Indonesia picks plantations firm head as Pertamina CEO

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indonesia has chosen Elia Massa Manik, head of the state holding company for the plantations industry, said Reuters, citing the new chief executive of state energy firm Pertamina sources.

Manik, chief executive of PT Perkebunan Nusantara III and former head of oil and gas company PT Elnusa, a unit of Pertamina, was appointed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Tuesday evening, two sources with knowledge of the issue said.

A spokeswoman for Pertamina, which dominates Indonesia's energy industry, said any announcement still has to wait for official confirmation from shareholders.

The state firm, has a virtual monopoly on petroleum imports, leads the country in retail oil sales, and owns and operates the country's main refineries.

Last month, Pertamina removed its CEO Dwi Soetjipto and Deputy CEO Ahmad Bambang, citing leadership problems. New and renewable energy director Yenni Andayani was appointed acting CEO.

Pertamina chairman Tanri Abeng said at the time that complex recruitment and management structure issues had "obstructed cooperation", adding that there would no longer be a deputy CEO.

Soetjipto was appointed CEO of Pertamina in November 2014 by President Widodo, and had overseen efforts to eliminate corruption and slash Indonesia's fuel imports, including by developing domestic refining capacity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China Petroleum and Chemical Corp has started operating a major crude oil pipeline that connects eastern Jiangsu province with refineries in south China, said Reuters.

The pipeline, which spans 560 kilometers, runs at an annual capacity of 20 MMt, Sinopec said.

"The new crude oil pipe will support crude demand from Sinopec's Jiujiang and Anqing refinery", it added.

As MRC informed earlier, Sinopec group, parent of Sinopec Corp, will invest USD29.05 billion to upgrade four refining bases between 2016 and 2020 to produce higher-quality fuels.

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group's key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trelleborg’s applied technologies operation inaugurated its new purpose built facility in Retford, England, further enhancing its polyurethane manufacturing capabilities, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"The new facility will be a Center of Excellence for Trelleborg’s diversified polyurethane component manufacturing, bringing together experience, innovation and technology under one roof," the company said in a press release.

Ulf Berghult, CFO, Trelleborg Group and Councillor Jim Anderson, Bassetlaw District Council, took part in a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the facility.

"By combining our local expertise from several Trelleborg facilities in the area into one, we will reduce our footprint and environmental impact on the local area," said Berghult. "Our investment into this facility demonstrates our long-standing commitment to accelerating performance for our customers both locally and globally."

The facility in Retford consolidates four sites; one in Retford, two in Coventry and one in Knaresborough, into a single facility. Constructed using lean manufacturing principles and with a focus on environmental efficiency, the 7,225 square meters / 77,765 square feet facility will manufacture the current product portfolio of Trelleborg’s applied technologies operation.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China National Chemical Engineering Co Ltd said on Wednesday that its unit signed a contract worth about USD1.17 billion to build a hydrocracking plant for Gazprom in Russia, said Reuters.

The engineering and construction company aims to complete construction of the 2.5-MMtpy plant in 32 months, it said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

As MRC informed earlier, Borealis AG, one of the largest polyolefins producers in Europe, and PAO Gazprom, the world's gas major, signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The document reflects the parties' interest in evaluating opportunities to develop joint gas chemical projects in Russia.

PAO Gazprom (Russia) is a large Russian company founded in 1989 which carries on the business of extraction, production, transport and sale of natural gas. The company name is a contraction of the Russian words Gazovaya Promyshlennost. The headquarters of Gazprom are in Moscow.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Chemical has taken off-stream its polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) plants in Jurong Island, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Singapore informed that the company has commenced maintenance at the plants in early-March 2017. The plants are expected to remain shut until end-March 2017.

Located on Jurong Island in Singapore, the complex have a PE production capacity of 1.9 million mt/year and PP production capacity of 930,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, in November 2016, ExxonMobil announced its plans to add a new production unit at its Beaumont PE plant that will increase capacity by 65% or approximately 650,000 tonnes per year to meet growing demand for high performance plastics. Construction of the new unit began at the plant in late 2016, where current PE production capacity is 1 million tonnes per year. Startup is expected in 2019.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC