Entergy Gulf States Louisiana to power Sasol ethane cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. signed a six-year commercial and contractual agreement with Sasol North America, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sasol Limited, to supply up to 200 megawatts of electric power to Sasol proposed ethane cracker and derivatives project in Westlake, La., beginning in mid-2015, said Plastemart.

Sasol announced in December 2012 that it would begin front end engineering and design (FEED) work for a world scale ethane cracker and derivatives facility to be located near the town of Westlake, La.

The estimated cost of the facility is between USD5-7 bln. It is currently envisioned that the final investment decision for the ethane cracker will be taken in 2014 with beneficial operation to be achieved in 2017. The ethane cracker is designed to produce 1.5 million tons per year of ethylene. Entergy Gulf States Louisiana plans to upgrade its electric transmission system to meet the increased demand the ethylene production facility is anticipated to generate.

"We are excited to have been selected to play an integral role in this significant project," said Phillip May, president and chief executive officer of Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. and Entergy Louisiana, LLC. "Working with Sasol to create the optimal solution to power the company's new Westlake facility is one of the ways we are proud to be a part of supporting the region – and Louisiana's – economic growth and vitality. Over the past several years in particular, Entergy has been working more closely than ever with public and private partners and key multinational companies like Sasol to custom-fit electric power solutions to business and industry needs.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem, the largest polymer producer in the Americas and the world leader in biopolymers, announced today the execution of an agreement with Grupo Solvay for the acquisition of 70.59% of the total and voting capital of Solvay Indupa S.A.I.C., sid the producer in its prress release.

The acquisition confirms Braskem's commitment to develop the petrochemical and plastics industries in Brazil and South America by strengthening the vinyls chain and by its decision to continue investing to support the growth of its clients. It also establishes an industrial base in Argentina, a market in which Braskem already has maintained a commercial presence for over 20 years.

The transaction price is USD290 million. The consummation of the sales agreement will depend on prior analysis and approval by Brazil's antitrust agency CADE (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica). Following the transaction's conclusion, Braskem will launch a public tender offer to non-controlling shareholders for the purchase of shares in Solvay Indupa on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange.

Solvay Indupa produces PVC and caustic soda and owns two integrated industrial facilities in Brazil and Argentina that enjoy privileged geographic positions close to South America's two major consumer markets. Created in 1948, Solvay Indupa has annual production capacity of 540 kton of PVC and 350 kton of caustic soda. Once the acquisition is finalized, Braskem will increase its annual production capacity to 1.25 million tons of PVC and 890 kton of caustic soda.

Indupa, with a manufacturing capacity of more than 500,000mtpa of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), runs facilities at Santo Andre, Brazil, and Bahia Blanca, Argentina. Solvay, with a market share 27%, is the second largest PVC manufacturer in Europe, after Kerling with 29% of the market.

"Vinyls is a strategic market for our company. Braskem recently invested around R1 billion in a PVC plant in the state of Alagoas, which was inaugurated in 2012, in order to meet the strong growth in demand for this resin associated with the growth in Brazil's infrastructure sector," said Carlos Fadigas, CEO of Braskem.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO) have signed the FEED contract with Tecnimont SpA for the Al Sejeel Petrochemical Complex, to be built in Ras Laffan Industrial City, according to the Qapco's statement.

The signing of the FEED contract for the project, in which QP and QAPCO own respectively 80% and 20% equity interest, marks a strategic milestone for the progress of the mega-petrochemical complex.

The complex's construction scheduled for completion in 2018. It will comprise the worlds largest mixed-feed steam crackers, and is designed to produce 2.2 million tpa of polymers, including polyethylene (PE) - high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) - and polypropylene (PP) resins.

Al Sejeel Petrochemical Complex will surely be unique in terms of its feedstock, as it will assure production efficiency and access to a steady supply of critical chemical building blocks while increasing its global competitiveness. The plants will be processing several feed types simultaneously, namely ethane, butane, and naphtha, ensuring an optimum use of natural resources and allowing extra flexibility and diversity in terms of products.

"It is the vision of our leadership to harness the tremendous potential of the petrochemical sector, and to embark on a large-scale expansion of our downstream industry. To this end, we aim to raise our petrochemical output to 23 million tpa by 2020, thus supporting the growth and diversification of the Qatari economy," Dr. Al-Sada added.

Over the course of one year the project has achieved significant progress.

As MRC informed previously, this summer, QP and Qapco signed technology licence contracts for the multibillion dollar Al Sejeel petrochemical complex with Univation Technologies for the PE technology and Dow Chemical for PP technology. The Project Management Contract (PMC) was also awarded, marking the firm progression of the project, as Al Sejeel is entering phase IV.

Tecnimont SpA is a leading global engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) with a vast experience to execute large and complex projects worldwide, being in particular the market leader in polyolefin with about 30% of world installed capacity. In Qatar Tecnimont has already experience as EPC contractor for petrochemicals.

Qatar Petroleum is a state owned petroleum company in Qatar.

Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO) is a Qatar-based company established in 1974 and is a joint venture between Industries Qatar (80%) and Total Petrochemicals (20%). The company is currently one of the largest producers of low density polyethylene (LDPE) in the region. In addition to LDPE, QAPCO also produces linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), ethylene, and sulfur, which it sells to over 4500 industry customers in 145 countries through its extensive global marketing network.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Enterprises plans to shut the fluid catalytic cracker at its refinery in Convent, Louisiana, by October 2016 because it’s unprofitable to operate, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The refinery’s crude units don’t produce as much feedstock, such as vacuum gasoil, as the unit can process. Motiva found it too costly to purchase additional feed, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. A catalytic cracker upgrades vacuum gasoil into gasoline and other fuels.

Motiva may add other equipment, such as a third crude unit, to boost its ability to make catalytic cracker feed. It’s more profitable for the company to make and sell feedstock to other refineries than to process it at Convent.

The company is alternately considering adding a ROSE unit, which can convert heavy residual fuel into feed for catalytic crackers, the person said. Motiva is also weighing whether to add a coker, another unit that breaks down residual fuel into lighter products, to back up its hydrocracker when that unit is shut for repairs, the person said.

Without a catalytic cracker, the Convent plant will focus more on making diesel, the person said.Destin Singleton, a spokeswoman for Motiva in Houston, said in an e-mail seeking comment about these plans that she would respond as soon as possible.

In addition to the catalytic cracker, the refinery has two crude units, the hydrocracker, which converts heavy fuel oil into lighter fuels like gasoline, and an H-Oil unit, or heavy-oil cracker. An alkylation unit works in association with the catalytic cracker to make high-octane gasoline blending components.

Convent receives crude primarily by pipeline and distributes finished oil products by pipe, rail, truck and water to markets along the Gulf Coast and in the southeastern United States, the company said on its website.

The 255,000 bpd Convent plant is 80 km west of New Orleans. Motiva operates a second plant in Louisiana, the 250,000 bpd Norco refinery, about 21 km west of New Orleans.

As MRC wrote before, the company had a fire at the unit's reactor on August 12, 2013 at the sulfur unit. Kim Windon, a Houston based spokeswoman for Motiva, confirmed that there was a small fire in a unit that was quickly extinguished.

Motiva is a refining and marketing joint venture of Saudi Refining, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabian Oil, and Shell Oil, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell.

MRC