Chevron resumes Romania shale gas work

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US oil major Chevron has resumed work at what will be its first shale gas well in Romania after protests had earlier suspended operations, reported Upstreamonline.

The US supermajor in October suspended work at the Barlad concession near the north-eastern town of Silistea after protesters blocked access to the site.

"Chevron can confirm that it has resumed operations," Reuters quoted the company as saying in a statement.

"Our priority is to conduct these activities in a safe and environmentally responsible manner consistent with the permits under which we operate."

The suspension came after Pungesti local council decided to hold a non-binding referendum on 24 November on whether local residents would support Chevron’s shale exploration.

The US supermajor gained approval earlier this year to drill exploratory wells in the protest-hit area, and also holds rights to explore three blocks near the Black Sea spanning 670,000 acres.

As MRC informed previously, a second regional council in Ukraine on Thursday approved a government draft for a USD10 billion shale gas production-sharing agreement with US supermajor Chevron, clearing the way for it to be signed. Deputies in Lviv region voted by 66-to-3 in favour of the draft, which calls for shale exploration in the Olesska block in the west of the country. A council in the neighbouring Ivano-Frankivsk region, whose approval was also necessary, backed the deal last month in a 62-to-1 vote with 11 abstentions.

Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States, and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining, marketing and transport; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power generation. Chevron is one of the world's six "supermajor" oil companies.

A. Schulman acquires engineered plastics compounder and distributor Network Polymers

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A. Schulman, Inc. has completed its acquisition of Network Polymers, Inc., a U.S. niche engineered plastics compounding and distribution business, said Plastemart.

The acquisition agreement was first announced on May 28, 2013, and the purchase price was approximately USD49.5 mln. The addition of Network Polymers expands A. Schulman's product offerings with a broad spectrum of custom resins and alloys to meet customer-specific product design and manufacturing requirements, including the Centrex(R) ASA family of products and the Diamond Polymer brand of ABS, ABS/PC, ASA and ASA/PC thermoplastic products. The acquisition also provides greater penetration in key markets such as building and construction, agricultural products, and lawn and garden, as well as the opportunity to leverage existing A. Schulman products and technology to a wider customer base.

"With this acquisition, we are taking another step to strengthen our U.S. business by expanding our capabilities in niche engineered plastics, " said Joseph M. Gingo, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, A. Schulman. "We will continue to aggressively pursue acquisitions that are aligned with our global growth strategy to focus on niche products. We welcome everyone at Network Polymers to the A. Schulman team and look forward to their contributions."

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in mid-2012 A. Schulman Inc. inked a definitive agreement to acquire ECM Plastics, a privately owned plastics compounder located in Worcester, Mass., for USD36.5 million. Besides, Jeddah-based National Petrochemical Industrial Company (Natpet), a subsidiary of Alujain Corporation, entered into a joint venture agreement with A. Schulman to produce polypropylene compounds.

A. Schulman is a global plastics supplier, headquartered in Akron, Ohio, and a leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resins, which are used as raw materials in a variety of markets. A. Schulman has 33 manufacturing facilities globally. A. Schulman's fiscal third-quarter earnings fell 69% amid continued sluggishness in European markets and higher-than-expected costs in Latin America, where the company has been consolidating its Brazilian operations.
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Dow Chemical to separate chlorine, epoxy assets ahead of possible sale

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow Chemical, the largest US chemical maker by sales, plans to separate chlorine-related assets including its epoxy business as the company focuses on higher-margin activities, said Upstreamonline.

The chlorine assets account for as much as USD5 billion of annual revenue and include plants at 11 sites employing almost 2,000 people, Midland, Michigan-based Dow said Monday in a statement.

Dow said it hired financial advisers to look at options for the assets including sales, joint ventures and spinoffs. It expects to complete transactions for the assets in the next year or two.

