ARLANXEO seeks to extend global R&D network through strategic collaboration with Dhahran Techno Valley Company in S

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ARLANXEO seeks to extend global R&D network through strategic collaboration with Dhahran Techno Valley Company in Saudi Arabia, said the company.

Collaboration will involve setting up an elastomers-related R&D center in Dhahran Techno Valley, Saudi Arabia
Dhahran Techno Valley Company (DTVC) is a wholly owned company of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Mineral (KFUPM).

ARLANXEO seeks to tap into Dhahran Techno Valley’s expertise and leverage KFUPM’s pool of talented researchers in building an innovative elastomers industry.

Collaboration will build on Saudi Aramco’s broader chemicals growth strategy as a full owner of ARLANXEO.

ARLANXEO today announced the next phase of its growth plans to expand its R&D efforts into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by entering into a collaboration framework with Dhahran Techno Valley Company (DTVC), a company wholly owned by KFUPM, the Kingdom’s foremost academic institution for oil and gas.
MRC

Lanxess commences production of urethane prepolymers at Porto Feliz site

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lanxess has started the production of high performance prepolymers at its site in Porto Feliz, Brazil. With this measure, the Urethane Systems business unit is expanding its production capacity for prepolymers, said Process-worldwide.

Cologne/Germany — In addition to the production of prepolymers, Lanxess has now opened a state-of-the-art laboratory in Porto Feliz, Brazil. The aim is to provide customers with technical service and support in application development. By combining production and application development, the specialty chemicals group aims to provide know-how for the design and processing of PU systems and other technical services. The company's Urethane Systems business unit is a systems provider to the global PU industry with expertise in cast elastomers, coatings, adhesives and sealants.

As MRC informed earlier, Lanxess envisages an extensive range of potential applications for blow-molded components made from technical plastics in automobiles.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 7.2 billion in 2018. The company currently has about 15,500 employees in 33 countries and is represented at 60 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. LANXESS is listed in the leading sustainability indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World and Europe) and FTSE4Good.
MRC

Storm threat shuts down US coastal refinery, adding to offshore oil production losses

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Threatened flooding from a storm in the US Gulf of Mexico that has cut nearly a third of the region’s oil production has forced the shutdown of a coastal refinery, pushing oil and gasoline prices higher, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Phillips 66 said it expected to complete the closing its 253,600-barrel-per-day (bpd) Alliance, Louisiana, refinery this morning after local authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation of the area.

Oil companies have shut a third of offshore US Gulf of Mexico production ahead of the storm that could become Hurricane Barry late Friday, according to a National Weather Service (NWS) forecast.

Offshore oil and gas platforms operated by Anadarko Petroleum, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and others were evacuated, and many halted production, according to company reports.

Crude futures, which rose more than 4% on Wednesday, were fractionally higher on Thursday, with U.S. crude trading at USD60.60, the highest since May. Gasoline futures also rose a fraction.

On Thursday morning, the potential storm was about 115 miles (185 km) southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, moving west at about 5 miles per hour (7 km per hour). It could make landfall on Saturday on the Louisiana coast, forecasters said.

The potential storm could become a Category 1 hurricane with winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph) and drive ocean water up the Mississippi, forecasters said. The storm surge is projected to be 3 feet to 6 feet (.9 meter to 1.8 meters), according to the weather service.

The Alliance refinery sits next to the river 39 miles (63 km) south of New Orleans. The last hurricane to flood the refinery was 2012’s Hurricane Isaac. The refinery was also shut by Hurricane Gustav in 2008 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In 2017, Hurricane Nate led Phillips 66 to shut the refinery, which was restarted within days as the storm turned away from the area.
MRC

Propylene unit shuts for maintenance by CNOOC Ningbo Daxie

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CNOOC Ningbo Daxie has undertaken a planned maintenance at its No. 1 Propylene unit in Zhejiang, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has commenced turnaround at the plant on July 9, 2019. The plant is expected to remain off-line for around 8-10 days.

Located at Ningbo in Zhejiang province of China, the No. 1 propylene plant has a production capacity of 420,000 mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, on 16 October, China National Offshore Oil Corp. and Shell International Petroleum Company Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore their existing collaboration and the development of petrochemical manufacturing facilities at the Nanhai site in Huizhou, Guangdong province.
MRC

PBF, Valero do not plan to shut Louisiana refineries ahead of storm

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PBF Energy and Valero Energy Corp do not plan to idle their refineries in Chalmette and Meraux, Louisiana, respectively ahead of a developing tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico, reported Reuters with reference to sources.

Phillips 66 announced on Wednesday night it would temporarily shut its 253,600 barrel-per-day Alliance, Louisiana, refinery ahead of the storm. The Alliance refinery faces a greater flooding threat and is outside the flood protection levee system along the Mississippi River.

Company spokeswoman Lillian Riojas said Valero is "closely monitoring the storm, following our hurricane preparedness plan, as well as coordinating with appropriate local agencies."

PBF spokesman Michael Karalovich declined to discuss operations at the refinery.

The 190,000 bpd PBF Chalmette refinery and the 125,000 bpd Valero Meraux refinery are located 1.6 miles (2.5 km) from each other in the eastern suburbs of New Orleans and about 17 miles north from the Alliance refinery.
MRC