Natural gas pipeline explosion injures two, destroys homes in West Virginia

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- The explosion of a NiSource 20-inch transmission line destroyed five homes and severely damaged others in Kanawha County, about 15 miles north of state capital Charleston. The pipeline has been shut off, allowing emergency crews to approach the scene for further investigation.

A natural-gas pipeline exploded near Charleston, W.Va, injuring two people and destroying several homes, a county government official said.

The explosion of a NiSource 20-inch transmission line destroyed five homes and severely damaged others in Kanawha County, about 15 miles north of state capital Charleston, said County Manager Jennifer Sayer.

The pipeline has been shut off, allowing emergency crews to approach the scene for further investigation, Ms. Sayer said.

Two people suffered minor injuries, with one suffering from smoke inhalation, Ms. Sayre said.

The explosion occurred after noon, shooting flames into the air. The fire eventually spread to Highway 77 in Sissonville, Kanahwa County commissioner Kent Carper told local radio WCHS.

NiSource employees were working with emergency officials to assess damages, company spokesman Mike Banas said. Natural-gas customers would not be affected by the accident, Mr. Banas added.

In 2010, a natural-gas pipeline operated by Pacific Gas & Electric exploded in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno, killing eight people.
MRC

(business-standard) -- A decision on whether the battle for shareholding in Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) would be dragged to the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) is to be be taken this month, following a Supreme Court order directing the high court to dispose the case in December.

“The Supreme Court has asked the lower court to dispose the matter within this month,” confirmed HPL Managing Director Sumantra Chowdhury. A ruling in favour of The Chatterjee Group against another major shareholder, the West Bengal government, may drag the case to ICA, following a long legal battle in the Indian courts. The Supreme Court has also approved a petition by the TCG, challenging an interim stay by the Calcutta High Court on TCG approaching ICA.

However, the firm’s board is likely to take up a resolution on Wednesday for the conversion of a part of its long-term debt into equity. “When the battle for shareholding is before the court and supposed to come before the ICA soon, the board is not supposed to take this action. The firm’s financial woes are created by the government. It is not availed of tax credits worth Rs 775 crore in various categories,” an HPL source said.

Cases are filed under this body, if the parties are from different national, cultural and legal backgrounds and want to avoid litigation as they fear bias in a separate country. TCG had approached the court as it came as an NRI investor and the agreement is of international standard. Against this, HPL had approached the High Court seeking a stay on TCG’s move to take the company to ICA.

According to HPL’s financial statement, there is a massive increase in short-term financial borrowings to Rs 951.7 crore in 2011-12. “Moreover, the state government has forcibly kept on operation below 40 per cent of installed capacity, while it has incurred an accumulated cash loss of about Rs 900 crore in the current financial year,” the official added.

In 2011, the apex court had dismissed a petition by the TCG against a decision by the Calcutta High Court, that set aside a CLB directive asking the state government to exit the project by selling its stake to TCG.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
MRC

(apic-online) -- Middle Eastern petrochemical producers will continue to enjoy considerable cost advantage compared with their counterparts in Southeast Asia even as a scarcity of gas forces them to shift to other feedstocks, Jaap Kalkman, a partner at German consulting firm Roland Berger.

"The energy cost [expenditure on power] of a naphtha cracker in the Middle East will be about 50% lower than that of a naphtha-fed cracker in Singapore and Japan," Kalkman, who is also Head of Energy and Chemicals for the Middle East, said. "The feedstock cost for a Middle East naphtha-based producer will be lower as compared to an Asian producer, in the range of 1-10%."

He attributed this to easier access to oil reserves and growing refining capacity in the region.

All the major petrochemical projects in the region including Petro Rabigh Phase II, Kuwait Petrochemical Industries Company's Olefins 3 and the UAE's Chemaweyaat, all of which will come up over the next five years, plan to use either naphtha-based or mixed-feed crackers.

"In reality, feedstock cost in Saudi Arabia has already risen," Moayyad Al Qurtas, CEO of Riyadh-based petrochemicals producer Tasnee, said at the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association annual forum held in Dubai late last month.

"Only a small proportion of feedstock being used in petrochemicals industry in Saudi Arabia is ethane. The rest is LPG," Al Qurtas said, explaining the high feedstock prices.

Riyadh-based investment bank Al Rajhi Capital said in a report early this year that gas prices in Saudi Arabia are likely to be raised in 2013. Saudi Industrial Investment Group Managing Director Suliman Al Mandeel said in November that Saudi petrochemical producers were concerned over a likely rise in gas prices that could impact their margins.

Talking of the link between oil and gas prices, Kalkman said: "Over the next 10 years gas prices in the Middle East will have a much stronger link to the global gas markets. This is because the governments will want to provide the benefits of subsidy to those most in need of it and instead of subsidizing gas they will want to provide monetary benefits to a growing populace."

MRC

(BASF) -- The plastics processor Ensinger located in Nufringen, Germany and BASF have entered into a joint undertaking with the Goldbeck Solar company to develop a modular mounting system for flat-roof solar installations in which the load-bearing elements are made of a BASF engineering plastic for the first time. Thanks to the new system, solar panels can be installed on flat roofs more easily and more quickly.

The advantages of the new support elements made of this application-optimized thermoplastic include especially the fact that the roof membrane is not punctured or damaged during the installation work. The roof remains water-proof without the need for any additional sealing measures. Moreover, Ensinger was able to benefit from injection molding of thermoplastics, integrating numerous functions into the plastic structure.

The substructure consists of very few individual parts: two identical pedestals made of plastic are joined together by a metal rail. A plastic bracket is mounted vertically on the rear pedestal by means of a snap-on connection and simple screw elements.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas.

BASF posted sales of about EUR73.5 billion in 2011 and had approximately 111,000 employees as of the end of 2011. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN).
MRC

(plastemart) -- Kazakh national oil and gas company KazMunayGas is considering participation in USD1 bln investment project of the Belarusian company Mogilevkhimvolokno, which includes a complex to make terephthalic acid (PTA) out of Kazakh paraxylene (PX).

Terephthalic acid will then be processed by OAO Mogilevkhimvolokno to make polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and after that polyester fiber. The new complex will be much more effective as far as energy costs involved in the manufacturing process are concerned. Mogilevkhimvolokno will build a new complex able to make about 600,000 tonnes of polyester fiber per annum.

The Belarusian state petrochemical concern Belneftekhim and its subordinate organizations have put together a government program (to be discussed and approved by the Council of Ministers Presidium in December 2012) for the development of the national petrochemical industry till 2015 and till 2020.

In particular, the program provides for implementing a USD1 bln project at OAO Mogilevkhimvolokno in association with the Kazakh company KazMunayGas. An agreement on cooperation with KazMunayGas was reached during the visit of Prime Minister of Belarus Mr Mikhail Myasnikovich to Kazakhstan in November 2012.
MRC