Union EURO IV quality specifications. Production of liquid petroleum gases is also expected to be increased by 350,000 tons per annum (TPA), and the refinery also plans to produce in excess of 140,000 TPA of propylene. The upgrade is expected to be completed in 2014.
MRC

Formosa and Kraton venture eyes styrene copolymer plant in Taiwan

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Kraton Performance Polymers is forming a 50-50 joint venture with Formosa Petrochemical to build and operate a 30,000 tpy hydrogenated styrenic block copolymer (HSBC) plant in Mailiao, Taiwan. Plant operation is expected in the first half of 2014, according to project officials.


Kraton Performance Polymers is forming a 50-50 joint venture with Formosa Petrochemical to build and operate a 30,000 tpy hydrogenated styrenic block copolymer (HSBC) plant in Mailiao, Taiwan, Kraton said on Monday.


The plant will provide an additional supply capability and will set a new global standard for efficiency and product quality for HSBCs, the company said. Plant operation is expected in the first half of 2014.


MRC

Sibur sells its first carbon units

(sibur) -- SIBUR has sold its first batch of Emission Reduction Units (ERUs) comprising 1.2 million tonnes of СО2. The ERUs were acquired by the investment bank JP Morgan, with Sberbank Russia, the Russian carbon unit operator, coordinating the process.

The total volume of the project is 8 million tonnes of СО2, a capacity achieved thanks to the construction of the second stage of SIBUR's Yuzhno-Baliksky Gas Processing Plant in the Khanty-Mansijsk Autonomous District. As a result of this project, which was completed in 2009, the plant's capacity for APG processing increased from 1.5 billion m3 to 3 billion m3 per year.

SIBUR has invested more than 8 billion roubles (over 250 million US dollars) in the expansion of Yuzhno-Baliksky GPP, and, as a result, extraction of the desired cut at the plant has increased to 95% overall. The new complex consists of a booster compression station, drying and low-temperature condensation sections, a propane refrigerating unit, and other auxiliary facilities. The complex is a self-contained GPP, the first facility on such a scale constructed in Russia in the last decade.

The expansion of Yuzhno-Baliksky GPP was made possible due to SIBUR's partnership with the oil company Rosneft, which supplies associated petroleum gas (APG) to Yuzhno-Baliksky GPP. As a result of their collaboration SIBUR and Rosneft, will take an equal share of earnings from ERUs.

The funds which SIBUR will receive will be invested in the construction of the Vyngapurovsky GPP and the building of infrastructure for transporting APG derivatives - NGLs. The construction works at Vyngapurovsky GPP are expected to be completed in summer this year. After that the capacity of APG supplied from Gazprom Neft JSC's deposits in the Khanty-Mansijsk Autonomous District to Vyngapurovsky GPP will increase to 2.4 billion m3 per year.

MRC

Fire strikes Westlake vinyls chemical plant in Louisiana

(isssource) -- Investigators are still searching for the cause of an explosion and fire Thursday at Westlake Chemical Corp.'s plant in Ascension Parish in Geismar, LA, which knocked out a unit making feedstock for a widely used plastic resin.

The fire erupted at 8 a.m. in the Geismar Vinyls Complex while workers were restarting a unit shut down a few days earlier for normal maintenance, said David Hansen, spokesman for Houston-based Westlake Chemical.
No one was injured and the cause of the fire and explosion remains under investigation, said Karen Khonsari, Westlake Chemical's environmental health and safety manager.
⌠All persons are accounted for, and the fire is currently under control, she said during a news conference Thursday morning.

The affected unit makes vinyl chloride monomer, the feedstock for polyvinyl chloride, a commonly used ingredient in a variety of household products, including piping.
Hansen said the unit makes about 550 million pounds of VCM annually, while the plant makes 60 million pounds of PVC.

MRC