New Canadian company wants to build USD5.6 billion petrochemical plant in B.C.

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Calgary-based West Coast Olefins Ltd. (WCO) has announced plans to build a USD5.6 billion petrochemicals site in Prince George, B.C., primarily for shipment to growing Asian markets, said Canplastics.

In a statement, WCO said the project would include a world-scale ethylene plant and polyethylene facility, and that the majority of the polyethylene product would be shipped to Asia. WCO has already secured a 300-acre site in the BCR Industrial Area in Prince George, the statement said.

The firm – which was formed last year to develop natural gas projects in B.C. – is about to begin formal regulatory approval and is targeting a final investment decision by the end of 2020. If approved, the facility will create up to 1,000 permanent highly skilled jobs, while several thousand workers will be required to support the construction effort over a three-year period.

According to WCO, the overall project will include a natural gas liquids recovery plant to recover ethane, propane, butane, and natural gas condensate from Enbridge’s West Coast Pipeline; an ethylene plant to produce one million tonnes per year of polymer-grade ethylene; a polyethylene plant to consume most of the ethylene produced; and associated off-site facilities and infrastructure.

Company officials also say there is a possibility of a mono-ethylene glycol plant being constructed on site to utilize the balance of the ethylene produced.

Addressing possible environmental concerns, WCO said that it is “aware of the local sensitivity to air shed concerns in the ‘bowl area’ of Prince George, especially particulate matter and odour issues.” “The plant uses a low-carbon, clean-burning mixture of methane and hydrogen as its main fuel source for fired equipment that has no soot or odour and minimizes GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions,” the company said. “We believe that this makes a strong case for how this project fits with the provincial climate action plan.”

WCO also said that it has had “several meetings with First Nations, local leaders, and construction companies over the past six months” to discuss potential concerns.

“Council strongly encourages businesses to invest in our community,” Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall said in the statement. “We think this project has great potential and promises to have a major, positive economic impact for Prince George, the region, and the whole province.”

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA received three binding offers last Friday to sell its LPG distribution unit Liquigas Distribuidora SA, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday, asking for anonymity to disclose non-public information, as per Reuters.

One of the sources said Petrobras, as the company is known, expects to conclude the sale of the unit by November. Reuters reported earlier this month the three groups were led by Itausa Investimentos SA, Middle East state investor Mubadala and Consigaz/SHV Energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Enterprises shut the large coker at its 607,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery after a malfunction in the unit, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Motiva shut the 110,000-bpd coker (DCU-2) on Sunday night after a compressor stopped working, the sources said.

As MRC informed before, in mid-July 2018, Motiva Enterprises completed repairs to the FCCU at its 603,000 barrel per day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas.

Besides, later, on 27 August 2018, Motiva Enterprises returned the gasoline-producing, alkylation and small coking units to normal operation at its 603,000 bpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, the nation’s largest. The 82,000 bpd gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU 3) and the 18,000-bpd alkylation units were knocked out of production on 26 August by a malfunction. The units began restarting at night on the same day.

Motiva is a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An Israeli reusable plastic packaging injection moulder is spending millions of dollars to expand into the United States, working with an established company to create a new entity, said PlasticsEurope.

Plasgad Ltd. is working with RPM Plastics LLC of Statesville, North Carolina, to create a US operating unit called Plasgad USA LLC. The new company is jointly owned by Plasgad and John Hobson, the owner of RPM, a company that makes new products and provides service to other plastic product manufacturers.

Plasgad USA now will control the product manufacturing aspect of the Statesville location while RPM will separately continue its other operations, including equipment service, installation and relocation for other firms.

The deal includes more than 20 injection molding machines for Plasgad to make its product line of reusable plastic pallets, bins, containers and crates. The manufacturing site employs 35 in 100,000 square feet.

Plasgad made the investment after examining the US market for reusable packaging and seeing continued growth in that part of the business.

"Plasgad identified this huge potential few years back and started to build its Go to Market strategy to the US market. This recent acquisition is another stepping stone in implementing its strategy towards the U.S. market," company spokeswoman Naama Konin said in an e-mail interview.

"We believe that our [research and development] capabilities are well fit to the needs of the US market and now that we have our own local production base in the US we can grow our business dramatically," she said.

The creation of Plasgad USA will allow the company to considerably increase U.S. production, bringing he company closer to customers, CEO Ofer Karmon said in a statement.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- France-based packaging machinery and equipment supplier Sidel Group has acquired Cognac Moules Emballages Plastiques (COMEP), a French producer and designer of moulds for PET blow moulding, said PlasticsEurope.

Founded in Salles-d'Angles in 1998, COMEP is specialised in the design and manufacturing of moulds for PET bottles and produces over 4,000 moulds per year for customers around the world.

With 60 employees, COMEP was a “first-mover” in low blowing pressure technologies, Sidel said in an 18 July statement.

The financial size of the transaction has not been disclosed.

The acquisition, which will strengthen Sidel’s moulds making and tooling capabilities, follows the Swiss group’s takeover of Italian brand strategy and design consultancy firm PET Engineering srl in October last year.

“With this move, we are continuing on the journey we started back in October 2018… By acquiring COMEP, we enlarge our set of capabilities even further and extend our mould and tooling portfolio to offer complete packaging solutions to our clients,” said Pavel Shevchuk, EVP Services, Sidel.

Post-acquisition, the two firms will maintain their current business focus “with a strong, adapted go-to-market strategy.”

COMEP will represent a separate channel to market for moulds and tooling, meaning the two companies will take “distinct commercial approaches… while capitalising on efficiencies,” Sidel said.

“We are confident that each company’s expertise will prove key in meeting the growing need for complete packaging solutions this industry is showing,” commented COMEP’s CEO Christophe Amarant.
MRC