ExxonMobil, Sabic sign agreement for next phase of proposed US petchem project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Affiliates of ExxonMobil Corporation and Sabic signed an agreement to conduct a detailed study of the proposed Gulf Coast Growth Ventures project in Texas and begin planning for front-end engineering and design work, said ExxonMobil.

The agreement was signed during the Saudi-US CEO Forum in Riyadh in the presence of Yousef Al-Benyan, Sabic vice chairman and chief executive officer, and Philippe Ducom, president, chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil Saudi Arabia Inc. Also in attendance were Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Thenayan Al-Saud, Sabic chairman, and Darren W. Woods, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corporation.

“This agreement represents an important step in the progression of the Gulf Coast Growth Ventures project," said "Ducom. "We have a long and successful relationship with SABIC, which will be enhanced by this potential project that will create value for our companies and our communities."

In April 2017, ExxonMobil and Sabic selected a site in San Patricio County, Texas, for the proposed petrochemical complex that would include an ethane steam cracker capable of producing 1.8 MMtpy of ethylene, a monoethylene glycol unit and two polyethylene units.

The project is one of 11 major chemical, refining, lubricant and liquefied natural gas projects associated with ExxonMobil’s Growing the Gulf initiative in the United States that have been made possible by the abundance of low-cost US natural gas.

ExxonMobil’s projects, once completed and operating at mature levels, are expected to have far-reaching and long-lasting benefits. Projects planned or under way are expected to create more than 35,000 construction jobs and more than 12,000 full-time jobs.

ExxonMobil and Sabic have collaborated on several petrochemical JVs in Saudi Arabia, including the Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company and Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Company. Most recently, the companies constructed world-scale specialty elastomers facilities at the Al-Jubail joint venture complex to help meet the growing demand for rubber-based industrial and automotive products.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema announces the acquisition by Bostik of CMP Specialty Products, the flooring and floor preparation business of US based specialist CGM, said the company on its website.

This business, which generated UD15 million sales in 2016, offers strong synergies with Bostik. This acquisition fits perfectly with Bostik's strategy to expand in the growing US construction market and to offer its customers a complete range of innovative solutions for the flooring market. This acquisition is also fully part of the Group strategy to accelerate its growth in specialty adhesives with bolt-on acquisitions.

Based outside of Philadelphia, PA, CMP's floor preparation systems products offer an advanced range of flooring surface preparation repair patches, leveling compounds and primers for both commercial and residential flooring applications.

These products will enable Bostik to accelerate its development in the fast growing floor preparation market.

"We are very pleased to welcome the CMP Specialty Products teams. This acquisition will support our strategy to provide our customers with the most innovative flooring systems. CMP teams will bring their recognized expertise within the commercial flooring sector with high quality and highly performing products. We look forward to leveraging this expertise to better serve our customers within the US market".
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MOSCOW (MRC) --- Rotary Engineering has won a USD140-million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract from Jurong Port Tank Terminals for a liquid bulk storage project in Singapore, as per Apic-online.

Rotary's scope of work includes constructing a tank farm with 19 tanks for clean petroleum products storage, pump stations, valve manifolds, firefighting system, slop and waste water system, utilities, buildings, jetty topsides, and interconnecting pipeline from Jurong Port Tank Terminal to Oiltanking's tank terminal.

The project, a joint venture of Jurong Port Singapore Holding and Oiltanking Investment Holdings, is designed to store and handle both clean petroleum products and chemicals. It is located directly opposite the Jurong Island petrochemical hub and will be connected to it via pipelines.

With an initial capacity of 232,000 cu m, the new terminal has the potential to expand by an additional 230,000 cu m. It will be supported by jetties and a draft of 16 meters, capable of berthing vessels up to 120,000 dwt. A schedule for the project was not given.

As MRC reported earlier, in September 2016, Jacobs Engineering Group received a contract from Singapore Refining Company Private Ltd. (SRC), a JV between Singapore Petroleum Co. and Chevron, to provide services for an upgrade project at SRC’s refinery in Jurong Island, Singapore.

