Lukoil to use new technology for petrochemical production in Russia

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Honeywell’s UOP has been selected by Russia's Lukoil to provide technology to produce high-quality gasoline blending components, propylene and other petrochemicals at its facility in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. In addition to technology licensing, UOP and a number of its affiliates will provide engineering design, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, staff training and technical service for the project, the company said.

“With legislation in the Russian Federation calling for improved gasoline quality, as well as the region's rising petrochemicals demand, UOP is pleased to offer technology solutions that work together to meet those needs,” said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president and general manager of Honeywell's UOP process technology and equipment business unit.

The suite of Honeywell's UOP technology will be used in a new integrated fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) complex, the second such complex to be licensed by Lukoil at the Nizhny Novgorod facility.

The new units, expected to start up in 2015, will produce more than 1 million tpy of gasoline blending components and more than 170,000 tpy of propylene.

Lukoil is Russia's second largest oil company and its second largest producer of oil. Lukoil carries out exploration and production of oil and gas in Russia and as of 2008 thirty other countries, amongst others Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Colombia, Venezuela, Belgium, and Saudi Arabia.
The company runs 4 main oil refineries in Russia with a combined refining capacity of approximately 44.1 million tones, two "mini-refineries" and also refineries outside Russia.
MRC

(Arkema) -- Arkema announces a price increase of EUR140/MT for its whole Evatane (High Content Ethylene Vinyl Acetate Copolymer) range starting August 1, 2012.

During the past months, the EVA market was undergoing a price erosion that affected profitability. In view of the coming strong price hike of Ethylene in August, we are forced to pass this increase to the market.

Marketed under the trademark Evatane, Arkema's EVA products are used in highly diverse industrial applications, including hotmelt, cable, multilayer packaging film, technical polymer modification, solar panel, petroleum additives, bitumen and ink.
MRC

(online.wsj) -- French specialty chemicals maker Arkema confirmed it expects its earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a measure of a company's cash flow, will be close to 1 billion euros (USD1.23billion) in 2012 after reporting second quarter data.

Sales in second quarter 2012 increased 15% to EUR1.72 billion. This increase includes the contribution of the acquisitions.

EBITDA reached EUR306 million, close to the record level of last year (EUR321 million). "This high performance illustrates the Group's resilience in a challenging macro-economic environment, marked by contrasted market conditions between the various geographic regions of the world and the price fluctuations of raw materials," Arkema said.

EBITDA margin at 17.8% in the first half of the year (21.6% in 2nd quarter 2011 and 15.6% in 1st quarter 2012).

Recurring operating income reached EUR229 million against EUR260 million in second quarter 2011, after deduction of EUR77 million depreciation and amortization, EUR16 million up due primarily to acquisitions and the currency translation effect related to the strengthening of the US dollar versus the euro.

The company posted a net loss of EUR164 million in the first half, from a EUR30 million loss in the first half 2011.

While remaining cautious about changes in the macro-economic environment, and assuming continuity with the first half of the year, Arkema confirms its confidence in its ability to deliver a very solid year in 2012, and should achieve an EBITDA close to EUR1 billion.
Beyond, Arkema aims to achieve EUR8 billion sales and EUR1.25 billion EBITDA by 2016.
MRC

(chemmonitor) -- Milan-based top elastomer producer Versalis, wholly-owned by Italian multinational oil & gas firm Eni SpA, together with the US-based Genomatica, a leader in the chemical technologies industry, and Novamont, the world’s best performer in bioplastics production and an expert in the domain of 3G biorefineries, have entered into a strategic agreement to commence the polymer-grade bio-based butadiene production.

This recent venture, aimed at bringing together the key competencies of all three parties, comes just over a month after the establishment of Matrica, a 50-50 JV engaged in deriving bio-based chemicals between Versalis and Novamont.

Versalis, holding a majority share, will utilize Genomatica’s proprietary process engineering technology allowing it to obtain butadiene on a sustainable basis, thus gaining a significant competitive edge and reducing its ecological footprint. Butadiene is a key raw material for the Italian company’s elastomers business.

In the not so distant future, Genomatica’s production processes are intended to be commercially available in many parts of the world.

Furthermore, the partnership will be able to count upon Novamont’s competence in the area of feedstocks derived from renewable sources of energy.
MRC