The move “represents a continuation of the shift of our company toward downstream high-margin products and technologies that customers value, and generate consistently higher returns than cyclical commodity products,” CEO Andrew N. Liveris said in the statement.

Like competing US chemical producers DuPont and Ashland, Dow is selling or considering the sale of business lines as it attempts to unlock growth. Dow said in October that WR Grace & Co. agreed to buy its polypropylene licensing and catalyst unit for USD500 million.

In October, Dow forecast USD3 billion to USD4 billion from asset sales in the following 18 to 24 months. The company had said previously that these assets may be sold.

Dow also said Monday that it plans to shut down about 800,000 tons of chlorine and caustic equivalent capacity in Freeport, Texas.

As MRC wrote before, Grace has completed the acquisition of the assets of the Polypropylene Licensing and Catalysts business of The Dow Chemical Company for a cash purchase price of USD500 mln. The acquisition includes UNIPOL Polypropylene Process Technology and makes Grace the second largest polypropylene licensor in the world based on installed capacity, advancing Grace's leadership in the broader polyolefin sector.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. As of 2007, it is the second-largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue (after BASF) and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization (after BASF and DuPont). Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.MRC

Malaysia seeks USD43bn from Petronas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Malaysia’s national oil company Petronas is required by 2020 to deliver USD43 billion of gross income to the state, reported Upstreamonline with reference to a company executive's statement.

The target may be achievable given that last year alone the company’s revenues were USD95 billion.

Vice president for exploration and production Dato' Wee Yiaw Hin, Malaysia's representative at the Ascope conference in Vietnam, told delegates at the chief executive summit that revenues were "very robust" and Petronas expects this to continue in 2013 and increase going forward.

Petronas generates much of its income from overseas assets, but there has also been success on the domestic front - Malaysia last year accounted for 72% of the oil and gas discoveries in the region.

As MRC informed before, in November, 2013, Petronas Chemicals agreed to sell its Vietnam polyvinyl chloride (PVC) assets to Asahi Glass and Mitsubishi as part of ongoing efforts to refocus its business on higher value products. The sale of its 93% interest in Phu My Plastics and Chemicals, which has a production capacity of 100,000 t/y of PVC, is expected to be completed in Q2 next year. Last year, the company had announced that it would close its vinyl business and has already ceased operations at its vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and PVC plants in Kertih, Malaysia.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
MRC

CB&I awarded USD1 billion EPC contract for U.S. ethylene plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CB&I has been awarded a contract valued at approximately USD1 bln by Ingleside Ethylene LLC, a joint venture between Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem), a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, and Mexichem, S.A.B. de C.V. (Mexichem) for the engineering, procurement and construction of an ethane cracker and associated utilities and offsites to be located at OxyChem's complex in Ingleside, Texas, said Plastemart.

The cracker will have the capacity to produce approximately 1.2 bln lbs pa of ethylene. Feedstock for the cracker is anticipated to be ethane derived from domestic shale gas. As previously announced, CB&I provided the technology license and basic engineering for the ethylene technology, five SRT (short residence time) cracking heaters and the front end engineering and design (FEED) services.

"The award of this important ethylene project in the U.S. reflects the quality of work CB&I has provided to OxyChem and MexiChem to date," said Philip K. Asherman, CB&I's President and Chief Executive Officer. "It shows the clients' confidence in our ability to provide a complete range of services from proven licensed process technology, fabrication and FEED services to engineered products, all the way through to EPC."

As MRC wrote before, Four CB&I technologies were selected by China's CNOOC Oil & Petrochemicals Co. the second expansion phase of their refinery and petrochemical complex at Huizhou in Guangdong Province. CB&I’s scope of work includes the license and process engineering design of the Lummus olefins conversion technology (OCT) for the production of 250,000 tpy of propylene and the CDHDS+ hydrodesulfurization technology for the processing of 2.4 million tpy of FCC gasoline to produce 10 ppm ultra-low sulfur gasoline.

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