Mauritius sets up ambitious US$2bn refinery plan

(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

(Sabic) -- SABIC, a global plastics industry leader, today announced that its high-performance SABIC HDPE ICP 5602 material for industrial containers is now commercially available. The breakthrough high-density polyethylene (HDPE) - developed collaboratively with MAUSER, a leading producer of industrial packaging - is designed for blow moulding of tight head drums with a capacity of 25 to 220 litres.

SABIC HDPE ICP 5602 resin combines very high impact and rigidity with excellent processing performance and optimal resistance to stress cracks and chemicals. Most significantly, this material delivers improved melt flow for higher productivity and reduced energy usage, and its granular form - a departure from traditional powders - prevents waste, increases machine efficiency and permits safer product handling.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall polypropylene (PP) production in Russia in 2010 grew by 4% and made about 620 KT, according to MRC analysts.

Long-term shutdowns for scheduled maintenance as well as technical and delivery problems that periodically occurred at some plants didn't allow the Russian producers to increase PP production considerably. Total volume of production over 2010 grew only by 4% compared to 2009 and made about 620 KT.

Last year Nizhnekamskneftehim, Tomskneftehim and Stavrolen increased their production volumes. Neftechimia and Ufaorgsintez, on the contrary, reduced their production. Over the last two years PP production in Russia grew more than by 120 KT. In 2011, as initially estimated, total volume of production will increase by 20 KT and make about 640 KT.

MRC