Ontario investing USD3 million in training pilot for automotive, advanced manufacturing

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ontario’s Ford government will invest USD3 million to support the province’s automotive and advanced manufacturing industries, in training to help workers upskill to ensure they keep pace with innovations in those sectors, said Canplastics.

The province’s new “Rapid Skills" pilot will provide high-quality, short duration training. The program is designed to help workers who are unemployed, underutilized, or at-risk of being laid off. Rapid skills, also known as micro-credentials, are short-term, industry-recognized certifications that help people quickly gain the specific skills they need to succeed in a particular sector.

"Ontario’s businesses are evolving at a faster pace than our training system,” said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development. “[This] announcement is a sign that our government is committed to the auto and advanced manufacturing sectors. We’re listening to industry’s best advice on how we can quickly adapt to meet their needs."

As part of the program, the government has issued a call for proposals to organizations interested in developing and delivering this training. Funding will support a diverse range of training projects that address the needs of auto industries and employers, equip participants with in-demand skills and are recognized with a credential.

"Ontario auto workers are among the most productive anywhere, with the province’s assembly plants excelling in industry awards for new vehicle quality manufacturing. The Rapid Skills micro-credentials pilot takes a smart, nimble and collaborative approach to meeting the evolving training requirements of a fast-changing industry,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Organizations that apply to develop and deliver training through the Rapid Skills call for proposals will be selected before the end of this year.

Job seekers and employers: visit ontario.ca/jobs as a one-stop resource and to connect to the Ontario Job Bank to find and post job opportunities.

As MRC informed earlier, Ford is looking to partner with McDonald's to recycle coffee chaff, the husk of coffee beans that peels off during roasting.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance framework agreement to accelerate collaboration with Yokogawa Electric Corporation, according to Kemicalinfo.

The agreement includes selection of Yokogawa as a preferred supplier of control systems.

Under this alliance agreement, Yokogawa will promote localization in Saudi Arabia, and its integrated control systems and safety instrumented systems will be preferentially selected for plants operated by SABIC in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions. Additionally, Yokogawa will promote manufacturing excellence by collaborating with SABIC on innovative digitalization technologies, as well as energy optimization programs.

As MRC wrote before, SABIC took off-stream its Olefins 4 cracker owing to technical issues on May 10, 2019. Further details on duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained. Located in beek, the Netherlands, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 690,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 360,000 mt/year.

Besides, SABIC Europe, an affiliate of SABIC, conducted maintenance works at its cracker No.3 at Geleen site in the Netherlands this autumn. The planned maintenance started in September and lasted around 2 months. The company operates two steam crackers in Geleen which are capable of producing 1,250,000 tons/year of ethylene and 675,000 tons/year of propylene in total.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.

Yokogawa established Yokogawa Saudi Arabia in 2006 and Yokogawa Service Saudi Arabia in 2007. Yokogawa engages in broad-ranging activities in the areas of measurement, control, and information. The industrial automation business provides vital products, services, and solutions to a diverse range of process industries including oil, chemicals, natural gas, power, iron and steel, and pulp and paper.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the worldпїЅs market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In a move that makes it compliant with the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive, the French Parliament’s lower chamber has passed a law to ban all single-use plastic products and packaging after 2040, said Canplastics.

The proposed ban – which still needs to be definitively adopted by the French parliament – targets the use of single-use plastic items like food containers and bottles.

The ban is an amendment to France’s anti-waste law and targets “all food packaging, bottles and everything in our cupboards to do with domestic and industrial consumption," said Laurence Maillart-Mehaignerie, a lawmaker with President Emmanuel Macron’s Republic on the Move party, behind the measure.

The legislation makes France compliant with the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive adopted a year ago that banned a range of items — from cotton buds to balloon sticks, straws and plates — from 2021. Under the directive, member countries also have to collect 77 per cent of their plastic bottles by 2025 and 90 per cent by 2029. In addition, by 2030, all new bottles will have to include 30 per cent of recycled plastics, with an intermediate target of 25 per cent by 2025.

The final text of France’s proposed law says that municipalities that wish to include plastic bottles in the deposit-return scheme can do so if they wish, but mandatory inclusion of plastic bottles will happen in 2023 only if local governments are falling short of their collection targets.

Critics of the legislation are saying that the ban takes too long to come into effect. “We cannot wait until 2040 to ban plastic bags, bottles or other disposable plastics in public administrations and at events,” the World Wildlife Fund said in a press release.

