INOVYN successfully started up new KOH facility

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INOVYN announces the completion of its new large scale potassium hydroxide (KOH) production facility at its Antwerp/Lillo Site (Belgium), as per the company's press release.

The first production run of membrane quality KOH for supply to customers took place during the first week of October, following successful start-up of the facility.

Comments Filipe Constant, Business Director for INOVYN: ЭWe are delighted to have achieved this significant milestone in the ongoing evolution of INOVYN, which is the culmination of a two year Project. The Project has been delivered fully to plan and with an excellent safety, health and environmental performance record.

"This major investment not only underpins INOVYN’s leading position in KOH, but will deliver our commitment to long-term continuity of supply to our customers."

INOVYN’s new KOH plant (155kT of KOH with 100kT of chlorine) uses the latest membrane technology and forms a key part of INOVYN’s Chlorine Strategy.

Antwerp/Lillo Site was selected for the investment as it is well situated to serve customers both in Europe and beyond, with the nearby Port of Antwerp facilitating KOH movements by ship. The Site is a highly competitive location given it has major customers for the co-produced chlorine, which are linked directly to the Site by pipeline. It is also strategically positioned for imports of potassium chloride, a key raw material in KOH production.

As MRC informed before, Inovyn was formed on 1 July 2015 as a jv between Ineos and SolVin, a subsidiary of Solvay. Solvay and Ineos signaled their decision to end their chlorvinyls jv in March this year. And in July 2016, Solvay completed the divestment of its shareholding in Inovyn (London), bringing to an end Solvay's chlorvinyls joint venture with Ineos.

Headquartered in London, INOVYN has pro-forma sales of more than EUR3 billion, with 4,300 employees and assets across 14 sites in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Governance of the Joint Venture is equally split between the partners.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi-based Sadara Chemical Company has appointed Dr Faisal Al Faqeer, a senior executive of Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) as its new chief executive officer, according to TradeArabia.

Sadara is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical Company. Sadara is a multi-billion dollar world-scale chemical complex in Jubail Industrial City II in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

The company had recently announced commercial operations at its multi-billion dollar world-scale chemical complex in Jubail Industrial City II in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

Consistent with this appointment, Dr Al Faqeer has subsequently resigned from Sadara’s board of directors.

Dr Al-Faqeer brings with him years of experience in the oil and gas industry, having led different functions within Saudi Aramco including engineering consulting services, research and development, and refining, said the company in a statement.

Most recently, he was nominated to the Sadara board of directors as a member in January 2017 and acted as the general manager for Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura Refinery, the largest refinery in the Middle East, it added.

On his new role, Dr Al Faqeer said: "I am excited by this opportunity to lead Sadara as the company enters into the full operations phase."

"The Sadara family has built a solid foundation and gained impressive momentum during its commissioning and startup phase, and I eagerly look forward to joining the team and leading the company forward to become a global player in the chemical industry," he added.

Dr Al Faqeer replaces Ziad Al Labban who joined Sadara in October 2012 and was responsible for building the company including its physical assets, organization, processes and procedures and then bringing those assets on stream.

During the last five years these objectives have been met and Sadara is commercially operational, said the company statement.

The CEO transition was planned and Ziad will assume new responsibilities with Saudi Aramco, it added.

Welcoming the appointment, Ahmad Al Saadi, the chairman of the company board said: "Sadara is beginning an exciting new chapter, and Dr Al Faqeer was appointed to help guide the company through this new reality. He is an accomplished leader with strong business insights and a passion for what we are trying to accomplish in Sadara."

"We are lucky to have someone of his caliber to lead Sadara as the Company continues to grow and evolve," he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceSadara Chemical Company names new CEO.

As MRC reported earlier, in late December 2016, Sadara Chemical Co started a planned maintenance at its mixed-feed cracker at the petrochemical complex in Jubail. The shutdown of the facility lasted six weeks, with the company's three polyethylene trains also shut during the period as Sadara completes improvements to their reliability and scheduled maintenance.

Sadara Chemical is a USD20 billion petrochemical joint venture between national oil giant Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical .
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft, through its subsidiary Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), has started construction of a new deep conversion complex (DCC) at its Pancevo Refinery in Serbia with an investment of over EUR300m, said Refiningandpetrochemicals.

