Petronas to join LNG Canada project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell Canada Energy, PetroChina Kitimat LNG Partnership, Diamond LNG Canada Ltd. and Kogas Canada LNG Ltd. have announced that Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) will take an equity position in LNG Canada, located in Kitimat, British Columbia on the west coast of Canada, through its wholly owned entity the North Montney LNG Limited Partnership (NMLLP), subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions, as per Shell's press release.

As a result of this transaction, if approved and upon closing, ownership interests in LNG Canada would be Shell Canada Energy, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell), (40%); PETRONAS (through NMLLP), (25%); PetroChina Kitimat LNG Partnership, a subsidiary of PetroChina Canada Ltd., (15%); Diamond LNG Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation, (15%); and Kogas Canada LNG Ltd. (5%).

British Columbia (B.C.) is home to one of the largest and most accessible sources of natural gas in the world. If constructed, LNG Canada participants will ship natural gas, including from B.C.’s vast reserves, to various countries where the imported gas could displace more carbon intensive energy sources, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

LNG Canada recently selected the joint venture of JGC Corporation (JGC) and Fluor Corporation (Fluor) as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor for the project and is currently finalising materials in preparation for a final investment decision (FID) by joint venture participants.

The transaction announced today does not amount to an FID which remains pending. The timing and outcome of an FID will be decided by joint venture participants based on global energy markets, and the overall competitiveness and affordability of the project.

The LNG Canada joint venture is proposing to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada, that would initially consist of two world-scale LNG processing units, referred to as "trains". The project would include an option to expand to four trains in the future.

As MRC reported earlier, in Januayr 2017, Malaysia's state oil firm Petroliam Nasional Berhad said its new USD27 billion refining and petrochemical complex project in the southeast Asian country is on track for start-up in 2019.

Petronas plans to build a C6-based metallocene linear LDPE plant and a low density polyethylene (LDPE)/ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) swing plant at its greenfield integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in southern Johor state by mid-2019. The proposed metallocene LLDPE will have a capacity of 350,000 tpa, while the LDPE/EVA will have a capacity of about 150,000 tpa. The two plants are part of Petronas' planned Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development project in Pengerang at Johor.

Shell has been a pioneer in LNG for more than 50 years and is involved in every stage of the LNG value chain: from finding the fields, extracting the gas and liquefying it; to shipping LNG and turning it back into gas; to distributing it to customers. Shell has LNG supply projects around the world, as well as interests in and long-term capacity access to regasification plants. Shell Canada Energy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc.

Petronas is a fully integrated energy company with extensive experience in LNG. Through its wholly owned upstream energy company Progress Energy and its partners, Petronas is one of the largest natural gas reserves owner in Canada - with the majority of these reserves in the North Montney natural gas formation in northeast British Columbia. The North Montney LNG Limited Partnership is a wholly-owned entity of Petronas.

Mitsubishi Corporation is Japan’s largest trading company with more than 50% share of LNG imported into Japan. Mitsubishi has been investing in LNG since 1969 and has an interest in 11 LNG export projects globally, many in conjunction with Shell. Diamond LNG Canada Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation.

PetroChina Kitimat LNG Partnership is a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroChina Canada Ltd., an integrated oil and gas company, with interests in upstream, midstream and downstream operations in Alberta and British Columbia. Founded in 2010, PetroChina Canada Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroChina Company Limited, headquartered in Beijing, People’s Republic of China.

Kogas Canada LNG Ltd.is a wholly owned subsidiary of Korea Gas Corporation, which is Korea’s only fully-integrated natural gas provider and one of the world’s largest LNG importers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petroleos Mexicanos disclosed the results of the bidding process for the rehabilitation and commissioning works to be carried out on the H-Oil Plant located in the Miguel Hidalgo refinery in Tula, in the state of Hidalgo, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This project will increase the production of ultra-low sulphur gasoline, in compliance with environmental regulations in effect, and the handling of crude oil for production of other fuels, such as diesel and jet fuel.

Nine consortiums participated in this procedure, and it was the corporate partnership formed by SAIPEM S.P.A/SAIMEXICANA S.A. de C.V that made the most favorable bid, with technical and financial conditions agreeable to Pemex, for an amount of 779.11 million pesos, 9 percent lower than the bid that placed second.

SAIPEM is a world leader in drilling, engineering, construction and assembly services for industrial plants, as well as in the management and execution of integrated on-shore and offshore projects.

As MRC informed previously, Mexican national oil company Pemex is currently processing about 9 percent more crude oil at its domestic refineries than it did in 2017, said Chief Executive Officer Carlos Trevino in April 2018.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PolyOne Corporation, a premier global provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions, has announced the acquisition of PlastiComp, an advanced engineered materials innovator and producer of specialty composites, reported PRNewsWire.

Founded in 2003 by industry veteran and composite pioneer Stephen Bowen, PlastiComp has steadily grown through its ability to replace metal and lightweight products with unique and complex long fiber technology (LFT) composite formulations. Inherent benefits of LFT-based materials include high strength and stiffness, design freedom, fatigue endurance, corrosion and wear resistance, EMI shielding, and recyclability.

Through its Complet product lines and design capabilities, the company serves global customers in a wide-range of demanding applications, including medical devices, robots and drones, marine, and outdoor high performance equipment. PlastiComp's 50 employees and its design and production facility in Winona, Minnesota join PolyOne as part of the Specialty Engineered Materials segment.

