Amarinth delivers vertical sump pumps for ADNOC JV petchem plant in Abu Dhabi

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Amarinth, a company specializing in the design, application and manufacture of centrifugal pumps and associated equipment to the Oil & Gas, petrochemical, chemical, industrial and power markets, has delivered two bespoke super duplex API 610 VS4 vertical sump pumps to Descon Engineering for the Borouge petrochemicals complex in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Amarinth secured its second order from Descon Engineering for two 9.5-m long super duplex API 610 VS4 vertical sump pumps. These will be installed at the Borouge 3 plant in Ruwais, 250 km west of Abu Dhabi city, during modification work on the existing header for the sea water intake. Borouge is a JV between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and European plastics manufacturer Borealis. The Borouge site is now the world’s largest integrated polyolefins complex, with production capacity of 4.5 MMt.

The company utilized its own unique software, which is configured to handle over 100,000 vertical pump variants and includes assemblies and sub-assemblies that have already checked against mating parts for clashes, to deliver a design for the 9.5-m long pump that would fit existing constraints.

The pumps include a bespoke baseplate and, due to their length, additional start-up lubrication for the top bearings which automatically switches off once the process feed has reached them. Amarinth also had to carefully size the pumps to be as efficient as possible in order to work within power limitations at the site.

As MRC informed previously, ADNOC is targeting rapid growth in demand for its polymer products from China’s automotive industry and the country’s investment in gas and electricity infrastructure. ADNOC is focused on market expansion in China and Asia, where demand for petrochemicals and plastics, including light-weight automotive components, essential utility piping and cable insulation, is forecast to double by 2040.

Besides, in late May 2017, ADNOC announced that it would work together with the Austrian producer OMV to help grow Adnoc’s downstream businesses. The memorandum of understanding, signed in the presence of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and the Austrian chancellor Christian Kern, covers cooperation on new downstream projects, refining operations, refinery-petrochemical integration and optimisation, and technical and maintenance support.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco will complete the first phase of an expansion of the main gas pipeline across Saudi Arabia by the end of this year, the company said in its weekly magazine, part of an effort to meet the kingdom's rising gas demand, reported Reuters.

The Master Gas System (MGS) was built in the mid-1970s to gather and process associated gas from oil wells for domestic industry.

The world's top oil exporter is pressing on with gas-related projects to meet demand and save crude for export and refining.

The pipeline expansion project will help deliver gas to the western region, including the King Abdullah Economic City and the Rabigh 2 independent power plant.

"The first phase will be completed by the end of 2017, increasing the capacity of the MGS to 9.6 Bscfd. The second phase will bring that capacity up to 12.5 Bscfd in 2019," Saudi Aramco said in its Arabian Sun magazine.

The first phase of the pipeline, in which the contractor will install booster gas compressor stations, was due to be completed by the end of 2016, with phase two finished by 2018, previous reports said.

Saudi Aramco plans to nearly double its gas production to 23 billion standard cubic feet per day over the next decade.

The plans include boosting output at its Hawiyah and Haradh plants. The projects, estimated to cost USD4 B, would expand processing capacity at Hawiyah by 1.3 Bscfd. Hawiyah gas plant now processes 2.5 Bscfd of gas.

As MRC informed before, in June 2016, Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (Sabic) became one step closer to building their first plant to process crude directly into chemicals, cutting out a link in the production chain from hydrocarbons to the finished products that go into plastics and other consumer goods. The state-owned companies signed an agreement to study such a project to be located in Saudi Arabia. Oil companies normally refine crude into transportation fuels including gasoline and diesel and leave byproducts such as naphtha to be processed separately into chemicals.

Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals and Prime Polymer, a joint venture of Mitsui and Idemitsu Kosan, announced the completion and start-up of three augmented polypropylene (PP) compound hubs, as per Apic-online.

The group expanded two lines at its Advanced Composites subsidiary in the U.S. One line was enhanced at the group's Advanced Composites Mexicana site in Mexico and another line was augmented at Mitsui Prime Advanced Composites India in India.

With the enhancements, Mitsui's total PP compound production capacity has increased to 1.05-million t/y from 1-million t/y.

Specifically, North American PP compound production capacity was increased to 440,000 t/y from 410,000 t/y, European production capacity was raised to 20,000 t/y from 15,000 t/y and Asia production capacity (including Japan) increased to 590,000 t/y from 575,000 t/y.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, in late 2014, Mitsui Chemicals announced that its Shanghai Sinopec Mitsui Elastomers Co. joint venture with Sinopec had launched commercial production of ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPT). In 2012, the two companies created the equally-owned joint venture to build a 75,000-t/y EPT plant using metallocene catalyst technology in China's Shanghai Chemical Industry Park.

