Wood secures new contract for ethylene and refinery expansion complex in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wood has been awarded a new contract by Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical for its 1MTA ethylene and refinery expansion project being built in Quanzhou, in the Fujian province of southeast China, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The contract grows Wood’s relationship with Sinochem following the successful completion of engineering consultancy services to the development in 2018.

The company will provide engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services as part of the contract, secured by SZPE Amec Foster Wheeler (SAFW), Wood’s joint venture in China. The project will be delivered by Wood’s engineering and project management teams in Shanghai and on-site in Quanzhou, with support from its UK business.

In this new scope of services, Wood will deliver the EPCM and project management services to the offsite utilities portion of the project consisting of site wide pipe racks, power supply, road lighting, telecommunications, power distribution and monitoring cables.

Dave Stewart, CEO of Wood’s Asset Solutions business in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, comments: “This new contract demonstrates our strong relationship with Sinochem and their confidence in our extensive EPCM capability and experience of delivering site-wide utilities systems for large-scale integrated projects.

"We look forward to executing this important contract safely and sustainably and are proud to be part of this growing development which further exemplifies our leading position in China’s downstream sector."

Ryan Ren, SAFW president, adds: "We are delighted to continue our work supporting Sinochem on this multibillion-dollar expansion project which will play a significant role in the development of their downstream business and economic development of the Fujian Province, boosting the local supply chain."

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) -- The US Environmental Protection Agency is likely to release its decisions on applications for small refinery waivers from the US biofuel laws for 2018 in April, reported Reuters with reference to three sources familiar with the matter.

One of the sources said the 2018 waiver decisions could come in a couple of weeks. But refiners were expecting to find out about their petitions before the end of the month, which is the deadline for proving compliance under the US Renewable Fuel Standard for the 2018 calendar year.

The RFS requires refiners to blend certain volumes of biofuels like ethanol each year or purchase blending credits from those that do. But small facilities with a capacity of less than 75,000 barrels per day that can prove compliance would cause them significant financial strain can seek exemptions.

The EPA granted an additional 2017 small refinery waivers from the nation’s biofuel laws, bringing the tally to 35, the agency disclosed on Thursday.

The EPA vastly expanded the program under President Donald Trump, granting waivers to plants of oil majors, including Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp, drawing ire from the corn industry, a key Trump constituency. The number of small refinery exemptions granted grew from seven in 2015 to at least 35 in 2017, EPA data shows.

There is still one outstanding application for 2017, EPA data shows.

The RFS program has been an economic boom for corn farmers in the Midwest, but merchant refiners say it has added hundreds of millions of dollars in compliance costs.
For 2018, there are a total of 39 petitions pending, according to EPA’s website.

The EPA was not immediately available to comment.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Versum Materials Inc has opened its books to suitor Merck KGaA, saying the German group’s unsolicited USD5.9 billion offer might be sweetened and could edge out an agreed merger with Entegris, said Reuters.

"Merck’s proposal could reasonably be expected to result in a superior proposal” Versum cited its board as saying in a statement on Friday.

However, the U.S. firm again urged its shareholders to snub the hostile all-cash bid that Merck launched on Tuesday, adding its support for the tie-up with Entegris was unchanged for now.

The board “has authorized Versum’s management and its advisers to engage in further discussions with, and provide non-public information to, Merck,” the statement added.

Merck welcomed Versum’s move, but kept the pressure up by keeping the deadline and all other terms of its tender offer unchanged, and by urging Versum investors not to back the Entegris deal.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nghi Son Refinery & Petrochemical LLC (NSRP) - a joint venture between PetroVietnam, Idemitsu Kosan, Kuwait Petroleum Europe, and Mitsui Chemicals has recently started up a large residuum hydrodesulfurization (RHDS) unit at its new 200,000 barrels per day refinery in Thanh Hoa Province in northern Vietnam, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The 105,000 barrels per day RHDS unit started up in May 2018 and passed performance guarantees in December 2018, Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) reported.

The unit is based on CLG’s proprietary RDS technology and was included in the new refinery configuration to process Kuwaiti crude oil into products to help meet Vietnam’s rising demand for transportation fuels and petrochemicals. CLG’s RDS technology utilizes a modular design that allows full flexibility in operation of this unit, currently the largest operational RDS unit in the world until additional RDS units utilizing CLG’s technology start up in the Middle East and Asia.

As MRC wrote earlier, in May 2018, Chevron Products Company, a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., and Novvi LLC announced that they had entered into an agreement to jointly develop and bring to market novel renewable base oil technologies.

Chevron Lummus Global (CLG), a joint venture between Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and McDermott, is a leading process technology licensor for refining hydroprocessing technologies and alternative source fuels, as well as a global leader in catalyst system supply. CLG offers the most complete bottom-of-the-barrel solution for upgrading heavy oil residues. Our research and development experts are continuously seeking advancements in technology and catalysts that will improve operating economics for your next project.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Unipetrol has trusted its engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract to McDermott International for its Litvinov refinery in Czech Republic. Under the contract, McDermott will be responsible to provide EPCM services for the upgrade of a hydrocracking unit at the Litvinov refinery, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Previously, the company carried out a feasibility study and basic engineering design and will now undertake the procurement and installation phase.

The Litvinov refinery, which broke ground way back in 1939, started production of gasoline from brown coal in 1942.

McDermott Europe, Africa, Russia and Caspian senior vice president Tareq Kawash said: “This award is testament to McDermott’s long-standing relationship and extensive track record with Unipetrol.

"We believe our ability to combine local knowledge and global expertise makes us uniquely positioned to execute this project."

McDermott said that it has worked with Unipetrol for the last 20 years by executing various feasibility studies, front end engineering and design (FEED) and EPCM projects for the latter’s refineries and petrochemical facilities across the Czech Republic.

The company said that the latest contract work for the Litvinov refinery will be fully performed from its office in Brno, Czech Republic with the project likely to be completed in second quarter 2020.

McDermott intends to immediately work on the project and will log the contract award in its first quarter 2019 backlog.

Recently, the company won a technology contract for the basic engineering and licensing of Irkutsk Oil’s 650 KTA ethylene plant in Russia. The company was also given an order to provide detailed engineering and material supply of six short residence time (SRT) pyrolysis heaters for the Russian ethylene plant.

Earlier in the month, McDermott commissioned a new CDAlky reactor at PetroChina’s refinery in Jilin, China, thereby enabling the downstream asset to produce motor fuel alkylate. The 9,000 barrels per day alkylation unit is among the four CDAlky projects bagged by the company from PetroChina.

In December 2018, the company was awarded two technology contracts from Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) to provide the license and basic engineering design of a 200 KTA polypropylene plant in Barauni, India, and also for a 420 KTA polypropylene plant in the Indian state Gujarat.

As MRC informed before, in December 2018, McDermott International, Inc. announced a contract award from Bayport Polymers LLC, a joint venture of Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA, Inc., and Novealis Holdings LLC (a joint venture of Borealis AG and NOVA Chemicals Inc.), for its new High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) plant, the Borstar Bay3 Project, in Bayport, Texas.

Unipetrol , a.s. is a group of companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the Czech Republic. In 2005 Unipetrol became a part of the PKN ORLEN Group, the largest oil processor in Central Europe. The UNIPETROL Group is oriented mostly towards oil processing, fuel distribution and petrochemical production. In all of these business areas the Unipetrol Group is among the key players both in the Czech Republic and on the Central European market. The Group ranks among the leading firms in the Czech Republic in terms of its revenues, and employs almost 4,000 people.
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