PetroChina сhoose JM Davy and Dow Oxo SM technology

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Johnson Matthey Davy Technologies and The Dow Chemical announced that PetroChina Guangdong Petrochemical Company, a subsidiary of PetroChina, China's largest oil and gas producer and distributor, has selected LP Oxo technology to produce 2-ethylhexanol, normal butanol and iso butyraldehyde in its major petrochemical complex in Jieyang, Guangdong, China, said Dow in its press-release.

The new LP Oxo unit, with a capacity of 85,000 metric tons of 2-ethylhexanol, 235,000 metric tons of normal butanol and 33,000 metric tons of iso-butyraldehyde on a yearly basis, will adopt JM Davy and Dow's LP Oxo SELECTOR 10 Technology with advanced liquid phase hydrogenation which features a high conversion of propylene to alcohols, low capital investment and easy operation.

PetroChina enjoys a long history of cooperation with JM Davy & Dow and their predecessors in the field of oxo alcohols licensing, whose first technology licensing project can be traced back to Petrochina Daqing project which started up in Heilongjiang province in 1986.

"We are honoured PetroChina Guangdong Petrochemical Company has selected LP Oxo? Technology for one of the largest grass root oxo alcohol plant in the world" said Antoine Bordet, Managing Director of JM Davy. "This sixth LP Oxo licence with a PetroChina group company endorses JM Davy and Dow's long term commitment in providing best in class oxo alcohols technology to our customers. The combination of advanced technology and leading world scale capacity will bring significant benefits to PetroChina Guangdong Petrochemical Company and we are immensly proud to be associated with this important project."

As MRC wrote before, Dow Chemical has signed a long-term ethylene off-take agreement with a new Japanese joint venture that will allow the chemical producer to enhance its performance plastics franchisel. The joint venture is being formed between Japanese companies Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsui & Co. to construct and operate a Linear Alpha Olefins unit on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and synthetic rubber. In 2012, Dow had annual sales of approximately USD57 billion. The Company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 188 sites in 36 countries across the globe.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Southeastern European largest oil and gas producer, OMV Petrom, last month commissioned a new unit for gas desulfurisation as part of its Petrobrazi refinery, said Petrolworld.

The unit is another facet of the EUR600m modernisation program the company started in 2010. The new facility determines a reduction in the refinery polluting emissions, in keeping with European standards and so contributes to a cleaner environment. The new unit will also positively influence the refinery’s energy efficiency. The project to implement a new desulfurisation unit began in late 2010, amassing investments of EUR40m.

"The modernisation program of Petrobrazi refinery steadily approaches its completion," said Neil Anthony Morgan, member of OMV Petrom Executive Board responsible for Refining and Marketing. "One of the main objectives of the modernisation was already achieved with the capacity adjustment that enables the refinery to efficiently process the entire amount of crude oil produced by our exploration and production division in Romania. In addition, we also aim to increase the middle distillates yield, while having a modern European refinery fully compliant to EU environmental standards. And the desulfurisation unit is an important step in this direction."

As MRC wrote before, Austrian OMV has said it plans recruit an additional 1600 upstream staff in the next three years to meet its planned growth in exploration and production activities. OMV chief executive Gerhard Roiss said that the company’s increasing focus on upstream since 2011 meant it would need hundreds of new employees "to achieve the growth we have planned".

OMV Petrom S.A. is a Romanian oil company, the largest corporation in Romania and the largest gas and oil producer in Eastern Europe. It is a subsidiary of OMV.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- TATNEFT has officially opened four new fuel service stations in the Yaroslavl region of the Russian Federation, said Petrolworld.

The four stations are located on either side of the M-8 "Holmogory" highway near the city of Yaroslavl and in Rybinsk. The stations sell premium gasoline of AI-95 and AI-92 grades as well as diesel fuel. Bank cards and fuel cards are accepted for payment and a flexible discounts system for fuel is offered to the customers.

Other on-site features include convenience stores with diverse products for the road and a standard set of self-servicing offered to the customers (tire inflation, vacuum cleaning and washer tank refilling). The company also plans to offer wash bays and tyre service areas at certain sites.

"Building the network of JSC TATNEFT's filling stations in the Yaroslavl region is carried out in the framework of developing TATNEFT's chain of filling stations in promising regions, and also in connection with the implementation of the Agreement on trade/economic, scientific/technical and cultural cooperation between the Republic of Tatarstan and the Government of the Yaroslavl region," said a TATNEFT statement.

As MRC wrote before, TATNEFT was named as the top downstream firm in Eastern Europe for 2012 by World Finance Magazine.

TATNEFT is a Russian vertically-integrated oil and gas company with headquarters in the city of Almetyevsk, in the Republic of Tatarstan. It is the sixth largest oil company in Russia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian independent gas producer Novatek has joined the Polish gas market, purchasing storage facilities and a retail network for liquified petroleum gas from Statoil Fuel & Retail Polska, said Petrolworld.

The new assets will allow Novatek to tap enter an LPG market worth an estimated EUR300m per year. Local subsidiary Novatek Polska announced the purchase, but did not disclose financial details. The distribution network includes 300 stations.

Novatek exported more than half of its 470,000 tonne production to Poland last year.

As MRC wrote earlier, Total has increased its stake in Novatek to 16%, Novatek said in a statement. Total took a 12% stake in Novatek in 2011, saying it would increase its share up to 19.4% in three years. Novatek's main shareholders are its Chief Executive, Leonid Mikhelson, and oil trader Gennady Timchenko.

Novatek is Russia's largest independent gas producer and the second-largest natural gas producer in Russia. Founded in 1994, Novatek is engaged in the exploration, production, processing and marketing of natural gas and liquid hydrocarbons. Its upstream activities are concentrated in the prolific Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region, which is the world's largest natural gas producing area and accounts for approximately 90% of Russia's natural gas production and approximately 17% of the world's gas production. Novatek is an open joint stock company established under the laws of the Russian Federation.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German engineering giant Siemens has scooped a contract to supply a large number of turbines and transformers to the USD20 billion Yamal liquefied natural gas project in Russia, said Upstreamonline.

The deal will see Siemens design, build, deliver, install and commission eight SGT-800 industrial gas turbines for the power station which is set to supply the project with heat and electricity.

Four of the turbines will have waste heat recovery units with the plant to have electrical output of 376 megawatts.

Siemens will also provide nine step-up transformers for the power station following the order from Rostec State Corp subsidiary Technopromexport.

A spokesperson for the German group was unwilling to disclose the value of the contract, citing a confidentiality agreement.

Yamal LNG is envisaged as a 16.5 million tonnes per annum scheme using gas from the giant South Tambeskoye field, which held proven and possible reserves of 907 billion cubic metres of gas as of 31 December 2012.

Construction of the three-train liquefaction project is due to be completed by the end of 2016, with first cargoes targeted for the following year.

Russian independent Novatek is currently an 80% holder of the project with France’s Total in for 20%. However, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) recently penned a framework agreement with Novatek to take a 20% stake which also paves the way for CNPC to conclude a long-term purchase deal for 3 million tpa of LNG.

MRC