British Columbia, Canada introduces new project review rules

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The province of British Columbia introduced on Monday new environmental assessment rules that it said will increase clarity and certainty for the companies behind projects, mirroring efforts by the Canadian government to update major project reviews, reported Reuters.

The proposed changes will enhance early consultation with indigenous groups and allow "good projects" to be approved more quickly, British Columbia's environment minister George Heyman said in a statement.

"We want to reduce the potential for the types of legal challenges we've too frequently seen in B.C.," Heyman said.

Most major projects in British Columbia must undergo an environmental assessment, often done in partnership with a federal review.

Canada's ruling Liberals introduced draft legislation earlier this year that would change how pipelines, mines and other major projects are assessed, seeking to address unhappiness over the potential environmental impact of those developments.

The federal move has been criticized by political opponents and some in industry over concerns it will add more hurdles without resulting in increased public support for contentious projects like crude oil pipelines.

British Columbia said the changes to its process will give the province the ability to more fully assess environmental impacts of developments, including upstream emissions and social, cultural and health effects.

It will also include stronger enforcement, including audits, to ensure conditions of approval are being followed as intended.

The new rules will need to be approved by the province's legislative assembly.

As MRC informed before, state-owned Sinopec, formally known as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, along with an Alberta indigenous group, China State Construction Engineering Corp and Alberta management company Teedrum, plan to build a refinery to process 167,000 barrels per day of crude into gasoline and other products.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kraton Corp. (KRA) disclosed in a regulatory filing that Stephen Tremblay, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, the Company's principal financial officer, is leaving such position with the Company effective November 14, 2018, as per Rttnews.

The company noted that Tremblay's departure was not the result of any dispute or disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company's accounting practices or financial statements. He will remain in the employ of the Company through a transition period ending in the fourth quarter 2018. Subject to the satisfaction of the conditions contained therein, Mr. Tremblay will receive the severance benefits and entitlements set forth in the Company's applicable plans and policies.

Effective November 14, 2018, the Board of Directors appointed Christopher H. Russell, the Company's Chief Accounting Officer, to serve as the Company's Vice President and Chief Financial Officer on an interim basis until such time as a successor can be identified and appointed as the Company's principal financial officer.

Russell will continue to serve as the Company's principal accounting officer until such time as a successor can be identified and appointed. Russell, age 53, was appointed the Company's principal accounting officer in June 2015. From 2014 to 2015, Mr. Russell served as Chief Accounting Officer for Prince International Corporation, a leading manufacturer and distributor of mineral based products.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Saudi Aramco has approached banks to finance its USD5 billion Amiral petrochemical project that the state-owned oil producer plans to develop with France’s Total, five sources familiar with the matter said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Aramco, the world’s largest crude producer, plans to boost investment in refining and petrochemicals in a bid to cut reliance on crude as demand for oil slows. Plans for the giant Amiral petrochemical complex in the Saudi city of Jubail were announced in April. It will be located next to the Satorp refinery, which is also jointly owned and operated by Aramco and Total.

Aramco has asked banks to pitch for a financial advisory role and to provide indicative commitments for the financing, two of the sources said. Aramco and Total declined to comment.

The companies said this year the facility would comprise a mixed-feed cracker with a capacity to produce 1.5 million tonnes a year of ethylene. It will also have other units producing high-value petrochemicals.

The project, scheduled to start up in 2024, requires an investment of about USD5 billion. The cracker would feed other petrochemical and specialty chemical plants worth USD4 billion to be built by other investors, taking total investment to USD9 billion, the sources said.

Project financing generally includes loans covering about 70 to 80 percent of total investment, with the remainder covered by equity. One source said it was too early to know the exact size of the debt financing as it depended on commitments from banks.

Aramco and Total signed a joint development deal in October for front-end engineering and design of the Jubail complex.

"Amiral accelerates our broader downstream strategy of becoming a global leader in refining and marketing, base lube oils, and chemicals," Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser said in October.

Separately, Aramco has been in talks with banks for its plans to acquire a controlling stake in Saudi petrochemical maker SABIC, a deal which could require up to USD70 billion in financing. Nasser has not given a timeline saying anti-trust regulations abroad meant the acquisition would take time.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fund Energy has restarted a polypropylene (PP) unit following an unplanned outage, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has resumed operations at the PP unit on November 14, 2018. The unit was shut on November 10, 2018 owing to a technical glitch.

Located at Ningbo in Zhejiang, China, the PP unit has a production capacity of 440,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, the company conducted maintenance at its methanol-to-olefin (MTO) plant in Changzhou City from 5 May to 2 July 2018. Located at Zhejiang, China, the MTO unit has an ethylene production capacity of 300,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

Ningbo Fund Energy Co. Ltd. manufactures and distributes petrochemical products. The Company produces ethylene glycol, polypropylene, and other products.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The technology company The Linde Group has been awarded a contract from Chinese chemical and energy company Inner Mongolia Huineng Coal Chemical Co Ltd to supply a mid-scale LNG plant near Beinichuan in Inner Mongolia, said the company.

This will be Linde’s seventh and largest LNG plant to date in China and is in response to growing demand from customers in China.

Linde's Engineering Division will be responsible for engineering, procurement and site services for the LNG plant with a nameplate capacity of 750,000 tons of liquefied natural gas per annum. The plant’s technology is based on Linde’s proprietary LIMUM® process, a multi-stage mixed refrigerant process that provides best-in-class energy efficiency, and proprietary core cryogenic heat exchangers.

Linde Engineering has world-class experience across the entire natural gas processing chain, including proprietary process technology, manufacturing specialised, tailor-made cryogenic equipment and the delivery of turn-key plants.

In the 2017 financial year, The Linde Group generated revenue of EUR 17.113 bn, making it one of the leading gases and engineering companies in the world, with approximately 58,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business, with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The company is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.

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