Latest iFIX software delivers faster time to insights and improved efficiency for Plant Operators

MOSCOW (MRC) — GE Digital announced a powerful new version of iFIX, its award-winning HMI/SCADA software, used by nearly 20,000 industrial organizations around the world for plant-wide connectivity, visibility and control, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Part of the Predix portfolio, the new iFIX 6.0 improves operational productivity by providing plant operators with high performance to give users the most informed view of the problem or task and secure visualization from anywhere at any time. GE Digital unveiled this new development at the 23rd Annual ARC Industry Forum in Orlando.

"We are excited to announce a number of powerful improvements to our iFIX offering,” said Matt Wells, Vice President of Product Management for GE Digital. “Building on our heritage as an industrial company, we are intimately familiar with the challenges our customers face every day. Industrial companies are looking for better ways to quickly build new SCADA applications, improve user performance and respond to changing needs while maintaining the security of the application. By leveraging standards such as OPCUA, integrated support for ISA alarm shelving, and enabling new web development tools, iFIX 6.0 allows organizations to rapidly build new applications while ensuring the stability and security of their operations and empowering operators to respond better to changing conditions in real time."

"Manufacturers must continuously balance their investment in rapidly advancing process technologies against razor thin margins. In particular, users of HMI/SCADA solutions must adopt future-proof products that maximize situational awareness, can be deployed remotely on any leading handheld or wearable device, utilize advanced standards to accelerate IT/OT convergence, and securely leverage asset connectivity and services,” said Craig Resnick, Vice President, ARC Advisory Group. “GE Digital’s iFIX 6.0 meets these critical user requirements, leveraging the power of the Predix portfolio to deliver a full array of asset connectivity and services that help companies maximize their operational productivity and decision support."

iFIX 6.0 includes integrated support for ISA 18.2 standards for consistent alarm shelving and interface presentation, which enables operators to easily prioritize critical alarms to avoid spending unnecessary resources on less-pressing needs – helping plants to increase productivity by up to 70 percent. A new alarm summary grid allows operators to filter and focus on the critical alarms that matter, making it easier for immediate responders to review information and deal with the priority situation at hand.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nexeo Solutions, Inc. and The Surface Treatment global business unit of the Coatings division of BASF, operating under the Chemetall brand announces the expanded distribution relationship to include Chemetall’s surface treatment portfolio developed for the aerospace industry in the United States, as per the company's press release.

Chemetall, a leading global one-stop supplier for Aerospace OEMs and maintenance companies, with its well-known line of products including Ardrox and Naftoseal brands, offers sealants, non-destructive testing (NDT) products, corrosion inhibitors, cleaners, pretreatments and paint strippers for airframe, aircraft operation and aero-engine applications.

"We are excited to expand our portfolio in the U.S. with Chemetall’s product line and technical support," said Jason Sanchez, Business Director of Aerospace and Custom Packaging at Nexeo Solutions. "The Chemetall portfolio complements our existing portfolio by adding specialty cleaners, corrosion protectants, surface preparation, and sealants, supporting our continued focus in the aerospace, military and defense markets. Together, we are expanding and leveraging the strength of our distribution network and Chemetall’s technical capability to create real value for our customers."

"Chemetall is excited to be working with Nexeo Solutions to bring their expertise to customers in the Aerospace market. Nexeo Solutions, BASF and the Chemetall brand are well positioned to have effective support, timely deliveries and the infrastructure to meet the demands of the Commercial and Military Aerospace markets. Nexeo Solutions will be able to offer key Chemetall technologies like Corrosion Inhibiting Compounds, Non-Destructive Testing and Surface Treatment to customers who need the high-quality and exacting standards that Chemetall brings to the Aerospace industry," said Gregg Sanko, Director of Aerospace Technologies for Chemetall North America.

As MRC informed before, in December 2017, BASF’s Coatings division inaugurated a new automotive coatings plant at its Bangpoo manufacturing site, Samutprakarn province, Thailand. The new plant is the first BASF automotive coatings manufacturing facility in ASEAN, and will produce solventborne and waterborne automotive coatings to meet growing market demand in the region.

Nexeo Solutions is a leading global chemicals and plastics distributor, representing products from world-class producers to a diverse customer base. From product specification to sustainable solutions, the company goes beyond traditional logistics to provide value-added services across many industries, including chemicals manufacturing, oil and gas, coatings, personal care, healthcare, automotive and 3D printing.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Corp plans to set greenhouse gas emissions targets and tie executive compensation and rank-and-file bonuses to the reductions, the oil major said in its latest climate report released, reported Reuters.

The move is a first for a US oil major and focuses on the company’s oil fields. More investors have been pressuring San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron and other big oil companies to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change.

Chevron said that by 2023, it will reduce its methane and flaring intensity by 25 percent to 30 percent from 2016 levels, and said the goal would be added to the scorecard that determines incentive pay for around 45,000 employees.

