Germany plans to adopt anti-shale fracking rules

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The government wants to ban hydraulic fracturing in shale rocks and coal beds at depths less than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) and prohibit all types of fracking in water protection areas, according to Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The government will start drafting legislation and seek to adopt it in the second half, Hendricks told reporters in Berlin. The rules will be re-evaluated in 2021.

Fracking is unpopular in Germany even as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is keen to develop domestic energy sources as it closes nuclear plants by 2022. While companies including ExxonMobil have drilled test wells into unconventional gas reservoirs in Germany to emulate the US shale-gas boom, little headway has been made because of public opposition.

The new rules, if adopted, would be "the strictest that ever existed in this respect,” the ministers said in a joint letter to the Social Democrats. “Fracking for shale and coal bed gas for economic reasons won’t be possible in Germany for the foreseeable future."

Fracking for tight gas, which has been done in Germany since the 1960s, will remain allowed under stricter conditions for frack fluids, the ministers said. Fracking will be allowed for scientific purposes if the fluids aren’t harmful to water supplies, it said.

Europe is divided into different camps on fracking, which involves drilling hundreds of wells and cracking rocks with a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals to unlock gas or oil from impermeable stone. It’s backed by nations including the UK, Poland and Spain and opposed in countries such as France and Germany.

The oil and gas industry says fracking should be at least tested to keep the door open to a technology that may redraw the energy map across Europe by reducing reliance on Russia. Germany has shale gas reserves for about 10 years of full supply and "maybe much more than that," Kurt Bock, the CEO of the world’s biggest chemical maker BASF, said at a conference in Berlin.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The 3,90,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) project, which is co-located on the BP Aromatics site, was executed through JBF Global Europe BVBA, wholly owned step subsidiary of JBF Industries Limited, said Plastemart.

PET is one of the most commonly used food grade packaging polymer due to its chemical inertness and appealing physical properties.

Film project set up through JBF Bahrain SPC is already running satisfactorily. With this, two out of three projects which JBF Industries was implementing, have started commercial production.

The third project to manufacture purified terephthalic acid (PTA) at SEZ Mangalore is progressing as per plan and production is expected by last quarter of 2015. The PTA plant will have 1.25 million metric tonnes per annum capacity, which JBF Industries claims to be among the largest in India.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP (Chevron Phillips Chemical) announced the successful commissioning and start-up of the world’s largest on-purpose 1-hexene plant, said Plastemart.

With worldwide supply capabilities, the 1-hexene unit is capable of producing 250,000 metric tons (551,000,000 lbs.) per year and will enjoy significant advantages in infrastructure, feedstock availability and operational knowledge by its placement in the existing Cedar Bayou Chemical Complex in Baytown, Texas.

"Chevron Phillips is committed to being a consistent and reliable supplier for our customers," said Mitch Eichelberger, general manager of Normal Alpha Olefins and Polyalphaolefins for Chevron Phillips Chemical. "With the start-up of this plant, we will enable our customers to expand their businesses and meet the growing worldwide demand for 1-hexene comonomers." "Our investment to expand 1-hexene production is due in part to Texas’ growth as a major international hub for the petrochemical industry and the increased supply of competitive feedstocks in the U.S. from the development of shale resources,” said Pete Cella, CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical. "Only five years ago, the expectation was that the U.S. would become a significant net importer of ethylene derivatives. Now the U.S. is expecting to become a major exporter of ethylene derivatives, including 1-hexene, able to compete with any producing region in the world."

The new plant is the third plant to utilize Chevron Phillips Chemical’s proprietary selective on-purpose 1-hexene technology, which produces comonomer grade 1-hexene from ethylene with exceptional product purity. 1-hexene is a critical component used in the manufacture of polyethylene, a plastic resin commonly converted into film, plastic pipe, detergent bottles, and food and beverage containers.

The proven technology is already successfully used at Qatar Chemical Company Ltd.’s (Q-Chem) facility in Mesaieed, Qatar, and at the Saudi Polymers Company plant in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Both of these facilities are joint ventures of wholly-owned subsidiaries of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC.

As MRC wrote before, Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) is expanding its Tessenderlo facility in Belgium. The expansion includes an on-purpose hydrogen sulfide (H2S) unit and additional sulfur-based products capacity to better serve customers and meet their growing demands.

Chevron Phillips Chemica, headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas (north of Houston), US,l is one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, piping, and proprietary plastics. Chevron and Phillips 66 each own 50% of Chevron Phillips Chemical.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The new 38 mtr reactor for Nova Chemical Corp.’s expanded polyethylene plant was lifted into place at the Joffre complex, said Plastemart.

The approximately 280-tonne piece of equipment is at the centre of a billion-dollar expansion of Nova’s polyethylene plant. It joins two existing reactors and is expected to boost total production capacity by 40% — to approximately 2.5 billion pounds of linear low density polyethylene annually.

The project, which started last spring, is expected to wrap up by mid-2016. The new polyethylene production line is being developed within the Joffre complex’s existing footprint, and the increased ethylene feedstock that will be required can be provided by the three ethylene plants already operating there.

As MRC informed previously, in early 2013 Nova Chemicals decided build two polyethylene (PE) plants and expand its ethylene capacity. NOVA has taken several actions to secure additional ethane feedstock supply for its crackers in Corunna, Ontario, and Joffre, Alberta.

Nova Chemical is one of the largest world's petrochemical companies, a manufacturer of polyethylene, styrene polymers, monomers, and many other related products.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia's National Petrochemical Co (Petrochem) has completed a 1.2 billion riyal (USD319.9 million) debut sukuk issue, as per Plastemart.

The Islamic bond, which has a five year lifespan, was priced at 170 basis points over the six-month Saudi interbank offered rate (Saibor).

Deutsche Bank's Saudi Arabian arm and the investment banking arm of Riyad Bank were the lead arrangers for the issue, according to the statement.

A number of Saudi companies have been tapping the local sukuk market in recent months, many for the first time, as they look to take advantage of abundant liquidity among Saudi investors to secure cheap borrowing rates and diversify away from traditional funding sources. (USD1 = 3.7508 Saudi Riyals).

Foreign companies have formed joint ventures with state oil firm Saudi Aramco to seek out gas deposits, but over the past 10 years they have largely failed to find commercially viable deposits. Authorities in Saudi Arabia now reportedly want to focus on the search for unconventional deposits that would require more complex and expensive technologies.

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