SIBUR in talks with banks about possible IPO

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian petrochemical producer SIBUR has begun talks with banks about a possible initial public offering, CNBC cited Sibur's CEO Dmitry Konov as saying on Tuesday, reported Reuters.

SIBUR could list shares on the Moscow Exchange and later consider other international bourses, Konov was quoted as saying.

The CEO said Sibur could list 15 percent of its shares, but declined to give a timeframe, saying it would depend on market conditions, CNBC reported.

As MRC wrote before, in June 2018, SIBUR said its plans to build a gas chemical complex in Russia's Far East will require preliminary investments of up to USD8 billion and it is still looking for Asian partners. SIBUR said a year ago that it had been in talks with a number of Chinese investors about participating in the project to build the complex in Amur.

SIBUR is a uniquely positioned vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. We own and operate Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes and are a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. As of 31 March 2014, SIBUR operated 27 production sites located all over Russia, had over 1,400 large customers engaged in the energy, chemical, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), automotive, construction and other industries in approximately 70 countries worldwide and employed over 27,000 personnel.
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Petrofac bags USD20m worth well engineering contracts

MOSOCW (MRC) -- Petrofac has bagged multiple well engineering contracts with a combined value of about USD20m, as per Compello.

Petrofac secured an exclusive five-year Well Operator Services contract from independent Exploration & Production company, Tailwind Energy Ltd (Tailwind), following Tailwind’s recent purchase of the Triton Cluster. Under the terms of this arrangement, Petrofac will act as Well Operator for the Gannet E, Belinda and Evelyn licence areas in the Central North Sea.

The company has also been awarded discreet Well Engineering scopes by two major International Oil Companies (IOCs) and three National Oil Companies (NOCs) for projects in Iraq, Turkey and New Zealand. These additional scopes reflect the continued global growth of Petrofac’s Well Engineering capabilities.

Petrofac engineering and production services well engineering managing director Alex Macdonald said: "We’re delighted to be expanding our global service delivery as we continue to support IOCs, NOCs and new entrant Operators with outsourced Well Engineering services. As evidenced by the number of awards we’ve secured so far this year, we’ve consistently proven our delivery and execution capabilities to new and existing clients.

"Going forwards, our teams will continue to focus on safe, effective deployment of our Well Engineering activities to enable our clients to unlock maximum value from their oil and gas assets."
MRC

BASF opens modular lab for automotive OEM coatings at its Münster site

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF’s Coatings division has opened a new laboratory for automotive OEM coatings at its site in Munster, Germany, said the company.

The modular Lean Lab concept aims to ensure optimized, digitalized and transparent processes and efficient use of resources in the laboratory area throughout Europe. Discrete working processes of the lab employees and the use of standardized and automated processes allow BASF to meet future market requirements quickly and flexibly. In line with this, the workforce in Munster is supported by a lab dosing machine that was specially developed for BASF and is the only one of its kind in the coatings industry.

"BASF cooperates very closely with all major automotive manufacturers worldwide to develop advanced coatings technologies. Through the digitalization of processes, optimized use of resources, and automation, we can respond even more efficiently and address our customers’ needs,” says Dirk Bremm, president of BASF’s Coatings division. Since 2014, BASF has invested € 24 million to completely overhaul an existing laboratory building for this purpose, which included adding an extra story. The building now features four bright and airy laboratory levels with spacious offices and state-of-the-art lab workplaces that are all digitally linked. Discrete work processes are intelligently designed to foster customer-specific product developments, manufacture paint samples and perform application tests. An optimized logistics concept also ensures that all materials for daily work – and for this work only – are available, which positively impacts resource efficiency.

A lab dosing machine that is unique in the coatings industry and was specifically built for the lab in Munster facilitates work and assures quality. BASF collaborated with machine manufacturer FRICKE Dosing + Filling Systems from Minden, Germany, to develop the machine. At 12 meters long and weighing 8 tons, it can manufacture standard formulas from over 300 liquid raw materials. “It is said that digitalization affects everyone. BASF’s Lean Lab clearly demonstrates how certain occupations, such as that of a laboratory technician for coatings, are being redefined. It is still about researching the features and appearance of colors and paints, but it takes place a high-tech environment today. Young people who take this job need knowledge in chemistry, technology and IT alike. This proves to me that vocational training is modern. It is attractive. It is the starting point of a career,” says Karl-Josef Laumann, Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
MRC

Neftekhim Ltd resumed PP production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kazakh Neftekhim Ltd, the only polypropylene (PP) producer in the country, resumed production after a scheduled maintenance, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's customers said the company Neftekhim LDT had completely resumed production and shipments of PP to consumers by Monday, 17 September, after the scheduled turnaround. The outage lasted much longer than originally planned.

As reported earlier, the plant was shut down on 25 July and was planned to be idle within one month.

Neftekhim Ltd was commissioned in 2009. The company produces methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and polypropylene (PP). The plant's PP production with the capacity of 30,000 tonnes/year was launched in 2011; the plant did not have PP granulation unit then, polymer was produced in the form of powder, which limited its field of application.
MRC

Meridian signs letter of intent for Davis Refinery start-up services

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Meridian Energy Group, Inc., the leading developer of innovative and environmentally-compliant oil refining facilities, has announced that the company has signed a Letter of Intent with GATE Energy, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Meridian announced that GATE Energy has been selected to provide commissioning and start-up services to the Davis Refinery team during development and execution of the 49,500 bpd Davis Refinery located in Belfield, North Dakota. This LOI comes only weeks after Meridian has begun Civil Construction of the Davis Refinery. The Davis Refinery will commence construction in 2019 and will be fully operational in 2020.

GATE Energy is a family of companies that provide scalable, fit-for-purpose services for the energy sector including engineering, commissioning, field services, operations services and maintenance staffing services.

Steven Guy, President of Commissioning at GATE Energy said, "This award solidifies GATE Energy as best-in-class provider of commissioning services. With our back-to-back commissioning services awards we’ve earned for upstream projects, we’re extremely excited to now be an integral part of the first US greenfield refinery project in almost 40 years.

Lance Medlin, EVP of Projects at Meridian, remarked, “Meridian’s selection of GATE Energy as the Owners Commissioning and Start-Up team is the result of lengthy technical workshops and collaborations. GATE Energy will provide personnel for development planning and execution as well as their GATE Completion System (GCS), which will ensure the safe and efficient execution of the Davis Refinery."

As MRC reported earlier, in May 2018, Meridian Energy Group announced that it had signed a letter of intent with a leading specialty engineering, procurement and construction solutions provider based in Houston, Texas, to initially complete a front end engineering and design (FEED) study for the Davis Refinery in Belfield, North Dakota.
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