Dow announces investment plans to meet silicones demand growth and drive innovation

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company has announced new low capital intensity, high return investments in its upstream and downstream silicones franchise to accelerate innovation and support global customers’ demand in high growth markets, such as high performance building, home and personal care, electrical and industrial, consumer goods and components assembly, as per MarketWatch.

A series of incremental siloxane debottleneck and efficiency improvement projects over the next three years to further increase capacity and efficiency in Dow’s siloxane manufacturing facilities around the world.

A new hydroxyl functional siloxane polymer plant in Carrollton, Kentucky, which will increase Dow’s polymer capacity in the Americas by 65%, providing the latest technology to accelerate innovation with customers.

Additional expansion projects to increase capacity in Dow’s high-value performance silicones products and intermediates. This includes a new specialty resin plant in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu, China, which will provide resin intermediates for high value silicone products, including home and personal care, pressure sensitive adhesives, antifoams, and moldable optics for lighting.

"The projects we are announcing today support our ability to continue to meet strong global demand for Dow’s silicones materials, enabling us to grow and innovate more quickly with customers and advancing our leading positions in our targeted end-markets," said Jim Fitterling, chief executive officer of The Dow Chemical Company and chief operating officer for the Materials Science Division of DowDuPont. "Further, these targeted investments are expected to deliver fast paybacks and higher return on invested capital for Dow, contributing to greater earnings and cash generation."

In addition, the company also announced the start of a feasibility study for the construction of a new, world-scale siloxane plant. The geographic location of the new proposed siloxane facility will be determined as an outcome of the feasibility study.

"Dow is committed to our ongoing investment in both upstream and downstream assets to bring a reliable supply to our customers," said Mauro Gregorio, business president, Dow Consumer Solutions. "As an essential addition to Dow’s global silicones manufacturing footprint, the proposed new siloxane plant will expand our access to differentiated monomers and intermediates around the world, while strengthening our capabilities to accelerate and execute our strong innovation pipeline."

As a global leader in innovation and silicone-based technology, Dow already operates nearly twenty silicones manufacturing facilities globally, including three world-scale siloxane manufacturing facilities, located in Carrollton, Kentucky, USA, Barry, Wales, United Kingdom and Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu, China.

As MRC reported earlier, in June 2018, Dow announced its plan to invest in an alkoxylation facility on the US Gulf Coast. Upon completion, this new facility will support global growth in Dow’s core end-markets related to infrastructure and home and personal care, as well as additional end-markets where Dow continues to strengthen its position for the TRITON, TERGITOL, ECOSURF and CARBOWAX SENTRY brands.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sempra Energy has announced that its Mexican subsidiary, Infraestructura Energetica Nova, S.A.B. de C.V. (IEnova), has signed a long-term contract with British Petroleum (BP) for the remaining 50 percent of the initial capacity of the proposed Baja Refinados liquid fuels marine terminal in Baja California, Mexico, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Under the agreement, BP will have storage capacity of 500,000 barrels of liquid fuels to supply its growing network of service stations in northern Mexico. In addition, subject to the execution of certain agreements, BP will have the option to acquire up to 25 percent of the terminal's equity after commercial operations begin in the second half of 2020.

In April, IEnova announced it signed a long-term contract with Chevron Combustibles de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V for approximately 50 percent of the facility's initial storage capacity to supply Chevron service stations and other commercial and industrial consumers.

"The Baja Refinados project is an important part of our growth strategy," said Carlos Ruiz Sacristan, chairman and CEO of the Sempra North American Infrastructure group and chairman of IEnova. "This new terminal will increase Baja California's energy reliability and will foster competitive prices for gasoline and other refined products on the West Coast of Mexico."

IEnova will be responsible for the development of the liquid fuels terminal project, including financing, obtaining permits, engineering, procurement and construction, as well as maintenance and operations. The project will be located at the La Jovita Energy Hub in Ensenada and have an initial capacity of 1 million barrels of liquid fuels, with the potential for future expansion.

IEnova develops, builds and operates energy infrastructure in Mexico. As of the end of 2017, the company had invested more than USD7.6 billion in operating assets and projects under construction in Mexico, making it one of the largest private energy companies in the country. IEnova was the first energy infrastructure company to be listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange.