Mitsui Chemicals is a leading manufacturer and supplier of value added specialty chemicals, plastics and materials for the automotive, healthcare, packaging, agricultural, building, and semiconductor and electronics markets. Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese Chemicals company, a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials. With the growth of opportunities in India, Mitsui Chemicals has decided to establish its first polypropylene compounding plant in India at 'Japanese Investment park' Neemrana phase III. The unit being set up will be the manufacturing base of Mitsui Chemicals Group in India in which Mitsui Chemicals holds 80% equity and 20% equity is with another subsidiary, Prime Polymer Company of Japan.

Prime Polymer Co., Ltd. was established in April 2005 as part of a comprehensive tie-up with Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. and Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. The company's activity is focused in polyolefins business to produce different grades of polythylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Linde Group, a world leading industrial gases and engineering company has announced that it has signed an agreement with Wanhua Chemical Group, the world's largest producer of isocyanate (MDI), to expand the supply of gas to Phase II of Wanhua Chemical's Yantai operations, reported Plastemart.

Under the new agreement, Linde will invest EUR108 mln (835 mln RMB) to build two additional energy efficient steam-driven ASUs, complementing the two existing ASUs already in place, to meet Wanhua Chemical's growing demand for industrial gases.

When the plants come on stream in 2019, they will be one of Linde's most advanced gaseous and liquid production sites in Asia Pacific. The new plants will improve the reliability and stability of gas supply, while also increasing production flexibility and reducing production costs. This is made possible using Linde's expertise to optimise the operating modes of multiple ASUs, capable of adjusting both the type and volume of gases to match the requirement of the Yantai site.

Mr Sanjiv Lamba, Chief Operating Officer for Asia Pacific and Member of the Executive Board at Linde AG, said, "The agreement with Wanhua Chemical underscores our long and valued partnership. China continues to be an important part of Linde's Asia profitable growth strategy. Aside from robust domestic demand, Chinese businesses are increasingly looking for opportunities abroad. Being able to meet the demand for high quality industrial gases, delivered with the same reliability and efficiency, anywhere in the world, is Linde's compelling proposition for companies that want to take their business global." Mr Liao Zengtai, Chief Executive Officer of Wanhua Chemical, said, "Wanhua Chemical is increasingly looking beyond China to drive growth of our business. Today, nearly a third of our products are scheduled for export, and this will continue to grow. Wanhua Chemical and Linde have developed a very solid partnership over the past years with proven cooperative experience. As a truly international producer, Wanhua Chemical needs partners who are ready to work with us on a global basis. For us, Linde is that partner."

As MRC informed previously, in June 2017, technology company The Linde Group was awarded a major contract by PJSC Nizhnekamskneftekhim (NKNK) to supply an olefin plant in the city of Nizhnekamsk, located in the Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation. Both partners officially signed the agreement in St. Petersburg, Russia. A further agreement covering strategic cooperation between Linde and the TAIF Group was also concluded in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Minister President of Bavaria Horst Seehofer and President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. PJSC Nizhnekamskneftekhim is one of Europe's largest petrochemical companies and a member of the TAIF Group.

The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 62,000 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell suspended loadings of oil products from its Pernis refinery in the Netherlands following a fire at the plant, the company said in a statement to traders on Sunday, reported Reuters.

Shell shut down most of its production at Pernis, Europe's largest refinery, after the fire at the 404,000-bpd plant late on Saturday caused a power outage.

The company said that no casualties were reported in the incident and the fire was under control, but it expected loadings to be suspended on Monday as well.

In a statement to traders in the region seen by Reuters, Shell said that "at this stage the extent of the damage is (being) investigated and we are unable to load product at the depot in Pernis."

"For now we work on the assumption that FCA (free carrier) loadings at depot Pernis will be interrupted until and including tomorrow so please take your necessary precautions."

The outage at the Rotterdam plant was likely to boost prices of oil products such as diesel, jet fuel and gasoline in northwest Europe, where refinery profits have risen in recent weeks due to other refinery issues in the region.

As MRC informed earlier, in August 2015, a fire broke out at one of the units at Shell's Pulau Bukom refining and petrochemical complex in Singapore, leading to burn injuries for six contract workers. Shell said the fire was put out by the site's first emergency responders within an hour, and there was no other opational impact on Pulau Bukom.

Besides, earlier in 2015, on 11 May, a fire broke out at Shell's refining and petrochemical complex in Wesseling, Germany. Nobody was injured. The fire was extinguished at 9:11 p.m. Local media reports said the fire had broken out in the olefins cracking unit. The Wesseling cracker has capacity to produce 260,000 tpy of ethylene, according to news reports, while the refinery can process 141,000 bpd.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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