Russian Yamal to host three large petchem centers

(downstreamtoday) -- Three large petrochemical centres are planned to be formed on the basis of natural gas, which is produced in the Arctic zone of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, Academician Alexei Kontorovich said.

In his words, the Petroleum Geology and Geophysics Institute of the Siberian Branch (Russian Academy of Sciences) completed the analysis of the oil-and-gas bearing capacity of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area and the Kara Sea area. Under the research, the above-mentioned territories have got colossal reserves of wet gas, which may be widely used in the domestic petrochemical industry.

"This may become a new material and new technology for our petrochemical industry," Kontorovich said. "This sort of natural gas, wet gas, has a complicated composition of hydrocarbons. It is a promising raw material for the petrochemical sector."

"Russia's petroleum chemistry, like European, always has been focused on the processing of gasoline fractions. At the same time, the United State and Canada mainly refine wet gases, which is more profitable," the academician explained.
MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Fluor was awarded a contract by Petronas to provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) services for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal in Malaysia. Fluor booked the undisclosed contract value in the first quarter of 2012. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Fluor was awarded a contract by Petronas to provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) services for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal in Malaysia.

The new terminal will supply gas to an adjacent 300-megawatt combined cycle power plant in the town of Lahad Datu, Sabah. Fluor booked the undisclosed contract value in the first quarter of 2012.

Fluor said it will be utilizing local subcontractors and suppliers for various facets of the project.This contract further consolidates Fluor's position in Malaysia where the company is performing other projects in the oil refining sector and in the LNG regasification business and where significant project growth opportunities are expected in the near term.

Fluor was previously part of a joint venture that provided Petronas with preliminary engineering services for a new LNG liquefaction plant at the existing facility in Bintulu, Malaysia.
MRC

(plasticsinfomart) -- Global monomer markets ended March on a firm note amidst steady to slightly firmer spot prices on a global scale. Spot propylene and ethylene prices increased in Asia and the US in the last week of March.

In Europe, however, spot ethylene and propylene prices were stable to softer in contrast to higher contract settlements. As for styrene, global spot markets followed a stable to slightly firmer trend over the past week, but the most recent increases failed to move prices back above their early March levels.

The bullish trend was mainly attributed to concerns regarding restricted availability. Technical issues at several regional crackers resulted in shutdowns or lower operating rates in South Korea and Japan.

MRC

(nctww) -- Canada's NOVA Chemicals is studying the possibility of building two polyethylene (PE) plants and expanding ethylene capacity, a company executive said on Tuesday.

The studies are part of the company's ⌠NOVA 2020 growth strategy, said president of olefins and feedstock Grant Thompson on the sidelines of the International Petrochemical Conference (IPC) in San Antonio.
NOVA has taken several actions to secure additional ethane feedstock supply for its crackers in Corunna, Ontario, and Joffre, Alberta.

The new feedstock supplies would help the Joffre crackers reach capacity production rates, Thompson said, which in turn could feed a new derivatives plant.

⌠It is common knowledge that we haven't been running our Joffre facility at capacity because of the feedstock situation in Alberta, Thompson said. ⌠We have done a number of things to resolve that beginning in 2014.
NOVA has 2.8m tonnes/year of ethylene capacity at its Joffre complex.
MRC

(nctww) -- The arbitrage opportunity to move polyethylene cargoes from China to Southeast Asia is open, market participants say, but cargo flow is still limited.

Linear low density polyethylene has been the main candidate for traders to move from Chinese bonded warehouses to Southeast Asia. The industry calls this practice "re-exporting."

This was largely because demand for PE is slow in China due to lower-than-usual orders for finished products, market sources said. At the same time, the PE market typically experiences a low demand season between April and May. This has caused a big gap between prices of ex-warehouse cargoes and shipment cargoes.

"We are re-exporting more cargoes from our Chinese warehouses to Southeast Asia," a Vietnam-based trader said.
Market sources were unable to pinpoint exactly when the arbitrage window opened, but have seen movements over the last two weeks.

Other market participants said the such re-export trading is still limited.
"The arbitrage is wide open," a Singapore-based trader said. "But traders in China want to hold on to their lower cost cargo."
MRC