Pemex awards EPC work to ICA Fluor to upgrade Tula refinery at Hidalgo

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fluor Corp. has announced that ICA Fluor, its industrial engineering and construction joint venture with Empresas ICA, has signed a contract with Pemex, Mexican state oil company, to supply detail engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the utilities and offsites that are part of the Tula refinery upgrade at Hidalgo, Mexico, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The total contract value is USD1.1 billion. Fluor will book its USD550 million contract share in the fourth quarter of 2015.

This contract results from the joint efforts of Pemex Transformacion Industrial (formerly Pemex Refinacion) and ICA Fluor to continue with the modernization process of the Tula refinery.

"This project is a major step to increase Pemex’s competitiveness," said Juan Carlos Santos Fernandez, director general of ICA Fluor. "We are proud to be in the position to support them in the development of the strategic projects required by the country, providing Mexican engineering and construction resources."

Once the upgrade project is completed, the refinery’s processing capacity will increase from 315,000 bpd to 340,000 bpd.

The project’s mechanical completion is scheduled for the second quarter of 2018.

In 2013, Fluor's ICA Fluor industrial engineering-construction joint venture with Empresas ICA signed a contract to revamp the vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plant located within the Pajaritos petrochemical complex in Mexico, located near Veracruz. The VCM plant is run by Petroquimica Mexicana de Vinilo (PMV), a joint venture between Mexichem, the leading Mexican petrochemical company, and Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil and gas company.

As MRC wrote before, Pemex is investing almost USD5.5bn in upgrading its refineries, increasing pipeline capacity and modernising a fertiliser plant.

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, polypropylene, polystyrene.
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Trinseo CFO resigns

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo’s executive vice-president and chief financial officer (CFO) John Feenan, has decided to leave the company to "pursue other opportunities" on 31 Dec., said the company on iys site.

A company announcement said on 18 Nov that president CEO Christopher Pappas will serve as interim CFO effective immediately, while Feenan will continue to assist the Trinseo in an advisory capacity for the remainder of 2015.

"John has made substantial contributions to Trinseo during his four years as CFO, building a strong Finance team that completed the company’s debt refinancing and IPO, resulting in a strong capital structure and record EBITDA and cash flow this year," said Pappas. "I want to thank John and wish him all the best on his future endeavors."

As MRC informed earlier, Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and synthetic rubber, have reported its third quarter 2015 financial results with record net income of USD52 million and EPS of USD1.06 per diluted share.

Trinseo is a leading global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber, dedicated to collaborating with customers to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions. Trinseo’s technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Trinseo had approximately USD5.3 billion in revenue in 2013, with 19 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,100 employees.
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Sasol seeks more workers in Louisiana for USD8.9 billion ethane cracker project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol has recently released a status update on its USD8.9-billion ethane cracker and derivatives complex and the company’s progress toward its Louisiana First strategy, nearly one year after announcing a final investment decision (FID), as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We are delivering on our commitment to hire Louisiana workers and use Louisiana businesses first for our contracting and procurement needs," said Mike Thomas, senior vice president of Sasol North American Operations. "A local workforce and contractor support team with experience and strong ties to our community adds considerable value to our operations and helps strengthen the local economy."

There are job opportunities available in both the operational and construction phases of the project. Of the more than 500 full-time, Sasol positions to operate the new ethane cracker and derivative units, Sasol has hired more than 200, including operators, processors, engineers, laboratory analysts, chemists as well as operations and maintenance personnel. Close to 80% of these new hires are from Calcasieu Parish; the majority of the remaining hires are from other cities in Louisiana.

Of the 5,000 temporary construction phase positions, approximately 3,300 workers are currently on site through eight major Louisiana construction contractors and Fluor Technip Integrated.

Sasol appointed eight major Louisiana-based contractors to support construction of its ethane cracker and derivatives project, reflecting a commitment of more than USD2.5 billion in contracts to Louisiana businesses to date.

Early works activities, site preparation and civil construction work have been underway since 2014. On-site concrete batch plants are operational and internal haul routes are complete, eliminating a significant amount of off-site public road use for material delivery and earthmoving activities. Site above-ground work and heavy equipment deliveries began this fall.

