GS Caltex's Yeosu crude oil refinery remains shut after

(Bloomberg) -- GS Caltex Corp.'s oil refinery at Yeosu Industrial Complex in South Korea remained shut after a power failure yesterday, company officials in Seoul said. Most plants, including all crude distillation units, were closed and it may be difficult to restart operation today, said the officials, who wouldn't be identified, citing company policy.

GS Caltex, South Korea's No. 2 oil refiner, has four distillation units in Yeosu with a total capacity of 750,000 barrels a day.

The complex 455 kilometers (282 miles) south of Seoul lost power at 4:10 p.m. local time yesterday and electricity supply was restored about 20 minutes later, according to GS Caltex. The Yeosu complex includes the plants of about 30 oil and petrochemical companies including GS Caltex, LG Chem Ltd., Yeochun NCC Co. and Honam Petrochemical Corp.

Yeochun NCC, the country's biggest ethylene producer, didn't shut any of its three naphtha crackers at the complex, a company official in Seoul said by phone yesterday.

MRC

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- Global PET packaging specialist OCTAL is on track to complete the second phase of its operational expansion this year following a new round of funding from six Middle Eastern banks, it has been learned.

The privately owned, Oman-based manufacturer opened a 400,000 metric tonne (m/t) PET resins and sheet packaging facility in the southeast port city of Salalah in January 2009.

Phase two of the complex, which will be commissioned from June 2012, will add an additional 527,000 m/t of production capacity, making OCTAL the world's largest producer of PET resins on one site and the largest PET manufacturer in the world, the company claims.

MRC

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- The Mauritian government is currently holding talks with India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited and will proceed with a feasibility study costing $60 million, financed by Mauritius and India, according to Muaritian daily, l'Express.

The refinery would process crude oil from Africa before sending products on to India.

The import-dependent country currently has no oil production capability.

The Indian ocean Island nation's economy depends mainly on on sugar production, tourism, textiles and apparel, and financial services, and is expanding into fish processing, information and communications technology, and hospitality and property development sectors.

MRC

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- Borouge has awarded a contract worth US$ 111 Million to Alpine Bau Deutschland AG to construct the non-process buildings of the Borouge 3 expansion project being executed in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

The Borouge 3 mega-project, which is already well underway at Ruwais, will increase the total production capacity of the petrochemicals plant by 2.5 million tonnes per year to 4.5 million tonnes of polyolefins annually by 2014.

Borouge is a joint-venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), one of the world's major oil companies, and Austrian based Borealis, a leading provider of chemical and innovative plastics solutions.

MRC

(Arabian Oil nad Gas) -- Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) posted net profit of US$5.75bn in 2010 compared to $2.41bn for the same period 2009, a 138% increase, the company said in statement.

SABIC attributed the improvement in its results to higher sales prices for most of its products as well as a strong operating performance.

In the fourth quarter, SABIC posted $1.55bn, compared with $1.2bn to the same period 2009 and an average analyst forecast of $1.56bn, the company said.

Last year, SABIC benefited from higher production after adding new capacity under its Saudi-based affiliates Yansab and Sharq and under its Tianjin joint venture with Sinopec.

MRC