SNC-Lavalin awarded engineering services agreement with a Gulf Coast company

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SNC-Lavalin announced that it has signed a Master Services Agreement, with approximate worth in excess of USD100M, with one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The scope includes provision of all engineering support for the client's Gulf Coast facilities. SNC-Lavalin is one of a limited number of firms with world-class expertise at scale in this field across engineering, procurement, construction, consulting services on cost and program management, training, and operations and maintenance. SNC-Lavalin will utilize its downstream capabilities to increase performance, improve processing, and ensure a partnership with the client to meet their long term goals on their facilities.

"We are excited to work with our client in their downstream projects across multiple facilities on the Gulf Coast," said Joseph Lichon, Executive Vice-President, Americas, Oil & Gas, SNC-Lavalin. "Our innovation and market-tailored technical solutions in every stage of our client's projects enable us to provide considerable cost and production efficiencies on such projects. We are seeing a return to strength of the downstream sector, and we are working closely with a number of clients on future opportunities in this important area for refined product and chemicals production."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's debt-ridden Guangdong Zhenrong Energy (GZE) has asked a private refining group to join a multi-billion dollar investment in an aging Caribbean oil plant to shore up financing on the deal, reported Reuters with reference to two Chinese executives involved in the matter.

The Curacao government last week scrapped a preliminary deal with Guangdong Zhenrong to operate the century-old Isla refinery, saying the state-controlled commodity trader lacked the financial muscle for the job on its own.

Taking over the 335,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery, operated for decades by Venezuela's cash-strapped state oil firm PDVSA, would give China a foothold in the Caribbean's second-largest refinery, which has also been a key transfer point for Venezuelan oil heading to Asia.

Chen Bingyan, Guangdong Zhenrong's chief negotiator for the project, acknowledged that the Chinese commodity trader is saddled with heavy debt after rapid expansion but said that should not stop it from pressing ahead on the investment.

"Guangdong Zhenrong is facing financial difficulties and it will take time to sort out those problems ... because of this, we've brought on a large private Chinese firm to join the project," Chen told Reuters.

Baota Petrochemical Group, a privately-run refining and petrochemical group in northern China, has emerged as the new partner in the Curacao project, which requires USD3.4 billion to revamp the aging oil plant.

"What's more important, Baota has obtained USD3 billion worth of financial support from the Asia Development & Investment Bank," Chen said.

Chen said the bank's offer of financial support will be valid until January 2019, and its release of loans will be subject to the involved parties signing a final commercial contract and obtaining regulatory approvals.

Set up in 2009, Kuala Lumpur-based Asia Development & Investment Bank (ADIB) was funded by China Development Bank and oil-producing nations such as Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. The bank manages a credit line of USD40 billion with a focus on energy investments, according to the bank's website.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Saturday that the OPEC member's oil output capacity is nearing 5 MMbpd, but the country will remain in full compliance with its output target under a global pact to cut supplies, reported Reuters.

Luaibi said the supply cut agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC producers should continue despite a rise in oil prices.

"The market now is not 100 percent stable," he said at an industry conference in Abu Dhabi, adding that current oil prices could be sustained, but there might be some fluctuations.

For the week, Brent crude rose 3.3 percent, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude jumped 4.7 percent, having hit its hit its strongest since late 2014 at $64.77 on Thursday.

The deal between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia to cut 1.8 MMbpd of crude, which started in January 2017, is due to last until the end of 2018. Luaibi said current Iraq's oil production is about 4.3 MMbpd. Despite the increase in oil production from the United States, "so far there is a balance" in the oil market, Luaibi said.

"We are watching the market and the market is okay in terms of supply and demand balance. There’s still a gap, inventories are still high. The inventory level will decrease gradually and we will see how things will go," he told reporters.

Luaibi also said that his ministry plans to conclude three contracts with international gas companies by mid-2018 to utilize gas from Basra, Maysan and Nassiriyah southern provinces.

He said that by 2021, the country plans to "reach zero gas flaring". Iraq is forced to flare some of the gas produced alongside crude oil as it lacks the facilities needed to capture and process it into usable fuel. The country has just one gas processing company, the Basrah Gas Company, a joint venture between Iraq's state-run South Gas Co., Shell and Mitsubishi.

OPEC’s second-largest crude producer after Saudi Arabia, Iraq is seeking to increase its oil and gas income, which account for nearly all its public budget.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- NOVA Chemicals Corporation has announced that Chris Bezaire, senior vice president, Polyethylene (PE) business will retire effective April 1, 2018. John Thayer, currently vice president PE marketing, will assume the role of senior vice president, Polyethylene business, as per the company's press release.

Bezaire joined DuPont Canada’s Polyethylene business in 1988 as a process engineer before coming to NOVA Chemicals in 1994. There he progressed through a variety of roles in operations, sales, marketing, investor relations, and corporate strategy, including expatriate assignments in Europe and Asia. In addition, he has held executive positions including vice president of investor relations; vice president, finance and controller; vice president, Advanced SCLAIRTECH business; and vice president, corporate planning. Bezaire was appointed to the NOVA Chemicals Management Board in 2011.