The first phase of the heavy haul route strengthening project is complete, and widening work is under way with the first Sasol heavy haul transports planned for early December. Other infrastructure improvements will be performed over the next several months throughout the city of Westlake and surrounding areas as agreed with the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

The heavy haul route work and other infrastructure improvement projects, including a significant amount of new water, sewer and gas line infrastructure for the city of Westlake along the heavy haul route, represent an investment of more than USD40 million, with USD35 million in the city of Westlake alone.

Mechanical, electrical and instrumentation work are scheduled to begin in 2016 and continue throughout 2017. Sasol expects the facility to begin a phased commissioning in 2017, with full plant operation expected in 2018.

Once complete, the facility will produce approximately 1.5 MMtpy of ethylene. The ethylene will be used in six new downstream derivative plants to produce a range of high-value derivatives.

As MRC reported before, in late December 2014, Sasol announced the completion of a USD4 billion credit facility for its ethane cracker and derivatives at its existing site in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Sasol Limited is an integrated energy and chemical company based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It develops and commercialises technologies, including synthetic fuels technologies, and produces different liquid fuels, chemicals and electricity.
MRC

Iran targets new investments in refineries abroad

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran is entering into negotiations to buy shares in oil refineries in Europe, Latin America and Asia, its deputy oil minister was quoted this week as saying by Mehr news agency, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"Buying the oil refineries or their shares abroad is the policy of Iran after the lifting of sanctions," said Abbas Kazemi, head of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Co.

Under a deal reached with six major world powers in July, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for an end to economic sanctions imposed on the country in 2012.

Kazemi said that Tehran was in talks to buy a stake in India's Essar Oil, although India's No. 2 private refiner denied this.

"Essar has signed a non-binding term sheet with (Russian refiner) Rosneft for exclusive negotiations in relation to sale of Essar Oil shares and there is no other discussion in this regard," an Essar spokesman told news agency Reuters.

Kazemi said the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) was willing to invest in plants to refine Iran's crude oil, since that would be more economical for the country.

Iran aims to raise oil output by 500,000 bpd as soon as sanctions are lifted in early 2016 and by 1 million bpd from March.

Once sanctions are removed, Iranian officials believe that Asian markets will be the company's priority for selling oil.

As MRC reported before, currently number of active Iranian Petrochemical complexes are 53, with total production capacity of 59 million metric ton, producing range of polymers, chemicals, aromatics & liquid gas, located mainly at Iranian south region, next to Persian Gulf, called Assaluyeh and Mahshahr Special Economic Zones.

At the moment, there are 67 developments projects in the country which are under construction, adding 61 million metric ton on total production and estimated to fully run till 2018.
MRC

Elasto Sweden starts new line for medical TPEs

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Elasto (Amal, Sweden) increases their medical capabilities with the start-up of a new medical line and expansion to the technical centre at their facility in Amal, Sweden, reported GV.

"High quality materials, produced under consistent conditions with a strict raw material selection policy, all backed by specialist technical support, this is what we’ve built our medical strategy on," commented Niklas Ottosson, medical technical manager at Elasto. "Our strong heritage in this sector gives us a deep understanding of medical device regulations and requirements, such as; traceability, reproducibility and formulation stability."

As part of the investment, the company has also expanded the technical resources at their Swedish facility, Klas Dannas, Global R+D coordinator for Hexpol TPE commented: "Hexpol TPE operate technical centres at each of their production sites; ensuring fast and responsive customer support. Our teams of chemists and polymer engineers’ use advanced polymer testing and analysis equipment to develop progressive TPE compounds customised to our customers’ requirements. To support our growing customer base, we have added to our technical centre in Sweden with the installation of a new pilot line and further investments in analytical equipment such as FTIR, DSC and TGA machines."

Elasto Sweden is, according to their own information, the first European TPE compounder to be awarded the ISO 13485 certification for the development, manufacture, marketing and sales of TPE compounds for the medical device industry.

As MRC wrote previously, in September 2015, Elasto expanded the range of Mediprene TPE compounds for plunger seals in single-use syringe.

Elasto Muller Kunststoffe supports the thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) market with a sophisticated and innovative product range developed by highly qualified material experts. The company's products combine the performance of thermoset rubbers with the processing ease of plastics to deliver enhanced design possibilities to a diverse range of markets, including automotive, medical, caps and closures, construction, toy and household. ELASTO is part of the compounding business area of HEXPOL, one of the world's leading polymer groups.
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