Jacobs wins refinery expansion contract in Russia

(refiningandpetrochemicals) -- Jacobs Engineering Group has secured a contract from Afipsky Refinery for an undisclosed sum in Russia.

The firm will be responsible to develop a basic engineering package for an amine regenerator unit, a sour water stripper and an expected 55 tonnes per day sulfur recovery unit (SRU).

All three units are part of a refinery extension project which includes a hydrotreater unit and a visbreaker unit.

The SRU design is based on Jacobs proprietary EUROCLAUS process and is being executed from Jacobs office in Leiden, Netherlands.

Currently, Jacobs is working closely with the Moscow-based EPC contractor and engineer of gas treating units and SRU's Giprogazoochistka.

MRC

(plasteurope) -- Automotive injection moulded component supplier Birkby's Plastics (Liversedge / UK) has been placed in administration, effective 3 April, putting some 370 jobs at risk.

The business has a turnover of GBP 25m (EUR 30m) but has been operating at a loss for several years and is not financially viable currently, according to Hunter Kelly, joint administrator at Ernst & Young (London / UK). He said an extensive sale process had been undertaken since the start of 2012 but added that Birkby's had failed to identify a purchaser prepared to make an acceptable offer for the business and its assets, although around 60 parties had expressed interest.

Birkby's Plastics has 71 injection moulding presses on its 24-acre (9.6-hectare) site. They range from 25 t clamp up to 2,000 t. The first-stage processes incorporate multi-cavity moulding, insert moulding, over-moulding, two-shot moulding, low pressure injection-compression moulding, in-mould decoration, structural foam moulding and gas injection.

Post-injection finishing processes include painting, hot plate welding, ultrasonic welding, laser welding and multi-component assembly. The automotive product portfolio includes mud flaps, glove box assemblies, accelerator pedals, grab handles and seat back covers. Birkby's principal customers are Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover. It also has extensive product design, prototyping and toolmaking facilities.
MRC

(plasteurope) -- Shortly before Easter, Finnish pipe manufacturer Uponor (Vantaa) announced that it had wrapped up the sale of its German OEM unit Hewing (Ochtrup) to Rettig ICC (Maastricht / The Netherlands).

The EUR 11.9m deal is effective from 1 January 2012 and Hewing's performance therefore will not be accretive to Uponor's 2012 performance. The German OEM producer's 230 employees generated sales of more than EUR 46m in 2011.

MRC

(cpchem) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP (Chevron Phillips Chemical) will build the world's largest on-purpose 1-hexene plant capable of producing up to 250,000 metric tons (551,000,000 lbs) per year at its Cedar Bayou Chemical Complex in Baytown, Texas. Construction is targeted to commence in the first half of 2012, and the project is anticipated to start up during the first quarter of 2014.

The company has executed agreements with S & B Engineers and Constructors, Ltd., to engineer and build the plant utilizing Chevron Phillips Chemical's proprietary, 2nd generation, on-purpose 1-hexene technology, which produces comonomer grade 1-hexene from ethylene with exceptional product purity.

The new 1-hexene unit at the Cedar Bayou facility will enjoy significant advantages in infrastructure, feedstock availability, and operational expertise. 1-hexene is a critical component used in the manufacture of polyethylene, a plastic resin commonly converted into film, pipe, detergent bottles, and food and beverage containers.
MRC

(abc) -- Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Chemical section of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Azerikimya industrial association keeps on upgrade of industrial capacities. At the forum in Baku on Oil Gas Processing and Petrochemical Complex (SOCAR OGPC Forum) coming to the end, head of Azerikimya Mukhtar Babayev stated that by 2014 the Association is planning to put into operation installations on high-pressure polypropylene and polyethylene production.

" According to the plan, by 2020 Azerikimya will produce up to 165.000 tons ethylene, 200.000 tons propylene, 160.000 tons polyethylene and 160.000 tons high pressure polyethylene a year ",- M. Babayev said.

Azerikimya was incorporated in SOCAR by decree of Azerbaijani President from 2 April 2010.

MRC