BPCL-Kochi Refinery expansion project on target

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Expansion by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd’s Kochi (BPCL-Kochi) refinery is 60% complete, and scheduled for completion in December 2015, said Plastemart.

Total investment outlay of Rs 20,000 crore is expected by BPCL-Kochi. BPCL Kochi’s integrated refinery expansion project (IREP), which will see the refining capacity increasing by 60% from the present 9.5 mln tpa to 15.5 mln tons. The project would produce 0.5 mln tpa of propylene.

As MRC wrote before, Technip has been awarded a contract by Air Products for a new industrial gas complex in Kochi, India. The contract covers project management, as well as engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the new industrial gas complex for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited – Kochi Refinery (BPCL-KR) located in the state of Kerala.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is an Indian state-controlled oil and gas company headquartered in Mumbai, India. Bharat Petroleum owns refineries at Mumbai, Maharashtra and Kochi, Kerala (Kochi Refineries) with a capacity of 12 and 9.5 million metric tonnes per year.

MRC

МOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican state-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos said Wednesday it has signed a letter of intent with San Antonio, Texas-based NuStar Energy to form a pipeline infrastructure joint venture, Pemex said in a statement.

The proposed venture would help meet the growing demand in Mexico for liquefied petroleum gases and refined products.

Although NuStar and PMI, Pemex's oil trading arm, have previously partnered to ship propane into Mexico, this proposed deal would be the first joint venture between the two companies and would give PMI access to various LPG and refined product suppliers on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Because the agreement involves pipeline transport, it would reduce the cross-border flow of petroleum products via truck and thus result in "more efficient, clean and reliable" shipment of products from the United States to Mexico, Pemex said.

Under the proposed joint venture, the two companies would jointly finance the construction of new pipeline infrastructure and storage assets, which NuStar would manage and operate.

The LPGs and refined products would be delivered from Mont Belvieu and Corpus Christi, Texas, to Nuevo Laredo and Burgos-Reynosa, Mexico.

"This landmark alliance is one of the very first commercial agreements between energy companies from the U.S. and Mexico to create a JV focused on infrastructure, and it resulted from Mexico's recently enacted energy reforms, which call for major investments in energy infrastructure and attracting foreign investment in Mexico's energy sector," PMI Director General Jose Manuel Carrera said.

NuStar Energy is one of the United States' largest independent liquids terminal and pipeline operators with nearly 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) of pipeline and 82 terminal and storage facilities that store and distribute crude oil, refined products and specialty liquids.

As MRC informed before, The PMI Trading arm of Pemex will build the first solidifying sulfur plant in Mexico,seeking to ensure the movement of sulfur from different refineries and gas processing complexes in the country. The new plant will be located in the Port Authority of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, with a processing capacity of 360,000 tpy and over USD38 million in investment.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German specialty chemicals company Lanxess has added two new polyamide 6 (PA 6) grades to its already wide range of injection molding materials for lightweight construction, as per the company's press release.

Polyamides and polybutylene terephthalates reinforced with a glass fiber content of 50% and more are ideal for applications in lightweight construction thanks to their strength and stiffness. They frequently are a lightweight and economical alternative to sheet molding compounds (SMC) and other reinforced thermosets, as well as to metals like steel, aluminum and die cast zinc.

Durethan BKV 60 XF is an advancement of Durethan DP BKV 60 H2.0 EF, which already is established in mass production for articles such as lightweight front ends, spare wheel recesses and large transmission oil pans. The new product is also reinforced with 60% glass fibers, but with a comparably high-quality set of mechanical properties, it displays better melt flow by 30%.

The new polyamide results in smooth surfaces with virtually no protruding glass fibers. This excellent surface quality is based on an optimized crystallization process and higher injection rates, which are possible thanks to the high flowability of the melt. Another advantage of this engineering material - which also permits laser marking - is its improved resistance to thermal aging. For example, the tensile stress at break of test samples was still above 200 MPa after over 3,000 hours of hot-air aging at 180 C.

The second material innovation is a polyamide 6 that is to be marketed under the name Durethan BG 60 X XF. It is reinforced with 60% of a special mixture of glass fibers and glass microspheres. Its stiffness and strength are similarly high to those of Durethan DP BKV 60 H2.0 EF.

