Ineos plans GBP300 million investment as per Grangemouth Survival Plan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The 'Survival Plan' for Grangemouth is necessary to secure GBP300 million investment and the long term future of the site, reported the company in its latest statement.

This will help to provide skilled jobs for many years to come.

Since the announcement of the 'Survival Plan' on 29 September the company has been very clear with its employees and the media about the need for change at the site and introduced a plan for the future.

As part of this plan Ineos said that three old plants had reached the end of their useful life and will be closed: benzene unit at some point next year with the G4 naphtha cracker and butadiene plant later in 2015.

As these old, end of life plants close, it is expected that the expansion of modern efficient plant at the site, made possible by new investment, will generate new long term opportunities.

The new GBP300 million investment into the Grangemouth petrochemicals site secures over 1400 skilled, well paid roles for many years to come. There is no reduction in salaries proposed; operators continue to earn twice the national average in Scotland and have a first class defined contribution pension scheme.

Ineos is currently recruiting employees and expanding its apprenticeship scheme at the Grangemouth site.

As MRC informed previously, Ineos has invested GBP1 billion in the Grangemouth site since 2006, but over the last three years the whole site has been losing around GBP150 million annually and that is forecast to continue. The feedstock gas from the North Sea is declining. Though this is a modern asset, it continues to run at 50% because of the lack of feedstocks. Lack of alternative feedstock to supplement the North Sea supply will result in the petrochemical side of the business not continuing beyond 2017. Thus, the company is looking to source shale gas from the USA to solve this problem and get the cracker operating at 100%.

INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- CB&I was awarded a contract by Russia's JSC Gazprom Neft for front-end engineering and design (FEED) services for a new oil refining complex at Gazprom Neft's refinery in Omsk, Western Siberia, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The existing refinery is currently the largest operating refinery in Russia. CB&I's project scope includes FEED development for multiple new process units, including a 2 million tpy hydrocracker unit licensed by Chevron Lummus Global (CLG), as well as hydrogen, sulfur and other associated units.

"CB&I has been selected for this significant project following the successful delivery of a similar hydrocracker complex earlier this year for Gazprom Neft in Pancevo, Serbia," said Philip K. Asherman, CB&I's CEO.

"CB&I appreciates Gazprom Neft's confidence in our ability to deliver results and is fully committed to meeting our client's expectations on this important project," he added.

As MRC wrote before, Gazprom Neft, the St. Petersburg-headquartered Russian oil and gas company, and Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) have signed a framework agreement setting out the terms of Gazprom Neft’s acquisition of a 49% interest in Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co. The two companies are currently in negotiations on financial terms of the acquisition. PetroVietnam has announced plans to reduce its 100% shareholding in the subsidiary to help finance a modernization and expansion project.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ukraine agreed with neighbor Slovakia on conditions for supplying natural gas from the European Union through Slovak pipelines to reduce dependence on Russia, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The two sides agreed on conditions for flows of gas from west to east and will sign a memorandum as soon as Ukraine is ready, Vahram Chuguryan, a spokesman for Slovak pipeline company Eustream, said by phone. Ukraine may sign the deal this week, Kyiv Post online said, citing Energy Minister Eduard Stavytskyi.

Importing gas from the EU through Slovakia would provide an alternative to Russian supplies at a time when Ukraine has been rocked by protests led by pro-EU opposition to President Viktor Yanukovych. The president backed off European integration deals under pressure from Russia. In the biggest protests since the 2004 Orange Revolution, hundreds of thousands gathered yesterday in Kiev, where a statue of Vladimir Lenin was toppled.

"We have reached an agreement in principle," Chuguryan said. "Now it’s up to the Ukrainian side to set the date."

Talks with the European Commission are complete, he said. The boards of Eustream and Ukrtransgaz, transport unit of Ukraine’s state gas company Naftogaz, must sign the accord.

As MRC wrote before, Wang Jing, the Chinese billionaire behind a USD40 billion plan to cut a canal through Nicaragua, wants to invest USD10 billion in a deepwater port in Ukraine. The project’s first phase, estimated at USD3 billion, includes building a new deepwater port, reconstructing Sevastopol port and developing an economic zone that will house technology-focused companies, the company said in a statement.MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik Industries and LanzaTech have signed a three year research cooperation agreement which will see Evonik combining its existing biotechnology platforms with LanzaTech’s synthetic biology and gas fermentation expertise for the development of a route to bioprocessedn precursors for specialty plastics from waste derived synthesis gas, said Evonik.

In this route, microorganisms placed in fermenters are used to turn synthesis gas into chemical products. Synthesis gases comprise mainly of either carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide and hydrogen and can come from a variety of gasified biomass waste streams including forestry and agricultural residues and gasified municipal solid waste.

"Industrial biotechnology is one of the core competences of Evonik. It enables new approaches to specialty chemicals and processes," explains Prof. Stefan Buchholz, the head of Creavis. Creavis, Evonik’s strategic innovation arm, is committed to developing alternative bio-based pathways for the production of such specialty chemicals, to not only reduce dependence on fossil fuels, but also reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their manufacture. "The use of renewables and specific waste streams is one of the main focuses of our research and development work, and LanzaTech offers an additional interesting approach," says Buchholz.

"We are really happy to be working with Evonik," said LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren, "which has a tremendous biotech capability – so makes us feel good that they feel we are the experts in this sector plus they are not just trying to do all this work by themselves. We are also happy to be extending our chemicals tool box into precursors to plastics.

As MRC said before, Evonik Industries, the German specialty chemicals company, is significantly expanding its global isophorone (IP) and isophorone diamine (IPD) capacities by funding an investment of more than EUR100 million in Shanghai, China. The new production plants will be completed in the first quarter of 2014 and will increase the total capacities of IP and IPD significantly.

Evonik, the industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Profitable growth and a sustained increase in the value of the company form the heart of Evonik’s corporate strategy. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world. The group is a global market leader in isophorone chemistry with production facilities in Herne, Marl (Germany), Mobile, Alabama (USA) and Antwerp (Belgium). Its products are known worldwide under the brand names of VESTAMIN, VESTANAT, VESTAGON and VESTASOL.
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