Lawsuit against Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion starts in Canada

MOSCOW (MRC) — A Canadian judicial review that could overturn the federal approval of Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion will begin on Monday in Vancouver, said Reuters.

More than a dozen parties, including the company, government departments, environmental and aboriginal groups, will present their cases over two weeks before Canada's Federal Court of Appeal.

A decision against the USD5.9 B expansion would send it back for assessment, a move that would cause lengthy delays. It is rare for Canada's judiciary to review pipeline approvals. The last such review, heard in 2015, led to the rejection of Enbridge Inc's Northern Gateway pipeline by the federal government.

While the court has no firm deadline for rendering a judgment, it announced its decision against Northern Gateway in June 2016, about eight months after hearings ended. The Trans Mountain expansion would nearly triple the capacity of the existing pipeline from Canada's oil heartland of Alberta to the west coast of British Columbia. The two provinces joined the lawsuit this year on opposing sides.

The lawsuit, brought by environmental and aboriginal groups and coastal municipalities, argues that the National Energy Board (NEB) regulator did not properly review the project, neglecting to consider several environmental issues. It also claims the federal government did not properly consult affected aboriginal groups when it assessed the project.

On the other side of the lawsuit are Kinder Morgan, the federal government and the NEB. Kinder Morgan and the government did not respond to requests for comment. The regulator declined to comment. The government has called the export of its natural resources a "fundamental" responsibility, and that it has considered many factors in approving the project, including environmental concerns and views of affected aboriginal people.

Kinder Morgan has said it went through extensive consultations with aboriginal groups and communities along the expansion's path and remains dedicated to engaging them.

Canadian crude oil producers, who are not parties to the lawsuit, say they need projects such as the Trans Mountain expansion to fetch better prices for their landlocked product.

Eugene Kung, a lawyer representing the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, a party to the lawsuit, said the results of the Enbridge case suggest Trans Mountain opponents could win the case. Regardless of its outcome, it is likely be appealed to Canada's Supreme Court, Kung said.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Corporation announced it has added 22,000 acres to its Permian Basin portfolio since May through a series of acquisitions and acreage trades, said ExxonMobil.

Located in the highly prolific, stacked oil pay zones of the Delaware and Midland Basins, the new acreage adds to the company’s existing 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent Permian Basin resource base.

The recent transactions represent important additions to ExxonMobil’s established core positions in the Delaware and Midland Basins. In February, ExxonMobil acquired 250,000 acres in the Delaware Basin from companies owned by the Bass family of Fort Worth. In the Midland Basin, the company has doubled its core operated acreage to more than 130,000 acres through multiple transactions over the last few years.

"We continue to build on our strong position in the Permian," said Jack Williams, ExxonMobil senior vice president. "Our leading presence in the Permian, from equity production through to Gulf Coast refining capacity, positions us well for the future."

ExxonMobil is one of the most active operators in the Permian Basin, currently operating 19 drilling rigs, 14 of which are drilling horizontal wells in the core Midland Basin, where the company has added 200 wells since mid-2014. The company also has four rigs drilling horizontal wells in the Delaware Basin of New Mexico, where the company recently drilled its first 12,500-foot horizontal lateral length well.

ExxonMobil, the largest publicly traded international oil and gas company, uses technology and innovation to help meet the world’s growing energy needs. ExxonMobil holds an industry-leading inventory of resources, is the largest refiner and marketer of petroleum products, and its chemical company is one of the largest in the world.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Engel’s German subsidiary, Engel Deutschland Technologieforum has opened a MuCell Competence Centre in Stuttgart to advance the company’s structural foam moulding technology, said Plasticsnewseurope.

The Austrian injection moulding machinery supplier said the centre was set up in response to growing lightweight trends, stating that structural foam moulding – MuCell – was one of the most important technologies available.

The microcellular foam injection moulding process for thermoplastics materials provides unique design flexibility and saves costs. The process allows for plastic part design with material wall thickness optimised for functionality and not for the injection moulding process.

Therefore, the combination of density reduction and design for functionality often results in material and weight savings of more than 20%. "As a competence centre, we are even better able to support our customers to more fully exploit the potential offered by the physical foaming process," explained Claus Wilde, managing director at Engel Deutschland in Stuttgart.

"We already have a number of major customers here in southwestern Germany who use the MuCell process in their factories worldwide," he noted.

As part of the project, a large manufacturing cell has been installed at the ENGEL technology centre in Stuttgart for customer trials, development work, application-specific consulting, training and small-lot production. Equipped with an Engel duo 350 injection moulding machine with a clamping force of 3500 kN, an integrated ENGEL easix multi-axis robot and a T-200 MuCell unit from the company’s technology partner Trexel, the cell covers a broad spectrum of applications.

Over the past months, Engel’s Lukas Neunzig has completed a number of MuCell projects with global customers at Engel’s headquarters in Schwertberg and at the large-scale machine plant in St. Valentin.

