Norway oil output may drop 6% in 2011, gas rise 2.5%

(Bloomberg) -- Norwegian oil production will fall 6 percent this year, its 11th annual decline, as the world's seventh-largest crude exporter struggles to maintain output after 40 years of pumping from aging North Sea fields.


Production will fall to 98.3 million cubic meters in 2011, or 1.7 million barrels a day, from 104.4 million cubic meters in 2010, the Stavanger-based Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said. Gas output is expected to rise to 109.1 billion cubic meters from 106.4 billion cubic meters, the agency said.


⌠The fact that the companies on the Norwegian shelf are not able to achieve a maximum exploitation of our fields poses a challenge, said Bente Nyland, head of the agency, at a presentation in Stavanger. ⌠Although our recovery rate is among the best in the world, we are still not satisfied. If we manage to recover just 1 percent more, this would mean revenue in the hundreds of billions for Norway.


MRC

RIL signed 70,150 crore investment intent for Gujarat

(Plastemart) -- A Rs 70,150 crore investment intent has been announced by Reliance Industries for the state of Gujarat- 40,000 crores in Jamnagar refinery project and 15,000 crores at petrochem complexes at Dahej and Hazira. Also part of the MoU is RIL's foray into cement sector with the signing of an agreement to invest in a 5 mln ton cement project in Kutch district of Gujarat.


MRC

KBR and SK Innovation announced startup of Advanced Catalytic Olefins demo plant

(Plastemart) -- KBR and SK Innovation have announced the startup of their Advanced Catalytic Olefins (ACO) demo plant in Ulsan, South Korea. Operations to date have met the companies' expectations for high olefins production, particularly propylene, with improved economics relative to steam cracking due to the technology's higher total olefins yields and increased propylene/ethylene ratios approaching 1.0. The startup marks the first commercial demonstration of ACO.


The demonstration unit achieved design feed rate as scheduled in late October 2010. The ACO process provides a highly attractive alternative to naphtha steam crackers and in addition to offering higher olefins production, the process also produces a lower emissions footprint than a conventional cracker. The keys to this novel technology are the development of a proprietary catalyst and optimization of operating conditions by SK Innovation coupled with the know-how of KBR in the design of fluid bed reactors and the production of polymer grade ethylene and propylene.


MRC

Samsung Engg inks contract for US$411 mln chlor-alkali plant

(Plastemart) -- Samsung Engineering has officially signed a contract for a US$411 mln chlor-alkali plant with Dow-Mitsui Chlor-Alkali LLC, a joint-venture comprised of Dow Chemical (USA) and Mitsui (Japan). The chlor-alkali plant, to be located in Freeport, Texas, will produce 816,000 tpa of chlorine - becoming the world's largest chlorine production facility. The lump-sum turn-key contract is for Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) services and is scheduled for mechanical completion by January 2013. The EPC contract is significant because Samsung Engineering is the first Korean contractor to enter the US plant market through competitive bidding.


MRC

Blast at petrochemical plant of Compagnie Petrochimique de Berre

(Plastemart) -- A blast has been reported at a petrochemical site in Fos-Lavera of Compagnie Petrochimique de Berre, a unit of U.S. group LyondellBasell. The aftermath of the explosion and an ensuing spill of oil products have now been brought under control, as per Reuters However, traffic at the nearby oil terminal has not been affected. A spokeswoman at LyondellBasell said a fire started in a trench on the site of Compagnie Petrochimique de Berre and that an investigation was being carried out to find out what caused the blast.


MRC