Nexeo expands partnership with Wanhua Chemical

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The chemicals and plastics distributor Nexeo Solutions, Inc. and the Chinese PU raw materials manufacturer Wanhua Chemical Co., Ltd. have expanded their partnership to include the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions on ADI (aliphatic diisocyanates) for durable coatings, adhesives, sealants, elastomers and polyurethane markets, reported GV.

Nexeo Solutions has been representing Wanhua through the Southeast, Midwest and Southwest regions. The portfolio includes Wannate HMDI, HDI, HT (HDI trimer series), HB (HDI biuret series) and IPDI.

"We are pleased to expand our relationship with Wanhua, one of our strategic partners for the polyurethane industries. This will enhance our ability to bring quality products and solutions to our Northeast and Mid-Atlantic customers," said Joey Gullion, Nexeo Solutions Vice President of Specialty Chemicals.

"Our customers will benefit from Nexeo Solutions' service and logistics excellence and their complete line of urethane offerings," said Jon Palmer, Wanhua's Sales Manager.

As MRC informed before, in July 2016, Nexeo Solutions and DSM, a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials, announced their agreement to extend and further develop their existing partnership.

Nexeo Solutions is a leading global chemicals and plastics distributor, representing products from world-class producers to a diverse customer base. From product specification to sustainable solutions, the Company goes beyond traditional logistics to provide value-added services across many industries, including chemicals manufacturing, oil and gas, coatings, personal care, healthcare, automotive and 3D printing.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bangladesh Petroleum Corp has received offers from 11 companies for fuel supplies in the second half of the year, with Unipec and Vitol looking set to win the tender with the lowest offers on middle distillates and fuel oil, a BPC official said, as per Reuters.

Bangladesh Petroleum Corp was looking to buy up to 1.06 MMt of gasoil, jet fuel and fuel oil for second-half 2017 delivery in a tender that closed on May 16.

"As per weighted average, Unipec's offers are the lowest for both gasoil and jet fuel," said the official from Bangladesh Petroleum Corp (BPC).

"Unipec is supposed to win the tender for both gasoil and jet fuel, while Vitol will win the tender for fuel oil. We will finalize the deals by the end of this month after verifying all other details," the official said.

Unipec—trading arm of Chinese state oil major Sinopec—has offered to sell gasoil to Bangladesh at USD2.27 to USD2.47 a barrel premium to Middle East quotes versus other offers at USD2.47 to USD4.65, according to a document provided by a participant in the tender and seen by Reuters.

Unipec offered jet fuel for the second half period to Bangladesh at a premium of USD2.87 a barrel, the document said.

The offers are higher compared with an existing first-half 2017 contract Bangladesh has with Unipec in which gasoil was sealed below USD2.20 a barrel and jet fuel at USD2.76 a barrel.

As for fuel oil, Vitol had the lowest offer for the second-half 2017 contract at USD29.73 a barrel for June-December delivery versus other offers ranging from USD41.22 to $67.80.

Vitol's current contract with Bangladesh to supply fuel oil for January-June was inked at a premium of USD15.80 a barrel.

Others who took part in the Bangladesh tender, according to the document, include Trafigura, Glencore, Emirates National Oil Co, Sinochem, PTT PCL, Gulf Petroleum and Swiss Singapore.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- KBR said it has signed a joint venture agreement with BIV Builders for a standalone, self-sufficient, long-term joint venture in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as per Apic-online.

The joint venture, which will be named KBIV, will combine KBR's global experience and differentiated professional services and project delivery, with BIV's cost competitive and experienced resources, ensuring that the joint venture will deliver innovative and competitive engineering, project delivery and asset program management solutions, KBR explained.

Also, by utilizing KBR's Granherne subsidiary, KBIV can service the full spectrum of the hydrocarbons life-cycle in both the Malaysian domestic market, as well as highly selective regional opportunities, KBR added.

As MRC informed before, in March 2016, KBR announced that its SOCAR-KBR joint venture was awarded a significant project management consultancy (PMC) contract for the Heydar Aliyev Baku oil refinery modernization project in Azerbaijan. And in November 2016, KBR, Inc.’s JV with SOCAR was awarded a second program management consultancy contract for the Azerikimya Production Union of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, which had signed two contracts with Technip Italy Nov. 5, as part of the project for modernization and reconstruction of the ethylene-polyethylene plant in Sumgayit.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that its subsidiary, Yokogawa Electric Korea, has received an order to supply an analyzer package solution for the Liwa Plastics Industries Complex, which is being built for Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic), a company owned and operated by the Oman government, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Liwa Plastics Industries Complex is being built in Sohar, on Oman's northern coast. This package order is for 15 analyzer houses and associated analysis systems consisting of process analyzers and sampling instruments. The client is a JV between CB&I and CTCI Corporation, which is responsible for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of an approximately 800,000 tpy naphtha cracker and related utility facilities at this complex.

The analysis systems for this steam cracker and its off-site utility facilities will rely on Yokogawa GC8000 process gas chromatographs to separate mixed gases and volatile liquids into their respective components and measure their concentrations. A total of 75 GC8000 units have been ordered, and this is Yokogawa's largest single project order to date for this product.

Yokogawa Electric Korea will have overall responsibility for analyzer house fabrication, system integration and site commissioning services. As both Yokogawa Electric International and Yokogawa Europe Solutions B.V. have extensive experience in constructing analyzer houses, Yokogawa Electric International will manage the engineering, delivery, and commissioning of these Yokogawa solutions, and Yokogawa Europe Solutions B.V. will provide project execution support. The analyzer houses will be delivered by the third quarter of 2018, and the Liwa Plastics Industries Complex is scheduled to start operation in the first quarter of 2020.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Africa is in talks with China's Sinopec about its takeover of Chevron Corp's Cape Town refinery as it wants to ensure its production capacity is retained and enhanced, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said on Thursday, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Sinopec will pay almost USD1 B for a 75% stake in Chevron Corp's South African assets and its subsidiary in Botswana to secure its first major refinery in Africa, the companies announced in March.

"A key concern that government will raise in every major transaction like this is how to retain and expand our industrial capability and includes in this case, refinery capability," Patel told reporters before his budget vote speech in parliament.

Patel's ministry oversees competition authorities in Africa's most industrialized country.

South Africa has a history of taking its time over approving takeovers, partly because competition authorities have a public interest mandate to safeguard jobs in addition to an antitrust mandate to maintain competition.

In 2011, the regulator told US retailer Wal-Mart Stores not to cut jobs for two years following its acquisition of South African retailer Massmart, delaying implementation of the USD2.4 B deal by at least two months.

Last year, Anheuser-Busch InBev said it would invest USD77.3 MM to support small South African farmers as part of concessions agreed with the government to secure regulatory approval for its USD100 billion-plus takeover of SABMiller.

Patel did not go into details of the Sinopec discussions, saying the deal with Chevron would still need to go for formal regulatory scrutiny.

As MRC reported before, China's 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. Sinopec's upgrades come as China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer, is embracing more stringent fuel standards in its battle against pollution and suffering an overall glut in refining capacity.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical company with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its principal business includes: exploring, developing, producing and trading crude oil and natural gas; producing, storing, transporting and distributing and marketing petroleum products, petrochemical products, synthetic fiber, fertilizer and other chemical products. Its refining capacity and ethylene capacity rank No.2 and No.4 globally. Sinopec listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai in August 2001.
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