LUKOIL offered to acquire 11% in the JV with Italian ERG

(LUKOIL) -- LUKOIL received a notice today that the Board of Directors of the Italian ERG resolved to sell to LUKOIL 11% in the joint venture to operate the ISAB refining complex located in Priolo (Sicily).

This is a partial exercise of ERG's option to sell its stake according to the agreement of 2008 to create a joint venture.

Thus, LUKOIL's stake can be increased from 49% to 60% and the Company's total refining capacities will be increased by more than 11% to 79.5 million tons per year.

The transaction closing is expected at the end of the first quarter of 2011. The transaction amount will reach EUR 205 million, excluding inventory.

MRC

(prw) -- Borouge has awarded a $169m contract to Hyundai Engineering and Construction of South Korea to build a cross-linkable polyethylene (XLPE) unit at its petrochemical plant in Ruwais.

The 80,000 tpa plant is an added-value complement to the low density PE unit, enabling the manufacture materials for cable insulation.

Borouge said this was the final major contract to be awarded for the Borouge 3 mega-expansion project already underway at Ruwais in the United Arab Emirates.

Borouge 3 would be operational in mid-2014 and more than double the plant's annual capacity to 4.5 million metric tons per year, creating the largest integrated polyolefins plant in the world.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Saudi Kayan Petrochemicals has signed a preliminary agreement with Saudi Acrylic Acid Co and a joint venture between U.S. Dow Chemical and Saudi Aramco to build a 330,000 tons n-Butanol plant in the kingdom. The three partners will each hold an equal stake of 33.3% in the plant and would share the costs of the project estimated at SR 1.8 bln. The plant will be located in Jubail and operated by SAAC, with production due to start in H2-2014.

MRC

(prw) -- Austrian moulder Greiner Holding is expanding its position in the renewable energy market with the purchase of majority stakes in three Austrian technology companies.

Kremsmunster-based Greiner said it will buy an 80% stake in both Xolar and Sun Master Energiesysteme, which are based in Eberstalzell. Greiner also will buy a 90% stake in SOLution Beteiligungs of Sattledt.

Greiner is paying a total of ┬9m for the shares.

The three companies will be integrated into Greiner's Technology & Innovation division, joining Greiner Perfoam, Greiner PURtec, Greiner Aerospace and Weba.

Greiner has a role in Johannes Kepler University's SolPol project, which is focused on developing plastic solar collectors.

MRC

(ICIS) -- INEOS has been offered $1bn (┬740m) by PetroChina for a 50% share in its European refining operation, it said on Monday. The business includes the refineries at Grangemouth in Scotland and Lavera in France.

The partnership with PetroChina, for which a framework agreement was entered on 10 January 2011, would comprise a trading joint venture (JV) and a refining JV, INEOS added.

Core to INEOS was an agreement signed with PetroChina's ultimate parent company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to share refining and petrochemical technology and expertise. The agreement gives INEOS the opportunity to lever its technology and expertise into the China market.

In addition, the JV would aid PetroChina's strategy of building a broader business platform in Europe and of becoming a leading international energy company, INEOS said.

INEOS and PetroChina would now work towards forming the proposed JVs in the second quarter of 2011.

MRC