Sempra Energy announced in August that it formed a new operating group, Sempra North American Infrastructure. The new group's operations include IEnova, as well as Sempra LNG & Midstream development and marketing activities.

As MRC wrote before, in early September 2018, BP Plc successfully installed plant operations advisor (POA), a cloud-based advanced analytics solution developed with Baker Hughes, a GE company, across all four of its operated production platforms in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Sempra Energy, a San Diego-based energy services holding company with 2017 revenues of more than USD11 billion, is the utility holding company with the largest U.S. customer base. The Sempra Energy companies' approximately 20,000 employees serve more than 40 million consumers worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China’s Fujian provincial government to build a petrochemical complex, as per Reuters.

SABIC is the third company to announce a large chemical investment in China over the past two months.

SABIC did not give any details of the investment or a timeline in a brief release, saying this is part of the firm’s strategy to diversify its operations and strengthening its position in the world’s top petrochemicals market.

The deal comes as U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil and Germany’s BASF have separately announced plans to build ethylene complexes in southern China’s Guangdong province, part of the country’s massive petrochemical building boom.

SABIC is already a partner with Chinese state oil and gas firm Sinopec Corp in an ethylene plant owned by Sinopec’s Tianjin Petrochemical Corp.

In Fujian on the east coast, Sinopec operates a joint-venture refining, petrochemical complex in city of Quanzhou in partnership with Saudi Arabian state oil and gas firm Saudi Aramco and Exxon Mobil.

The Chinese major is also building a separate ethylene plant in Gulei, in the same province.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PetroChina’s Yunnan refinery completed a new pipeline to transport fuel from Xundian to Kunming, PetroChina said on its official news website, as per Reuters.

The 81-kilometer pipeline has an annual capacity to transport 1.68 million tonnes of gasoline and diesel.

PetroChina’s Yunnan plant is one of its two largest refining projects that came on stream in 2017 with 260,000 barrels per day of crude refining capacity.

As MRC informed earlier, Chinese state-run oil and chemicals group Sinochem is in advanced talks to transfer its 33.6 percent stake in a debt-laden refinery to state giant PetroChina, part of Sinochem’s plan to shed non-core assets ahead of a USD2 billion listing of its energy arm.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ABB has won an order from Hyundai Engineering to modify existing and install new electrical systems and electrical network monitoring and control system (ENMCS) at Malaysia’s biggest crude oil refinery at Melaka, in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Hyundai Engineering was appointed earlier this year by Malaysian Refining Company Sdn. Bhd’s to deliver the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) turnkey contract to upgrade the existing oil refining facilities to meet the new Euro-5 standard of maintaining sulfur levels to a maximum of 10mg per kg to improve air quality.

ABB has been appointed to design and supply medium and low voltage switchgears, variable speed drives, a direct current (DC) uninterruptible power supply system and an alarm and supervisory system for the project that comprises a new substation and modification to existing substations.

The company is installing its ABB Ability™ System 800xA based process power manager that will integrate the new and existing electrical systems to provide overall control and monitoring of the electrical network.

"Our solutions will help Malaysian Refining to generate insights that can help them drive performance and productivity improvements," says Zeng Tao, Singapore Hub Manager, ABB. "With the ABB AbilityTM System 800xA-based electrical monitoring and control system including substation technology, the refinery will be empowered to embrace digital, enabling its operators to improve performance by accessing more accurate information that will better inform decisions. With our local service teams in Malaysia, supported by our competency center in Singapore, the customer can be assured of expert support."

The refinery has been operating since 1994 and houses two refinery trains with a total capacity of 270,000 barrels per day. It is owned by Malaysian Refining Company Sdn. Bhd. wholly owned subsidary of Malaysia’s state-run oil company Petronas. The refinery complex is operated by Petronas Penapisan (Melaka) Sdn. Bhd. (PPM).

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2018, ABB signed technology agreement with Chinese Yitai Group. A framework agreement between ABB and one of China’s leading coal producers, the Yitai Group, will bring deeper cooperation in applying digital technologies, solutions, services and expertise to improve performance across Yitai’s plants.
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