"It’s about the mindset and the culture of the company," said Chevron Vice President Mark Nelson, noting that including most of its global workforce would “harness” ideas from all employees.

Among other oil companies, London-based BP and France’s Total have set short-term targets on reducing carbon dioxide emissions from to their own operations.

Royal Dutch Shell in December announced it would link executive compensation to reducing carbon dioxide emissions starting in 2020, including so-called Scope 3 emissions from fuels sold to customers around the world.

Chevron’s report said it does not support establishing Scope 3 targets.

Exxon’s latest climate report, published on Tuesday, includes a goal of reducing methane emissions from operations by 15 percent and flaring by 25 percent by 2020 compared with 2016 levels, as well as reducing greenhouse gas intensity at its Canadian oil sands facilities by 10 percent by 2023.

Chevron’s target aims to reduce emissions and flaring as a percentage of production but does not set a goal for total emissions - a measure that activist investors prefer. The targets will apply to Chevron’s operations as well as joint ventures or assets it has a stake in but does not operate itself, the company said.

Methane, the main component of natural gas, is colorless and odorless, and has more than 80 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it escapes into the atmosphere, scientists say.

Methane can leak from oilfield equipment and pipelines, or is flared or vented during maintenance work, and when new oil wells are added in areas that don’t have natural gas pipelines.

As MRC informed earlier, in February 2019, Chevron Corp said it would pay USD350 million to buy a refinery in Pasadena, Texas, from Brazilian state oil company Petrobras.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indorama Ventures (IVL) has commenced production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at plants it acquired from Artlant PTA in Portugal and EIPET in Egypt, respectively, as per Apic-online.

IVL completed the acquisition of the 700,000-t/y PTA facility, located at the Sines industrial complex, in Late 2017. Value of the transaction, which included all equipment, surface rights and employment contracts, was not disclosed.

As MRC wrote before, in June 2018, IVL, through its indirect subsidiary Indorama Netherlands, entered into an agreement with Dhunseri Petrochem to acquire and restart the 540,000-t/y PET plant in Ain Sokhna, Egypt.

IVL agreed to purchase up to a 50% equity stake in EIPET and entered into a 50-50 joint venture partnership with Dhunseri. Financial details were not given.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, listed in Thailand, is one of the world's leading petrochemicals producers, a global manufacturing footprint with 59 sites in 20 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. The company's portfolio is comprises necessities and high value-added (HVA) categories of polymers, fibers, and packaging. Indorama Ventures has approx. 15,000 employees worldwide and consolidated revenue of USD 8.4 billion in 2017. The company is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Delta Air Lines wants to sell its oil refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, after attempts to offer a partial stake in the plant late last year failed, reported Reuters with reference to two people familiar with the matter.

The Atlanta-based airline hired investment banks last year to organize the sale of a stake in its Monroe Energy refining subsidiary, signaling it wanted to share the risk of running an energy business.

The offer failed to attract sufficient interest because a refinery on the East Coast is viewed as an undesirable asset given the rising costs of acquiring crude oil.

The airline, the largest in the United States by market capitalization, now wants to sell the entire plant with an eye toward finding a buyer that would agree to a long-term contract with Delta to buy the plant’s jet fuel, the sources said.

Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant declined to comment on the potential sale and shift in strategy but pointed to comments made by chief financial officer Paul Jacobson last month when asked for an update on the search for a partner in Monroe Energy.

"We have continued with that process and have received some interest in having discussions with parties. There’s no update on the strategy broadly as we articulated," Jacobson said in a January 15 earnings call.

"We’re looking for ways to enhance the value and the strategic value to Delta of the refinery through a partnership and those discussions can be complicated," he said.

The airline acquired the 185,000-barrel-per-day refinery in 2012 for USD150 million in a bet that it could lower its cost of jet fuel, among the highest expenses for any airline. The refinery also makes gasoline and diesel for profit.

The US refining industry has been consolidating into larger players that can use scale to lower their cost of buying raw materials and paying for regular overhauls. This week, oil giant Chevron announced plans to buy a small Gulf Coast refinery to increase its crude processing capabilities.

Four refineries on the US East Coast have closed in the past decade. East Coast refiners got a lifeline for a few years from the Bakken shale boom in North Dakota earlier this decade when high production forced producers to offer them steep discounts.

The discounts have vanished in recent years as more pipeline capacity came online, however, reverting to the poor economics that hurt East Coast refiners a few years earlier.

Delta has argued that keeping the refinery open by buying it was crucial. It said jet fuel prices would have risen across the Northeast if the facility had closed, hurting the airline’s results.

More recently Delta has run the plant like a traditional refinery, choosing to make more of whatever refined product offered the highest margin.

As MRC informed earlier, in late January 2019, ExxonMobil said that it had reached a final investment decision and started construction on a new unit at its Beaumont, Texas refinery that will increase crude refining capacity by more than 65 percent, or 250,000 barrels per day.
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