Mongstad oil refinery evacuates 300 workers after gas leak

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Equinor’s Mongstad oil refinery on Norway’s west coast evacuated 300 workers and halted part of its gasoline production following a leak, reported Reuters with reference to the company's statement.

The spill of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) led to an emergency shutdown of the refinery’s naphtha-making unit, however there were no injuries, Equinor spokeswoman Elin Isaksen said.

"Part of the gasoline production has stopped as a consequence, not all," she said.

The company declined to specify how much of its output had been stopped and how much of the facility’s operations were still working.

Local police and the fire service confirmed earlier that the leak had been stopped.

As MRC wrote before, in July 2018, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. was awarded a feasibility study contract from Equinor Energy AS to evaluate the possibilities for building a hydrogen production plant, including CO2 capture and export facilities, in Eemshaven, the Netherlands.
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IRPC to tackle the downstream industry’s toughest challenges with dual 2019 locations

MOSCOW (MRC) – The International Refining and Petrochemical Conference (IRPC) will address the challenges facing the global hydrocarbon processing industry at two strategically situated conferences in 2019, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

With conference locations—Helsinki, Finland, and Houston, Texas—chosen to meet the needs of professionals in Eurasia and the Americas, IRPC will provide a high-level technical forum in which key players in the petrochemical and refinery sector will meet to share knowledge and learn about best practices and the latest industry advancements.

IRPC EurAsia—formerly IRPC Europe—will be held in Helsinki, Finland. The rebrand better reflects the international scope of the conference’s content while the underlying technical presentations will continue to be of the highest quality, backed by Hydrocarbon Processing, the HPI’s leading publication.

Lee Nichols, editor of Hydrocarbon Processing, said, “The Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions represent two of the largest regions in capital construction investments. Both regions are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in new refining and petrochemical capacity to satisfy increasing demand for finished petroleum products. These facilities, which are among the most advanced in the world, are crucial in providing fuels that adhere to strict environmental regulations and chemicals that advance the standard of living for billions of people. The growth of capital investments, along with the advancements in adapting new technologies, in Asia and the Middle East demonstrates the global nature of the downstream processing industry. IRPC EurAsia will best reflect this convergence within our industry."

The Call for Abstracts for IRPC EurAsia, to be held June 5-7, will remain open until Jan. 8, 2019. The conference will cover important topics and trends, such as the impact of IMO 2020; clean fuels/biofuels/alternative fuels; refinery/petrochemical integration; digitalization; energy efficiency; and more. Delegates will also have the opportunity to visit a local Neste facility.

For eleven years, Hydrocarbon Processing's IRPC has been the leading downstream technology event.
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Emerson completes acquisition of iSolutions Inc

MOSCOW (MRC) – Emerson announced it has acquired iSolutions Inc., a Canadian-based consulting group with expertise designing and implementing data management solutions, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

iSolutions provides organizations with decision-support tools to make data-driven production and operational decisions based on the analysis of real-time insights from integrated field and plant systems.

The acquisition will accelerate delivery of Emerson’s new digital transformation roadmap by adding proven skillsets in information technology/operational technology (IT-OT) and application knowledge to help integrate data from the plant floor to business systems.

"“We make the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) tangible through our approach focused on business needs and readiness," said Thomas Waun, general manager for Operational Certainty Consulting at Emerson. “With the addition of iSolutions expertise, Emerson can expedite roadmap implementation and digital transformation deployments across organizations – helping them realize faster return on technology investments and achieve Top Quartile performance in the areas of safety, reliability, energy consumption and production."

iSolutions has a proven reputation with North American upstream oil and gas, power and utilities customers for its successful and repeatable methodology that transforms plant data into real-time key performance indicator (KPI) visualization and business intelligence. In addition, its expertise will strengthen Emerson’s Operational Certainty Consulting organization with the addition of a data management practice for process, hybrid and discrete businesses.

As part of Emerson, iSolutions will help organizations deploy Emerson’s Plantweb™ digital ecosystem, the industry’s most comprehensive IIoT platform.

“We’re excited to join Emerson and expand the reach of our expertise throughout Emerson’s global organization," said Anil Datoo, on behalf of the 4 founding partners at iSolutions. "Together we can continue to make digital transformation practical, accessible and achievable."
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INVISTA expands polyols capacity

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INVISTA announced the installation of the new reactor at its polyols manufacturing facility in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, is complete, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The reactor is producing material within specifications, and customer deliveries have started.

"We are pleased that our ability to supply the market is growing along with increased growth in demand from our valued customers," said Peter Zeimentz, INVISTA European business manager for polyols. “With the PIR insulation market picking up and an increasing number of customers qualifying INVISTA’s polyols, the timing of this supply coming online couldn’t be better. "

Martin de Graaf, INVISTA Vlissingen site manager, said, “We’re proud of this project on many levels. Thanks to the diligence of the team, and in alignment with our strong safety culture, we were able to safely complete the work on time and within budget."

Terate aromatic polyester polyols allow formulation flexibility in achieving the range of physical and flammability properties required of polyurethane and polyisocyanurate foams. Terate® HT polyols is the next generation technology that offers further advances in burn performance, ease of processing and efficiency in rigid foam manufacture. This comprehensive product line can be used in a variety of applications including flex-faced boardstock, metal-faced sandwich panels, spray foam, and bunstock foam.
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PE units to be brought on-stream by FREP

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fujian Refining & Petrochemical (FREP) is in plans to restart its No. 1 & 2 polyethylene (PE) units following a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company is likely to complete turnaround at the units in end-December, 2018. The units were taken off-line for maintenance in end-October, 2018.

Located in Fujian province, China, the No.1 & 2 units have a production capacity of 500,000 mt/year each.

As MRC informed previously, FREP restarted its No.3 polypropylene (PP) plant in Fujian on September 23, following an unplanned outage. The plant was taken off-line on September 18, 2018 owing to a technical issues. Located in Fujian province, China, the No. 3 PP plant has a production capacity of 220,000 mt/year.

The company also operates other two PP plants at the same location with production capacity of 120,000 mt/year and 360,000 mt/year.

FREP is a joint venture between Fujian Petrochemical Co. (50%), ExxonMobil China Petroleum and Petrochemical Co. (25%) and Saudi Aramco Sino Co. (25%). Fujian Petrochemical is a 50:50 JV between Sinopec and the Fujian provincial government.
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