"I’ve been extremely fortunate with NOVA Chemicals to have enjoyed many different roles with great people in different functions and locations." said Bezaire. “I look forward to the next phase of my life, knowing that at NOVA Chemicals we’ve built a solid foundation for significant growth ahead."

"I would like to personally thank Chris for his contributions over the years and wish him well in retirement. He has been a steady hand in helping to guide the organization throughout a period of significant transformation. His vision and leadership has allowed us to have a clear focus and commitment to our customers - furthering our mission to develop great plastic products that make everyday life healthier, easier and safer," said Todd Karran, chief executive officer, NOVA Chemicals. ЭFurthermore, I’m excited to welcome John Thayer to the NOVA Chemicals Management Board. John brings with him a strong background in developing people, leading organizations through change and creating an exceptional customer experience. His experience and insight will be a tremendous asset as we continue to progress our growth journey."

Thayer started his career with NOVA Chemicals’ Expandable Styrenics business in 1997 after working at Weyerhaeuser Company. During his time with the Expandable Styrenics business, Thayer held various leadership roles, including human resources leader, site leader and global business director before serving as general manager of the business. In 2015, Thayer transitioned to the PE business, overseeing the business services function, where he was responsible for optimizing the PE sales planning, contract management, pricing, customer service, analytics, and sales execution efforts. Currently he is vice president, PE marketing and has responsibility for driving the execution of NOVA Chemicals’ market leadership strategy, which helps to meet the current and future needs of the company’s customers and brand owners.

As MRC informed before, in early 2017, NOVA Chemicals Corporation, a leading supplier of polyethylene in the Americas, announced the start up of its new world-scale linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) gas phase reactor at its Joffre, Alberta site.

Nova Chemical is one of the largest world's petrochemical companies, a manufacturer of polyethylene, styrene polymers, monomers, and many other related products. NOVA Chemicals, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is wholly-owned ultimately by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Henkel is introducing Lioscan, a new inline, contactless and non-destructive coating weight measurement system in flexible laminate production. This system has been designed for reactive polyurethane-based adhesives systems and coatings. According to the company, Lioscan can be retrofit in almost any laminating machine. It boosts the customer’s process reliability and production efficiency, while improving quality and reducing material waste at the same time.

Flexible laminates are specialised products, combining two or more film/foil layers with different characteristics to bring out the desired features for each individual packaging solution: From human food, such as snacks, confectionary, coffee or fresh fruits, to pet food, pharmaceuticals and personal care products. To ensure the laminates’ performance, a thorough quality management process is highly recommendable. Lioscan allows users to do this inline to save both time and material in the process, said Henkel.

The introduction of Lioscan changes the work routine for quality control: Before, operators either had to stop the machine in order to check the quality of the laminate currently being produced or they had to wait until the end of the converting process of an entire reel before being able to measure the coating weight. Samples from different points of the film then had to be cut out and carefully delaminated in the laboratory to check if the adhesive had been applied correctly. If the result did not meet the customers’ quality standards, the entire reel would have to be disposed of and its production repeated. And even if the quality check was passed: Precious operation time had to be sacrificed in the quality control process.

With Lioscan, one brief check of the system’s touch screen is enough to instantly inform the operator about the actual coating weight across the full width of the film – without stopping the machine. The system detects any deviation from the specified coating weight and sets off an acoustic and visual alarm. Thus, it minimises the risk of any potential claims.

Lioscan is equipped with an automatically oscillating infrared sensor moving along the film sideways without any contact to the material. Its sensor detects the isocyanate content, allowing for high coating weight measurement precision at high machine speeds. The system is suitable for measuring adhesive coating weights on various film types, such as transparent, printed or metallised films and aluminium of various thicknesses.

According to Henkel, Lioscan is in use across multiple regions and has proven to be intuitive and can be retrofit into almost all laminating machines. "We want to provide our customers with the ability to constantly monitor the coating weight in real time and at unprecedented accuracy. Lioscan leads to a significant increase of our customer’s efficiency by reducing machine downtimes and material waste", said Andreas Wenzlaff, Technical Key Account Manager at Henkel. Lioscan comes with a comprehensive Technical Service offering that not only includes the installation of the system but also on-site user trainings and technical on-site support for the optimal calibration of the system.

"Currently, Henkel is the only adhesive supplier offering such a system that provides our customers with an integrated solution from one source at the mentioned accuracy level," Andreas Wenzlaff continued. "One percent waste avoidance of the global flexible packaging industry output equals a film the length of more than 70 times around the planet. Thus, beyond operational excellence, Lioscan also helps our clients to meet their sustainability goals by significantly reducing material waste."

As MRC reported previously, in 2015, Henkel Russia opened a new dry building mixes plant in the Novosibirsk region. The new production site reportedly places the company closer to customers in the Siberian and Far East regions of Russia.

Henkel operates in three business units, including laundry and home care, beauty care and adhesive technologies.
MRC