Wood wins new IRPC contract in south east Asia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wood has been awarded a new contract by IRPC Plc for its Maximum Aromatics (MARS) project, leveraging its operations in the south-east Asian oil & gas market, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Wood will provide front-­­­­­­­­­end engineering design (FEED) for the world-scale paraxylene complex to be built at IRPC’s existing integrated petrochemical complex in Rayong Province, Thailand.

The one-year contract will be delivered from Wood’s offices in Sriracha, Thailand, and secures around 100 jobs in-country. The scope of work will include engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor pre-qualification; EPC contractor invitation to bid (ITB) preparation and EPC contractor bid evaluation support services to support IRPC’s expansion of their aromatics business.

Dave Stewart, CEO of Wood’s Asset Solutions business in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia said: "Wood has been working in partnership with IRPC for more than a decade and the award of this latest contract is a clear demonstration of its confidence in our ability to provide the highest quality services under challenging schedule requirements.

"Growing our share in the oil & gas market in this region is a key strategic focus for Wood. We look forward to leveraging our strong customer knowledge and expertise on large-scale FEED projects to support the development of this asset, which will contribute significantly to Thailand’s growing energy and petrochemical needs."

As MRC wrote previously, in October 2017, Wood was awarded a new multi-million dollar contract by Total, supporting their Lindsey Oil Refinery located in North Killinghome, Lincolnshire, UK. The 5-yr contract is to provide onshore maintenance services and includes the option to be extended up to 2 yr.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Plastics recycling machinery maker Herbold Meckesheim GmbH is returning to a normal production level following a major fire on Sept. 10 at its plant and headquarters in Meckesheim, Germany, as per Canplastics.

The fire destroyed the company’s central warehouse and dispatch department; the office space, test centre, and the production halls were not affected. There were no casualties in the fire, and cause of the blaze was eventually traced to a technical defect in electrical equipment.

"As of the second half of October, [we] are producing again at almost the same level as before the blaze,” Werner Herbold, one of the family-owned company’s managing directors, said in a statement. “The insurer approved our measures to restore an interim operation and granted a sufficient advance so we can realize the necessary investments without delay. The restocking of the parts destroyed in our central warehouse is also in full swing…and all parts of the buildings, undamaged by the fire, will continue to be used as usual."

Herbold Meckesheim is also planning to expand as it rebuilds facilities. “In our direct neighbourhood an incoming goods department and a warehouse have been established and not too far away, a one-time 2,500-square-meter machine hall will be transformed for production,” Werner Herbold said.

The new storage facility is expected to open in November.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- In a bid to expand its packaging solutions portfolio, blow molding machinery maker Sidel Group has acquired blow molder and packaging designer PET Engineering Srl, as per Camplastics.

The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Founded in 1999 and based in San Vendemiano, Italy, PET Engineering has 40 employees and a global customer base.

"With packaging increasingly playing a key role in any marketing mix, we are confident that Sidel and PET Engineering’s complementary strengths in packaging design, qualification and blowing process will bring the Sidel Group more business opportunities while offering customers a diversified choice of partners to materialise their creative requirements," Pavel Shevchuk, Sidel Group’s executive vice president of services, said in a statement.

"PET Engineering is perfectly established to help Sidel expand its packaging offering – especially regarding the design of containers for water, soft drinks, liquid dairy products and beer," PET Engineering CEO Moreno Barel said in the statement.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- TechnipFMC announced the completion of construction of a new ammonia production unit called “Ammonia 4”, executed for Duslo a.s, part of the Agrofert group, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The plant successfully passed performance tests in July. This new unit operates in the existing fertilizer complex located in Sal’a, in Slovak Republic.

TechnipFMC’s scope included the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of this new ammonia unit. The contract awarded in 2014 was executed by the company’s operational center in Rome, Italy.

The new Ammonia 4 unit is based on Haldor Topsoe[1]’s last generation technology. It has a capacity of 1,600 tons per day of ammonia with an estimated operating life of forty years. It incorporates the most advanced engineering and technological solutions for minimum energy consumption and reduction of pollutants emissions.

With the timely completion of the Ammonia 4 plant Duslo a.s has become one of Europe's top ammonia producers in terms of energy efficiency and volume of emissions.

"This milestone confirms TechnipFMC’s long-lasting relationship with Haldor Topsoe, the global market leader in ammonia technology and catalysts. The completion of this new generation unit also reflects TechnipFMC’s leadership in the engineering and construction in the chemical, refining and petrochemical sectors," Marco Villa, President EMIA said.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lanxess A.G. is expanding production of high-performance plastics at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site in Germany by building a new compounding facility at the North Rhine-Westphalia site, as per RubberNews.

The Cologne-based specialty chemicals company said Sept. 19 that it was investing a "mid-double-digit million euro" amount in the new facility, which is scheduled to start operation in the second half of 2019.

Lanxess declined to comment on the capacity of the new facility, citing "competitive reasons."

The site will produce Durethan and Pocan engineering plastics, which are used primarily in the automotive, electrical and electronics industries. In addition, the investment will see the construction of a new warehouse and a silo facility at the site.

"The high-performance plastics business is a central pillar of our growth strategy. By expanding capacity, we are further strengthening our position as a provider of innovative product solutions for modern mobility," said Hubert Fink, member of the Lanxess board of management.

The German materials supplier already operates a polymerization and compounding plant for high-performance plastics in Krefeld-Uerdingen and added a new production line at the existing plant in March.

"Krefeld-Uerdingen is our central production platform for high-performance plastics, especially for the European markets. The expansion will enable us to better serve the continuing high demand from this market region in the future," said Michael Zobel, head of Lanxess' high performance materials business unit.

Metal replacement in vehicles is a major application for these materials, helping to reduce vehicle weight, fuel consumption and emissions. Depending on the part, lightweight construction can yield a weight-saving of up to 50 percent, Lanxess claims.

Lanxess has stepped up investments in expanding its compounding capacities in recent years in a bid to expand its value chain.

In November, the company unveiled plans to invest a USD21.7 million investment in Changzhou, China, to produce 25,000 metric tons of Durethan- and Pocan-branded plastics each year. The plant in Changzhou is scheduled to come on stream in the second quarter of 2019.

Lanxess already operates a plant for high-performance plastics in Wuxi, China.

The company also operates compounding sites in Jhagadia, India; Gastonia, S.C.; Porto Feliz, Brazil; and Hamm-Uentrop, Germany.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2017, Lanxess announced the expansion of its Additives segment and plans to acquire the phosphorus chemicals business with a US production site from Belgian chemical group Solvay. Both companies signed an agreement to this effect.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with about 19,200 employees in 25 countries. The company is currently represented at 74 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. Through Arlanxeo, the joint venture with Saudi Aramco, Lanxess is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber.
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