The new complex will be equipped with delayed coking technology. It is anticipated to be ready in 2019 and will help NIS to start production of petroleum coke (pet coke) which is currently not done in the country.

Gazprom Neft says that the project is an important part of the second phase of a major program to modernize NIS’ refining capacity which it has been executing since 2009.

According to Gazprom Neft, the deep conversion complex will have a capacity of 2,000 tonnes per day which would help the conversion rate of the Pancevo Refinery to reach 99.2%. Additionally, production of high-quality diesel fuel at the Serbian refinery is expected to grow by over 38%.

Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov said: "By introducing cutting-edge technological solutions, Gazprom Neft is striving to bring the group’s refineries up to the highest standards globally in terms of conversion rate, energy efficiency and environmental friendliness.

"Modernising the oil refining complex is a key strategic objective for us, on the successful implementation of which the overall efficiency of our business largely depends. Under the unstable conditions of today’s energy market, this is becoming a key factor in competitiveness."

After the complex begins operations, the Pancevo Refinery will terminate the production of high-sulphur fuel oil (mazut).

Gazprom Neft had invested over EUR540m in the first stage of the Pancevo refinery modernization which saw the construction of a light MHT/DHT hydrocracking and hydrotreating complex, for the production of Euro-5 fuel.

The Gazprom subsidiary holds 56% in NIS, an oil and gas company in which the Serbian government is a major shareholder.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, today announced the appointment of Darleen Caron as executive vice president and chief human resources officer, as per the company's press release.

"Darleen's track record of leading global HR functions, combined with her ability to design and implement strategic programs enabling business objectives make her a terrific fit for this role," said Bob Patel, CEO of LyondellBasell. "As we look to the future, I firmly believe a world-class HR function is key to strengthening our already outstanding team around the globe."

Most recently, Ms. Caron was executive vice president of global human resources for SNC-Lavalin, Inc. Previously, she led HR functions for the Dow Chemical Company and ABB, and both HR and environment, safety and health for Alcan.

Ms. Caron holds a BBA from the Universite du Quebec a Montreal. She will join the company Monday, Oct. 30, 2017.

As MRC informed before, in late August 2017, LyondellBasell's Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process (ACP) polyethylene technology has been selected by Shandong Shougang Luqing for a planned 350kta high-density polyethylene (HDPE) unit in China. The unit will be built in Shandong’s petrochemical complex at Bohai Industry Park in the Shandong Province.

LyondellBasell is one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies and a member of the S&P 500. LyondellBasell manufactures products at 56 sites in 19 countries. LyondellBasell is also a leading licensor of polypropylene and polyethylene technologies. The more than 250 polyolefin process licenses granted by LyondellBasell are twice that of any other polyolefin technology licensor.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) announced that Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Company Limited (SECCO) will upgrade its operator training simulator (OTS) system to the Honeywell Connected Plant UniSim Competency Suite, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The comprehensive suite includes robust solutions to better train the industrial workforce for safe, incident-free and efficient startups and operations.

SECCO plans to use part of the suite known as Honeywell Connected Plant UniSim Operations, which is a cloud-deployed learning solution that enables convenient access to simulation-based operator training. It connects operators across the plant through the cloud, centralizes management and deployment of simulation-based learning and reduces lifecycle maintenance costs. Built on Honeywell’s proven UniSim lifecycle simulation modelling platform, the UniSim Operations process simulation models can be effectively applied to process design, process engineering and process optimization activities.

UniSim Operations provides an interactive, real-time plant simulation as the foundation for a comprehensive training program to improve operators’ knowledge and skills. The solution accelerates knowledge transfer by consolidating an entire lifetime of experience into a concise field and console operator-training curriculum. Operators can safely execute and experience critical production scenarios of routine and abnormal situations in a visual environment. Studies show that practice and experience can result in up to 75% improvement in operation knowledge retention compared to other learning methods.

Honeywell has been collaborating with SECCO since 2006. Over the past decade, SECCO has implemented Honeywell Advanced Process Control and real-time optimization from ethylene crackers to downstream chemical units, alarm management system for safety operations, as well as OTS. These connected technologies improve operational performance, safety and reliability.

As MRC informed before, in May 2017, BP announced that it had agreed to sell its 50% stake in the Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Company Limited (SECCO) to Gaoqiao Petrochemical Co Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), BP’s joint venture partner, for a total consideration of USD1.68 bln.
MRC