"The unique feature of this material is that its shrinkage is significantly more isotropic, and components therefore hardly tend to warp at all. We see major application opportunities in thin-walled, high-stiffness back shells for tablet PCs, but also in automotive interiors. Another contributing factor for these applications is the excellent surface qualities that can be achieved with this material," says Dr. Stefan Theiler, specialist for highly reinforced polyamides at Lanxess. Initial manufacturing trials with mass production molds already have confirmed that the material can deliver these advantages.

As MRC informed before, in March 2014, Lanxess and Korean Hankook Tire signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to co-develop synthetic rubber technologies for high-performance tire. Under the agreement, the two companies will jointly study the development of new high-performance synthetic rubber grades and applications that increase the performance of tires from early stages of product development.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.3 billion in 2013 and roughly 17,300 employees in 31 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Occidental Petroleum Corporation announced that its Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend, authorized the spin-off of its California oil and gas business and increased the company’s share repurchase program, said the company in its press release.

The Board declared a regular quarterly dividend of USD.72 per share on common stock payable on January 15, 2015, to stockholders of record as of December 10, 2014. Occidental has paid quarterly dividends continuously since 1975 and has increased its dividend each year since 2002. The current annual rate is USD2.88 per share.

The Board approved the spin-off of subsidiary California Resources Corporation through the distribution of approximately 80.1% of the outstanding shares of California Resources to holders of Occidental common stock. Subject to the satisfaction of the conditions to the spin-off, the distribution is expected to occur on November 30, 2014.

The Board also authorized the repurchase of an additional 60 million shares of the company’s common stock, leaving the program with 76 million shares, as of September 30, 2014. Share repurchases will continue to be funded from available cash from operations, excess cash on hand and proceeds from asset sales as part of the previously announced strategic review, including a dividend of approximately USD6 billion from California Resources to Occidental. The program does not require purchases to be made within a particular timeframe.

As MRC wrote before, Ingleside Ethylene, the 50/50 joint venture between Occidental Chemical (OxyChem) and Mexichem, announced that it received the necessary permits for its new ethylene cracker in Ingleside, Texas. Issuance of the permits, combined with the already completed front-end engineering and design study, will enable Ingleside Ethylene to construct the 550,000 tpy cracker and start commercial operations in the first quarter of 2017.

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy) is a California-based oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, the Middle East, North Africa, and South America. Oxychem is Oxy"s Texas-based subsidiary which manufacture polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins, chlorine and caustic soda used in plastics, pharmaceuticals and water treatment chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Linde is nearing completion of its first retail hydrogen fueling station in the US, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The station, which is expected to be online before the end of the year, is being installed at the Ramos Oil Company multi-fuel station in West Sacramento, California, where Ramos currently retails gasoline, diesel, bio-diesel, ethanol-85, methanol, and racing fuels.

At the heart of the hydrogen fueling system is the Linde IC 90 ionic compressor -- the next generation of hydrogen compression technology. Linde says this will enable higher throughput and enhanced back-to-back fueling.

Unlike conventional piston-operated compressors, the IC 90 works with ionic liquid. Because these ionic liquids essentially have no vapor pressure, they do not evaporate or mix with the hydrogen gas. They also eliminate mechanical wear-and-tear and sealing problems inside the cylinders.

"With this compressor, Linde has made a valuable contribution to the ongoing enhancement of today's hydrogen fueling infrastructure," said Mike Beckman, head of the H2 fueling business at Linde North America.

Linde is handling the design and fabrication of the Linde 900 bar Ionic Compressor. In addition, several companies will also be involved in the hydrogen station installation: Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide (QTWW) for the dispensing system; FIBA Technologies will supply some of the hydrogen gas storage tubes; and Chart Industries will supply the hydrogen storage tank.

As MRC wrote before, SIBUR, a Russian gas processing and petrochemicals company, and Linde Group, a German Technology company, have signed agreements to build and operate new air separation units in Dzerzhinsk, the Nizhny Novgorod Region. On a long-term basis, SIBUR will provide Linde with a leased site and power supply while Linde, in its turn, will supply technical gases to SIBUR.

The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 62,000 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide.
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