Technip inks Russian deals

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French technology player aims for joint ventures on subsea equipment and production units
Technip and RT-Chemcomposite, a subsidiary of State Corporation Russia Technologies (Rostec), are looking to form a joint venture to manufacture flexible pipelines and umbilicals in Russia. These would be used in the Russian Arctic and Black Sea for use in water depths up to 3000 metres, said Upstreamonline.

The pair is also to evaluate the possibility of setting up a research and development centre.

Technip also signed an agreement with Rostec subsidiary Rustechexport to set up a joint venture for the engineering, design and turnkey construction of oil refinery, petrochemical and gas chemical production projects in Russia, including offshore oil field operations facilities.

Both deals were signed in Moscow on Thursday during a meeting between Russian president Vladimir Putin and French counterpart Francois Hollande.

As MRC wrote earlier, ZapSibNeftekhim LLC, an affiliate of JSC Sibur Holding, awarded two front-end engineering and design (FEED) contracts to Technip for polyethylene plants located in Tobolsk, in the Tyumen region of Russia. The first contract concerns a linear-low/high-density gas phase polyethylene plant.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tailand's IRPC, a PTT Plc subsidiary, has taken the big step of transforming itself from a petrochemical producer to a chemical technology inventor, as per GV.

The company on 26 February, 2013, highlighted the invention of Green ABS, a plastic used in electronics and auto parts. The research team not only invented the new product but also created the technology to make it, with the goal of letting producers use green raw materials.

IRPC wants the new products to contribute at least 3% of annual net profit.

Green ABS, which is made with natural rubber instead of synthetics, is aimed at appliance and auto parts makers seeking eco-friendly plastics to reduce their carbon footprint.

The next project will be a new type of treated distillate aromatics extract (TDAE), a key material in tyre production. IRPC is working on technology to make TDAE without emitting carcinogens.

We remind that, as MRC informed previously, Integrated Refinery Petrochemical Complex (IRPC) planed to complete the expansion at its acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS) plant in Map Ta Phut in the second quarter of 2013.The company has been expanding production capacity by 60% to 160,000 tonnes per year.
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MOSCOW (MRC)-- ExxonMobil has won a legal victory in its effort to fight damages of about USD1.5 billion stemming from a 2006 gasoline spill in Maryland, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In a decision released Tuesday, the Maryland Court of Appeals reversed more than USD1 billion in punitive damages, awarded by a jury in 2011, and said residents and business who accused the energy giant of fraud hadn't sufficiently proven their case. The court also reversed a large number of compensatory damages, which originally totaled about USD500 million.

The case stems back to February 2006 when 26,000 gallons of gasoline leaked from underground storage tanks owned by Exxon Mobil at a fueling station in Jacksonville, Md. The gasoline moved into a water aquifer that supplied drinking water to many residents.

Dozens of residents and business owners filed suit and accused Exxon Mobil of fraud. They also said they suffered because of concerns over contracting cancer and losing value on their properties.

In 2011, a jury at the Circuit Court for Baltimore County awarded the residents and business owners about USD500 million in compensatory damages and USD1 billion in punitive damages.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, last October Exxon Mobil Corp. reported flaring at its refinery in Joliet, Ill. The 238,600 barrel-a-day refinery released nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxide and hydrogen sulfide into the air after an "over pressuring" incident in an undisclosed unit. The release lasted about 30 minutes, and the unit was shut down and the valves were reset.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wacker Chemie AG has stopped the short-time work schedule introduced at Burghausen’s polysilicon facilities back in early October 2012, according to USindustrysourcing.

The Munich-based chemical company is trying to meet growing demand from its solar-sector customers. To do so, the company is ramping up its current capacities - which are currently curbed to two-thirds of full utilisation - and is, thus, ending short-time work at Wacker Polysilicon.

Back in early October, 2012, Wacker had begun to curb polysilicon production and had applied for short-time work for about 700 Wacker Polysilicon employees at its Burghausen site.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, Wacker Chemie had officially launched its new production plant for ethylene-vinyl-acetate copolymer (EVA) dispersions at its Ulsan site in South Korea. The additional 40,000 tonnes from the second reactor line increases the site's EVA-dispersion capacity to a total of 90,000 tonnes per year. Thus, the production capacity of the site almost doubled, making the plant complex one of the biggest of its kind in South Korea.

Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan-based chemical company Mitsubishi Chemical has offered to purchase the compounds activities from the Tessenderlo Group, said Chemicals-technology.

The offer comes on the heels of Tessenderlo's intention to divest its compounds activities, to help strengthen its focus on specialty products and services in the areas of food, agriculture, water management and valorizing bio-residuals.

"The offer comes on the heels of Tessenderlo's intention to divest its compounds activities."
The proposed sale will include four manufacturing sites, located in France, Poland and China and one R&D site in Belgium.

The group has informed the employee representatives of the companies making up the group's compounds business unit that the information and consultation procedures will be launched in the near future.

Tessenderlo's compounds business unit, which has extensive know-how in formulation and production of thermoplastics, generated revenue of EUR120m in 2011.

The company's range of thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) and PVCs will provide original solutions for applications in the building, automotive, cabling and many other industries. The transaction is subject to merger control approval.

As MRC wrote earlier, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) reached a mutual agreement with Qatar Petroleum (QP)and Shell Chemicals to license its production technology of oxo alcohols through Mitsubishi Chemical Engineering Corporation.
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