Indorama Ventures to expand its PET capacity in the USA

(noodles) -- Indorama Ventures is going to expand the PET polymers production capacity in the USA by setting up a new plant with a capacity of 540,000 tonnes per year, according to the decision made by the Board of Directors of Indorama Ventures PCL at their meeting dated November 14, 2012.

This expansion, which is expected to be completed in Q4 2015 will take IVL's total capacity in North America of PET polymers up to 2,100,000 tonnes per annum.

With respect to the announced PET expansion at its Polish site, the Board has decided to carry out a significant debottlenecking instead of setting up a new line as it would be more value accretive.

Besides, as MRC informed earlier, the company defers the start of work on the expansion of production capacity at its plant in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), with capacity of 200,000 tonnes of PET a year, from late October to mid-November due to a small explosion that occurred on October 14.

Indorama Ventures is a leading producer in the polyester value chain in Thailand with strong global network and manufacturing across Asia, Europe and North America. Its products serve major players in diversified end use markets, including food, beverages, personal and home care, health care, automotives, textile, and industrial. The company’s main products are PTA, PET and polyester fibre, which are distributed across the world.
MRC

(4-traders) -- Saudi Aramco selected Tecnicas Reunidas for two major refining projects in Saudi Arabia Tecnicas Reunidas, (TR), has participated in the official ceremony for the announcement of the preselected contractors by Saudi Aramco for its mega refining investment in the Jazan Province, Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Aramco selected TR for the execution of two lump sum turnkey contracts for its upcoming Jazan refinery and marine terminal project. Saudi Aramco will build a 400.000 bpd grassroots refinery and hydrocarbon terminal facilities as part of the overall Jazan Economic City (JEC) development, located in Jazan Province, a South- Western region of Saudi Arabia.

This hydrocracker will be one of the largest in the world and the second largest in Saudi Arabia. The overall value of both contracts will be around 900 million dollars. The facilities are scheduled to be operational by the beginning of 2017.

TR has already designed hydrocrackers with the main licensors such as UOP, Axens, Chevron and Shell.

Saudi Aramco is a state owned company of Saudi Arabia. It is the largest oil company in the world due to having the largest proven oil reserves, about 260 billion barrels, and the highest production, 10 million barrels per day.
MRC

(wlsj) -- Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday that it will upgrade its petrochemical plant in Singapore to meet rising demand for ethylene in Asia.

The upgrade will increase the plant's capacity to produce olefins and aromatics—industrial chemicals used to make plastic, paint and other products—by more than 20%, the company said in a statement. It didn't say how much the expansion would cost.

"The investment will generate additional volumes to help us meet growing demand from our customers in the region," Ben van Beurden, executive vice president of Shell Chemicals, said in the statement.

The upgrade will take place during the next maintenance turn-around of the ethylene cracker, Shell said. The plant currently can produce 800,000 metric tons of ethylene a year. It mainly uses naphtha as a feedstock.

Operations at the plant began in March 2010. It is located on Bukom Island and is a part of the Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex, the company's largest-ever petrochemical investment. It is also integrated with Shell's largest oil refinery, which has a capacity of 500,000 barrels a day.

Recently, Shell and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) announced that they are progressing plans for the expansion of various projects at the Saudi Petrochemical Company (Sadaf).
MRC

(vopak) -- Vopak announces that they have taken the decision to build together with Sabic a new storage terminal in King Fahd Industrial Port at Jubail, Saudi Arabia. For this purpose a joint venture has been established, the Jubail Chemical Storage and Services Company (JCSSC), in which Sabic holds 75% and Vopak 25%. The plan is to finance the project from the parties’ own resources as well as through external funds.

The new facility will have an initial storage capacity of approximately 250,000 cbm. The first phase will consist of around 40 commodity and specialty chemical storage tanks, complete with truck handling and ship loading facilities for 5 berths, and is expected to be ready for commissioning early 2015. This capacity can be expanded in the future.

The investment in this industrial terminal will provide the petrochemical industry in Jubail with a critically important export facility, designed to the highest safety standards, and will enable the continued growth of the petrochemical and downstream industries in one of the largest petrochemical production locations in the world.

Royal Vopak is the world's largest independent tank storage service provider, specializing in the storage and handling of bulk liquid chemicals, gasses and oil products.

Sabic is ranked among the world's largest petrochemicals manufacturers. It is the largest public company in Saudi Arabia. The comany manufactures chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers and metals. It is currently the second largest global ethylene glycol producer. Among its products are propylene, paraxylene, styrene, vinyl chloride monomer.
MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Huntsman unveiled a joint venture agreement with Sinopec Jinling Co., a subsidiary of Sinopec, to build and operate a world scale propylene oxide (PO) and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) facility in Nanjing, China.

The facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2014. It will utilize Huntsman's proprietary PO/MTBE manufacturing technology.

PO is an intermediate compound used to make polyurethane materials ranging from energy-efficient home insulation and building materials to comfort foams for automobiles and furniture. MTBE is a clean burning fuel additive that improves gasoline engine performance and reduces air pollution.

Huntsman will own 49% of the joint venture, and Sinopec will own 51%. The facility will produce 550 mm lbs/year of PO and 1.6 billion lbs/year of MTBE at a capital cost of approximately USD750 million. Other details of the joint venture were not disclosed.

As MRC wrote earlier, Huntsman Corporation has acquired the remaining ownership of Russian joint venture Huntsman NMG (HNMG), giving it full ownership of the company. HNMG is a leading supplier of polyurethane systems to the adhesives, coatings and footwear markets in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
MRC