Besides, continuing the company's strategy to add production facilities close to growing demand, Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, began production in its newest vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) production unit. The unit is located at the Celanese manufacturing facility on Jurong Island, Singapore, and will support the growing demand for ecologically friendly materials in the Southeast Asia region including Australia, India and New Zealand.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel and chemicals manufacturing company Atul have formally agreed the joint venture partnership announced last year for the production of monochloroacetic acid (MCA) in India. The companies will establish a new plant at Atul’s facility in Gujarat by first quarter 2019, with each partner holding a 50% stake in the joint venture, to be registered as ANAVEN, said the company on its website.

As well as building on AkzoNobel’s leading position in the MCA market – with plants in the Netherlands, China, Japan and the US – the partnership will also enhance Atul’s status as a key global supplier of the herbicide 2,4-D, which uses MCA as a key raw material.

"The ANAVEN partnership will contribute to our vision of driving profitable growth for AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals in India, which is an important growth market," said Knut Schwalenberg, Managing Director of AkzoNobel’s Industrial Chemicals business. "Our partnership with Atul is part of an asset light strategy to expand our leading position in MCA through shared incremental investments."

Sunil Lalbhai, Chairman and Managing Director of Atul, added: "We are delighted to partner with AkzoNobel to bring state-of-the-art technology for MCA to India from a world class company and develop a long-lasting relationship with AkzoNobel to create value for all the Stakeholders. The ANAVEN project will be in sync with the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government of India."

The partnership will use chlorine and hydrogen manufactured by Atul to produce MCA, taking advantage of both Atul’s existing infrastructure and the leading eco-friendly hydrogenation technology of AkzoNobel. From an initial annual capacity of 32,000 tons per year at start-up, the plant has been designed for future expansion to 60,000 tons per year. The facility will produce enough MCA to meet Atul’s growing demand for MCA and supply the expanding Indian market.

MCA is an essential building block in the chemical industry and is used in a wide variety of chemicals. For example, AkzoNobel customers use MCA to produce thickening agents for the food, oil, mining, personal care and detergent industries. It is also used in agrochemicals, adhesives, pharmaceuticals, thermo-stabilizers, surfactants and cosmetics.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow Polyurethanes, a global business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, has announced the latest addition to its Hyperlast elastomers family, especially developed to help the industry address concerns over the coming regulatory ban of the use of MbOCA in polyurethane elastomers throughout Europe, as per GV.

According to the company, Hyperlast elastomers have already proved their functionality in many applications over the years, from dynamic bend stiffeners used in harsh offshore environments to a variety of industrial components, such as timing belts, rollers and tooling parts. The new Hyperlast 153 Series elastomer system does not contain mercury catalyst, does not need MbOCA as a curative and is REACH 2018 compliant, offering customers a proven and generally suitable alternative, says Dow Polyurethanes.

This latest addition to the Hyperlast family is a multi-component material that enables the processor to select tough and durable elastomers over a hardness range from 55 Shore A to 75 Shore D with just four components, which can also help reduce the number of materials in inventory. The system components are processed at lower temperatures than the full prepolymer countertypes, allowing for energy savings in production. Keeping processing time at optimum levels, Dow’s latest elastomer allows processors to have control over the pot-life and demould time, providing flexibility in terms of the size of parts that are being produced; and is thus designed to give optimal throughput, says the manufacturer.

Paul Fitzgerald, EMEAI Marketing Manager - Engineering Elastomers for Dow Polyurethanes, said: "As an industry leader in the development and formulation of fully-formulated polyurethane systems, Dow is dedicated to providing innovative, tailor-made solutions and unrivalled technical service to help customers stay ahead of the game in a challenging and ever-evolving industry landscape. At the workshop we aim to provide our customers an in-depth look into how our latest developments, particularly the new Hyperlast 153 Series elastomer system can help them meet today’s and future challenges."

As MRC wrote before, Dow Chemical's polyethylene (PE) expansion at its Freeport, Texas, complex is on track for a mid-2017 startup. The Freeport complex currently has a 640,000 mt/year of PE capacity and is expected to add 1,050,000 mt/year of LDPE and LLDPE. The 1.5 million mt/year ethylene capacity cracker being built at Dow's Freeport petrochemical complex will use ethane as its main feedstock but feature up to 30% of initial propane flexibility, Dow said. Four derivative plants and a bi-modal gas phase debottlenecking will be synced with the startup of the cracker.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
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