French lawmakers from the Parliament’s two chambers are expected to come to agreement on the final version of the law in January.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's HDPE production totalled 729,500 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, down by 8% year on year. Two producers out of three reduced their output.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bechtel, a global leader in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), has re-opened its office in Al Khobar to meet the increasing demand for quality services in the oil and gas sector in Saudi Arabia and the region, according Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Re-opening the Al Khobar office reaffirms Bechtel's commitment to support the Kingdom's Vision 2030 with a commitment to developing local talent to sustain long-term economic development for the Kingdom.

"We are here to support our Saudi Arabian customers and partners to deliver sustainable energy & chemical products to the world. We are proud of our 76-year history here in Saudi Arabia and today, that energy and dedication to meeting the needs of our Saudi customers and the Kingdom's objectives is just as strong," said Joe Thompson, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Bechtel's Downstream and Chemicals business.

Bechtel's people have engineered, managed and delivered some of Saudi Arabia's signature projects, from Ras Tanura, the first oil refinery in 1943 to today's major projects such as Riyadh Metro Project, The National Project Management, Operation and Maintenance Organization and the Jubail industrial city.

To enable successful outcomes for our customers, Bechtel offers a proven expertise and knowledge accumulated over more than 121 years from delivering hundreds of refineries and chemical plants, thousands of kilometers of pipeline, hundreds of onshore oil & gas facilities, tanks, terminal facilities and unmatched global LNG capacity.

As MRC reported before, in April 2017, Bechtel was awarded two contracts by Carbon Holdings of Egypt: one to provide project management services for the Tahrir Petrochemicals Complex at Ain Sokhna, Egypt, and one to build two new polypropylene (PP) units at an adjacent site.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the greatest increase in shipments.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mammoet was contracted by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) to support heavy lifting activities during the turnaround of Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company’s (Orpic) Sohar Refinery in Oman, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The scope included removal of the existing RFCC Reactor in one piece and installation of a new reactor, external riser and associated components during Turnaround 2019.

Mammoet was chosen because of their expertise in turnarounds and shutdowns, focus on safety and ability to minimize downtime. Also, Mammoet’s knowledge of the site played an important role in the decision: in 2005 Mammoet assisted in the construction of the Sohar refinery and installed the original reactor using its ultraheavy lift ring crane - PTC 35.

The PTC crane is the ideal crane for construction and revamp projects in refineries with complex, congested spaces because of its vast lifting capacity, long reach and relatively small footprint, hence Mammoet proposed to re-use this crane for the exchange of the reactors. Project-specific challenges were overcome in the positioning of the PTC crane at site which included limited working space to assemble the crane and minimum clearance for lifting maneuvers. Mammoet, in close collaboration with L&T developed detailed erection and lifting plans, and procedures, where in some cases clearances of only 500mm were possible, requiring close coordination and cooperation on site. As a result, the 1600-ton crane safely removed the old reactor and successfully positioned the new 37-meter-long reactor, weighing 740 tons onto its foundation. The lifts were carried out effectively within the lifting height of 99 m.

Commenting on the lift, Hamed Faqir Al Balushi, Manager Project Management, Orpic said “On behalf of Orpic, I take this opportunity to congratulate the entire L&T Team for having completed all the Heavy Lifts of RFCC Reactor Replacement Project successfully and safely. The flawless execution of these critical Turnaround activities demonstrates L&T’s strength in planning & execution of such high-risk jobs. Kudos to entire construction team for converting plan into reality ahead of time, particularly engineering, manufacturing teams of L&T and heavy lift crew of Mammoet, as the components went into the place as they were expected to.” Concluding the note: ‘Excellent planning, execution & team work’.

Anupam Ghosal, Head of Modification, Revamp and Upgrade (MRU) business of L&T Heavy Engineering commented "It’s a proud moment for L&T. Conclusion of this very critical project of RFCC Revamp to the satisfaction of Orpic once again establishes world-class competencies of MRU business. As part of this project, Reactor and Riser assembly was manufactured in the state of art facilities of L&T Heavy Engineering located at Hazira, India. All activities for the turnaround, from engineering to execution, were planned over a course of more than a year. Reactor lift, weighing 740t, was challenging with several variables affecting the flexibility and needed a meticulous planning over a course of several months by L&T in coordination with Mammoet. Flawless lifting of the reactor was a momentous occasion. We are indeed happy with the end result and thank Mammoet team for their professionalism."

As MRC informed before, Orpic conducted a planned maintenance at its polypropylene (PP) unit in Sohar, Oman during October, 2019. Maintenance work at 340,000 tons/year PP unit was scheduled to start on 6 October and it lasted until the end of November, 2019.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.

Orpic (Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company) is one of the leading companies in Oman and has two refineries in that country, in Sohar and Muscat. ORPIC is owned by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman and Oman Oil Company SAOC, the trading company created by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman for managing investments in the energy sector.
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