LANXESS successfully completes conversion to ACE technology at Geleen EPDM site

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lanxess' largest production line for the Keltan-branded EPDM synthetic rubber in Sittard, Geleen, The Netherlands, has been successfully converted to the company’s innovative ACE technology, reported the company on its site.

"This is another important step into an even more sustainable future with Lanxess," said Torsten Derr, Head of Lanxess’ business unit Keltan Elastomers (KEL). "We have also completed this conversion on time and in budget."

The German pioneer in synthetic rubbers development has invested roughly EUR12 million to convert the production line from conventional Ziegler-Natta chemistry to its innovative ACE-process. The new line - EPT 3 - has a capacity of 95,000 metric tons per year. This is more than half of the total capacity at that plant. It is currently the world’s largest metallocene ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) plant with an annual capacity of 180,000 metric tons.

"This launch is the result of considerable long term R&D efforts conducted by the EPDM-experts at today‘s Lanxess Business Unit Keltan Elastomers," explained Derr.

The ACE process, utilizing outstandingly active catalysts, enables LANXESS to deliver an extraordinarily broad range of proven, high-quality EPM and EPDM grades - in consistent quality, chlorine-free and with high degrees of purity. Above that, the process consumes less energy and produces no catalyst waste, what makes a deashing step obsolete.

Lanxess’ current range of EPDM rubbers already comprises seven ACE-grades: "The introduction of these grades from the EPT-3 line is the result of an extensive technology and product validation including several test runs on one of the smaller production lines at the Geleen site," said Derr. Validation samples of the new ACE grades were tested during a one year period in the market before the start up of the new production line. ACE grades are already being sold to customers.

EPDM is used above all in the automotive industry for door sealants or coolant hoses.

And the ACE story will be going global soon: "Our Changzhou plant in Jiangsu Province, China, starting up in 2015, will also work with ACE-technology. We are prepared to lead EPDM into a bright future," said Derr.

The plant will have a capacity of 160,000 metric tons per year and represents an investment of EUR235 million, the largest capex project the company has made in China to date.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, Lanxess had broken ground for its new neodymium-based performance butadiene rubber (Nd-PBR) plant in Singapore. The German specialty chemicals company is investing roughly EUR200 million in a 140,000 metric tons per annum facility on Jurong Island.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR9.1 billion in 2012. The company is currently represented at 50 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. Lanxess' first-quarter sales were down by 12% year-on-year to EUR2.1 billion, mainly due to lower volumes and fallen selling prices.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rolta India has announced that it has been awarded a multimillion USD contract from Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara) to implement a comprehensive engineering system at its complex which will be the world’s largest petrochemical facility ever built in a single phase, reported Rolta India on its site.

Value of the contract has not been disclosed. Rolta was selected for this challenging project based upon its unique combination of world class capabilities in Engineering and IT. The project will be managed by a global Rolta team working out of the United States, India and Saudi Arabia, and will be completed by late 2014.

Sadara represents a unique alliance between the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), one of the leading
energy suppliers to the world, and The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), a leading science and technology
company of the world, with a total investment of about USD20 billion.

Rolta will provide an extensive suite of engineering solutions which will support process engineering,
technical support, process automation and control, asset integrity, analytical lab and standards, and
document management.

"A successful implementation of the engineering system is vital to the support and efficient operation of the
Sadara Complex," said Taher Nemer, Project Manager Manufacturing & Engineering Systems, Sadara
Project.

As MRC informed previously, in March 2013, petrochemical company Sadara contracted Intertec to protect around 1,000 field-based process analysers at its new complex in Saudi Arabia. Besides, last year Sadara awarded Tecnicas Reunidas (TR) the Chem-III project, contract for part of the chemical complex being built in Jubail Industrial City II, Saudi Arabia. The project includes the ethylene oxide, propylene glycol, polyols, ethanol amines, ethylene amines, butyl glycol ether plants and the auxiliary and control facilities necessary for their operation.

Rolta is a leading provider of innovative IT solutions for many vertical segments, including Federal and State Governments, Defense/HLS, Utilities, Process, Power, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Retail, and Healthcare. By uniquely combining its expertise in the IT, Engineering and Geospatial domains, Rolta develops exceptional solutions
for these segments.