"I'm thrilled to welcome Steve, the PlastiComp employees and their valued customers to the PolyOne team," said Robert M. Patterson, chairman, president and CEO, PolyOne Corporation. "We are very excited to accelerate commercial and operational investments to further expand this important composite technology as part of our advanced composites portfolio."

"As we looked to take this business and our customers to the next level, PolyOne was the natural choice," said Mr. Bowen. "PolyOne's comprehensive approach to design, service and innovation in thermoplastics and composites will enable us to forge even further ahead with our LFT technology, and I'm excited that our teams have joined together in collaboration for the future."

As MRC wrote before, in 2016, expanding on its global footprint and expertise in thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) innovation and design, PolyOne Corporation acquired certain technologies and assets from Kraton Performance Polymers, Inc..

PolyOne Corporation, with 2017 revenues of USD3.2 billion, is a premier provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, polymer distribution and specialty vinyl resins.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DuPont Industrial Biosciences and Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) have announced the opening of the world’s first bio-based furan dicarboxylic methyl ester (FDME) pilot production facility in Decatur, IL, USA, as per GV.

According to the companies, the plant is the centerpiece of a long-standing collaboration that will help bring a greater variety of sustainably sourced biomaterials to consumers. FDME is a molecule derived from fructose that can be used to create a variety of bio-based chemicals and materials, including plastics, that are more cost-effective, efficient and sustainable than their fossil fuel-based counterparts.

"We’re confident FDME is both the more sustainable option and the better-for-business option," said Michael Saltzberg, Ph.D., global business director for Biomaterials at DuPont Industrial Biosciences. "This molecule, and its numerous applications, will be high-performing, cost-effective and better for the environment. ADM’s expertise in agricultural value chains and the chemistry of carbohydrates makes them the best possible business partner on this initiative. Our goal is to bring this game-changing technology to commercial scale as quickly as possible."

"Companies and consumers are of course concerned about their environmental footprint, but their bottom line will always be a key priority," said ADM Chief Technology Officer Todd Werpy. "This new, innovative product will help customers replace plastics with materials that are more environmentally friendly, better performing and cost efficient. We’re pleased to work with DuPont, a leader in biomaterials, to bring this innovative new portfolio of solutions to customers around the globe, and we’re excited about the future of FDME."

One of the first FDME-based polymers under development by DuPont is polytrimethylene furandicarboxyate (PTF), a novel polyester also made from DuPont’s proprietary Bio-PDO (1,3-propanediol). PTF is a 100 % renewable polymer that, in bottling applications, can be used to create plastic bottles that are lighter-weight, more sustainable and better performing. Research shows that PTF has up to 10-15 times the CO2 barrier performance of traditional PET plastic, which results in a longer shelf life. With that better barrier, companies will be able to design significantly lighter-weight packages, lowering the carbon emissions and significant costs related with shipping carbonated beverages.

As MRC reported before, 31 August 2017, Dow Chemical Co and DuPont successfully completed their planned USD130 billion merger to form DowDuPont.

DuPont is an American chemical company that was founded in July, 1802. The company manufactures a wide range of chemical products, leading extensive innovative research in this field. The company is the inventor of many unique plastics and other materials, including neoprene, nylon, Teflon, Kevlar, Mylar, Tyvek, etc. DuPont was the developer and main producer of Freon used in the production of refrigeration equipment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Toyo Engineering Group has been awarded a construction project by PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk (CAP), Indonesia's largest petrochemical company, and its subsidiary PT Petrokimia Butadiene Indonesia (PBI), as per 4-traders.

This project involves the construction of Butene-1 production unit with capacity of 43,000 tons/year and Methyl tert-butyl ether production unit with capacity of 127,000 tons/year commissioned by PBI, as well as an Enclosed Ground Flare with capacity of 220 tons/hour commissioned by CAP. They are to be constructed inside CAP's existing petrochemical complex in Cilegon, Banten, on the western tip of Java,Indonesia.

Toyo Engineering Corporation (Toyo-Japan, President and CEO Haruo Nagamatsu) is in charge of a part of engineering and offshore supply services. On the other hand, PT. Inti Karya Persada Tehnik (IKPT, President and CEO Yasuhiro Hime), TOYO's Indonesian subsidiary, is responsible for engineering, domestic procurement and construction work, respectively. The plant is scheduled for completion in 2020.

This is an EPC contract awarded to TOYO based on TOYO's strong, long term relationship with CAP and various attractive and aggressive proposals during tender stage were highly evaluated, leading to the awarding of this project.

Starting from the original ethylene plant in the 1990s, and a butadiene plant as well as ethylene expansion in the last half decade, TOYO is now executing several projects such as polyethylene production plant with a total capacity of 400,000 tons/year for CAP, a synthetic rubber plant with a total capacity of 120,000 tons/year for PT. Synthetic Rubber Indonesia (a joint venture between Michelin and PT Styrindo Mono Indonesia, a subsidiary of CAP) and butadiene expansion project to increase total production capacity from 100,000 tons/year to 137,000 tons/year for PT Petrokimia Butadiene Indonesia (PBI), a subsidiary of CAP.

Chandra Asri Petrochemical (CAP) is the largest vertically integrated petrochemical company in Indonesia with facilities located in Ciwandan, Cilegon and Puloampel, Serang in Banten Province. CAP is Indonesia's premier petrochemical plant incorporating world-class, state-of-the-art technology and supporting facilities. At the heart of CAP lies the Lummus Naphtha Cracker producing high quality Ethylene, Propylene, Mixed C4, and Pyrolysis Gasoline (Py-Gas) for the Indonesian as well as regional export markets.
MRC