According to Engel, which held a MuCell technology event in mid-September, the process is not just for car manufacturers. "We are receiving a growing number of inquiries from other industries as well, such as technical injection moulding and medical technology," says Wilde.

Two main drivers of success, said Engel, are first the general lightweight trend and, second, the high quality of the components produced in the structural foam moulding process. Physical foaming involves the injection and homogeneous distribution of a blowing agent into the plastic melt during plastification.

After injection into the mould, the gas separates from the melt and creates a fine-cell foam structure. In this way, significantly less material is needed to fill the cavities compared to standard injection moulding and the component weight decreases.

MuCell is a brand owned by the company Trexel, located in Wilmington, Massachusetts. As a system supplier, ENGEL imports the MuCell systems for its customers and manages the integration of the controls and safety aspects into the injection moulding machine.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Automotive has announced Projekt Grenadier's senior management team, updated the search for the site, and outlined the engine options currently under consideration, said the company on its website.

INEOS Automotive has also launched the Projekt Grenadier website, revealing exciting new details about the 'go-anywhere' off-roader. The launch of this interactive website marks the first milestone in the 600 million project to build the world's best and most uncompromising 4x4.

"Projekt Grenadier is starting to capture the public's imagination and this new website is the next milestone on the road", says Jim Ratcliffe, INEOS Chairman. "Our decision to build a brand new world- class 4x4 is an adventure story and we want everyone to share it." Projekt Grenadier – the name given by INEOS to its plan to build a world-class uncompromising 4 x 4 off-roader – reaches a new milestone today with the launch of an interactive website and social media channels.

The website profiles the go-anywhere off-roader’s new management team, as well as featuring a series of videos revealing the genesis of the project, initial thoughts on the vehicle design and the current search for a suitable manufacturing site. This and the new social feeds will provide a window on the project for the general public, sharing regular updates throughout the vehicle’s development – and will even invite followers to participate in the process by sharing their views and designs.

The website launch took place at The Grenadier pub in London’s Belgravia. It was here that Jim Ratcliffe, the chairman of INEOS, first came up with the idea of building a world-class uncompromising 4x4 off-roader to replace the discontinued Land Rover Defender.

INEOS has committed to spending ?600 million on the vehicle and expects to create up to 7,000 direct and indirect jobs. A range of models are planned for sale across the world including multiple wheel-base options, as well as diesel, petrol and hybrid engines to suit different markets.

Dirk Heilmann, the CEO of INEOS Automotive and leader of Projekt Grenadier, says, "Our job is to create the world’s best and most uncompromising 4x4, and we are steadily moving forward with the project. We have recruited a first-class management team, are making good progress in our search for a manufacturing site, and we are now launching the new Projekt Grenadier interactive website."

INEOS Automotive’s new off-roader will have the spirit and straightforward engineering of the old 4x4s but with a massive leap forward in reliability. It will appeal to explorers, farmers and off-road enthusiasts as well as city dwellers seeking adventure.

"The building of our new 4x4 is an adventure story in itself,” says Jim Ratcliffe, INEOS Chairman. “We are used to taking on big, innovative projects and delivering them safely on time and on budget. We have vast amounts of manufacturing and engineering expertise, and a proven track record of success, and we look forward to applying this to create a world-class 4x4."

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polish chemical Company Ciech Group has started importing and distributing Iranian polyolefin to the European markets, said Tehrantimes.

According to the company, three Iranian petrochemical producers, namely Jam Petrochemical Company (JPC), Jam Polypropylene Company (JPPC), and Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Company (PGPICC) will supply polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) to Ciech Group.

"We want the distribution of high-quality plastics on the European market to be a hallmark of Ciech Trading," said Artur Osuchowski, a management board member at Ciech.

Ciech Trading said it could now offer around 200 types of plastics, with products not only for the packaging industry but also for the automotive, agriculture, construction and electronics industries. "We have the very first good references from European customers who bought our polyolefins from Iran," said Urszula Ros, sales director at Ciech Trading.

By moving into the distribution of polyolefins in Europe, Ciech Group has become a competitor to state-controlled Polish oil, gas and petrochemicals group PKN Orlen and Orlen’s Czech subsidiary, Unipetrol.

Since the signing of the 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers, and the consequent lifting of economic sanctions, Iran has regained access to international oil, gas and petrochemical markets.

CIECH was established in 1945. Today, it is the leader on the Polish chemical market and one of the largest Polish enterprises with an international range. The Group is competitive and employs modern management solutions. It consists of 8 manufacturing sites, in addition to trade and service businesses. The CIECH Group offers high-end chemical products: soda ash (the second largest European provider), sodium bicarbonate, salt, polyester and epoxy resins, agricultural products and glass products, as well as other chemicals. They are used by glass, food and furniture industries, for detergent production, in agriculture and in construction.
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