The Sadara complex, which will have 26 manufacturing facilities, is claimed to be the world's largest petrochemical facility ever built in a single phase and will manufacture more than three million tonnes of chemical and plastics products. The complex is expected to serve the emerging markets of Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa. The joint venture between Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical Company Sadara Chemical Company will build, own and operate an integrated chemicals complex in Jubail Industrial City II, Saudi Arabia. It will produce ethylene, propylene, polyethylene, low density polyethylene, elastomers, amines, propylene glycol, polyether polyols and isocyanates.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Rajasthan Government and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) have signed a joint venture agreement to set up a refinery-cum-petrochemical complex in Barmer district, according to Plastemart.

State Government will hold 26% stake and HPCL will hold the balance 74% stake in the joint venture company. A joint venture company, HPCL-Rajasthan Refinery Limited, will execute the ambitious project. The agreement paves the way for establishment of an oil refinery on a government land at Pachpadra in Barmer district at an estimated cost of Rs.37,229 crore in the next four years.

The refinery will source crude from the oil fields in western Rajasthan, and also import crude and manufacture various petroleum and petrochemical products. The refinery would have the capacity of 9 mln mtpa.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, HPCL has recently revived a plan to build a refinery-cum-petrochemical complex with an estimated investment of 500 billion rupees (USD8.98 billion) at Visakhapatnam in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The company is in talks with gas transporter GAIL (India) Ltd. and plans to tie up with foreign companies as well as local ones to set up the facility. The proposed refinery is expected to have a capacity of 15 million tpa, or about 300,000 barrels a day. It is part of the state-run company's plans to step up its operations to meet India's increasing energy demand. The refinery was initially planned as a joint venture of Hindustan Petroleum, Mittal Energy Investments Pte., Total SA, GAIL and Oil India Ltd. The companies put the project on hold because of the economic slowdown.

Hindustan Petroleum currently has two refineries - an 8.3-million-tonту refinery in Visakhapatnam and a 6.5-million-tonne facility in Mumbai. It also runs a 9.0-million-tonne refinery at Bhatinda in northern Punjab state in a joint venture with Mittal Energy Investment of steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Energy giants Shell, Sinopec and Total have come together to build a shared lubricants park in Tuas - the first of its kind here, said Straitstimes.

Called the Singapore Lube Park, it is a joint venture between Shell Eastern Petroleum, Sinopec Lubricant (Singapore) and Total Oil Asia Pacific.

The partnership will cover operations of shared facilities, including an import and export jetty, common pipelines, infrastructure and exclusive storage facilities.

These will service their respective new lube oil blending plants and grease manufacturing plants, which will be located on separate sites adjacent to the lube park.

As MRC reported before, french oil company Total SA has confirmed that it acquired Royal Dutch Shell PLC's fuel retail network in Egypt as part of its strategy to strengthen its distribution position in the country and wider region. Total already owns 70 fuel stations in Egypt, representing a 4% market share, and will acquire 85 more from Shell to become Egypt's fourth-largest gasoline retailer, doubling its market share, the company said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Fluor Corp secured the front-end engineering and design work for a chemicals plant in Louisiana being built by South Africa's Sasol Ltd aimed at putting cheap U.S. natural gas liquids to use, said Reuters.

Fluor, the largest publicly traded U.S. engineering company, said on Monday it would book about USD120 million for the contract, which can be a prelude to winning work for the entire project. It did not provide an estimate for the total cost of the project.

The Lake Charles ethane cracker, in what Louisiana's governor called the largest single manufacturing investment in state history, will produce ethylene to feed a nearby derivative chemicals facility that is also part of the design study.

It is one of a number of crackers considered for the Gulf Coast as companies seek to take advantage of U.S. natural gas prices that are currently only a fraction of elsewhere. Fluor is also working on large chemical project expansion for Dow Chemical Co in Texas.

Start-up for the Sasol project is forecast for 2017, with expected production of 1.5 million tons per year of ethylene.

Sasol said in December it planned for the Louisiana complex a gas-to-liquid facility that will produce 96,000 barrels per day of transportation fuel and other products.

Sasol Limited is an integrated energy and chemical company that began in Sasolburg, South Africa in 1950. It develops and commercialises technologies and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of product streams including liquid fuels, chemicals.
MRC