New LNG Plant in Australia's Queensland

Australia's recent four mega-projects involving LNG plants have seen second approval under the environmental prior to signing of the official project.

BG Group PLC's proposed liquefied natural gas project in Queensland is the second project to after Santos Ltd. (STO.AU) and Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd or Petronas, received the Queensland government approval last month.

Australia's new Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who was swarn in Thursday, extended an olive branch to furious resources companies by offering to negotiate a compromise on the tax, but there's no certainty she'll give much ground.

The third project is a joint venture between ConocoPhillips and Origin Energy Ltd. with the last one a standalone venture by Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

All projects are now waiting for tax reforms from the Australian federal governments.

Sibur Holdings to Build Worldscale Polypropylene Plant

Russian's petrochemical group of companies, Sibur Holding is planning for a worldscale polypropylene plant which will also become the biggest polypropylene complex in Russia.

The plant will utilize German's technology company, Linde for building the PP plant. The polypropylene plant will have a nameplate capacity of 500,000 tpa capacity.

The PP chemical plant will be located in Tobolsk in the Tyumen region, Russia.

Shell Opening Up Chemical Plants in Qatar

Shell, together with Qatar Petroleum is planning for chemical plants project in Qatar. The two companies already have a gas-to-liquid (GTL) project at Ras Laffan producing 120,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids and 140,000 barrels per day of GTL derivatives.

The chemical project was announced informally by Ben van Beurden, Shell Chemicals' executive vice president duringf the 4th Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) summit.

Italy Triton LNG Terminal Postponed

GDF Suez has postponed the start-up of its Triton LNG terminal in Italy from 2012 to 2013. However, the date is yet to be confirmed as the company has not taken the final investment decision. The comissioning date of 2013 may be due to lengthy process of protocols with the local and national authorities of the LNG terminal. Italy is venturing into many LNG projects as Qatar had earlier agreed to lower prices of LNG over the long run. The agreement was much influenced by the European countries as a whole.

$9 Billion Refinery Investment Needed

As the economy is collapsing it is getting harder and harder for oil and gas projects to seek external funds to invest in their projects. PetroSA who is planning for a $9 billion refinery project is currently in the same situation as the state-owned oil and gas company starting negotiations with potential investors.

PetroSA is trying to get external fund for its new capacity 400,000 barrels a day refinery in Coega, answering South African Petroleum Retailers' Association call for security of oil supply via partnership between the government and the private sector. The country is currently facing poor sustainable oil supply due to low buffer in the country resulting from poor stock planning.

PetroSA vice-president of new ventures: midstream, Joern Falbe, said on Friday that PetroSA had "from the beginning" indicated that it was looking for a partner in the $9bn project. 

Pertamina Planning to Start Up New Polypropylene Plant in 2011

Pertamina, Indonesia's state-run refinery operator is planning to start up its new 250,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant at Balongan, Indonesia in early 2011. Pertamina is under huge expansion and and rumours of it planning to acquire local polypropylene producer, Polytama Propindo has also been rumoured.

The feedstock for the plant will be coming from Pertamina's new 250,000 tonnes/year of propylene capacity residual fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) expansion unit in Balongan.

Sonagas Partnering with Eon Ruhrgas

Sonagas, Equatorial Guinea's state gas company is in negotiations to partner with Eon Ruhrgas, the German utility for a second LNG export facility in Equatorial Guinea project creating a West African gas hub. It is likely that a consortium will be set-up comprising of Sonagas, Eon, Union Fenosa of Spain and Portugal's Galp Energia.

Taking advantage of West Africa as a potential route to Europe and amidst instability dependence on Russia gas, the project is expected to get a strong push factor. It is likely that the source gas will be  from gas currently flared as waste by ExxonMobil at the Zafiro deepwater oilfield. 

The consortium is however exposed to a major risk as Equatorial Guinea is one of Africa's most volatile country due to local uprising.

Huge offshore oil discoveries have boosted Equatorial Guinea's oil production from almost nothing a decade ago to about 380,000 b/d, ranking it behind only Nigeria and Angola among sub-Saharan African producers.

Malaysian Biodiesel Sold Out

Mission New-Energy, an Australian firm  which has a stake of 100 kmta of biodiesel plant at Malaysian port of Kuantan told the press that all of the potential production is already sold out in 2009. Mission is now on its way for a second palnt which will be able to produce an extra of 250 kmta of biodiesel.

The second plant project has been delayed in construction for many months due to technology switching. Despite the global economic turmoil, Mission Energy has able to sell all of 2009 contractual production to a major global oil and biofuels player for a cost-plus-margin basis protecting it from the volatility in commodities markets.

The recent huge price drop in biodiesel last year had pushed many biodiesel producers to the brink of collapse.

India Building It's First Biodiesel Plant

Mission Biofuels, a Mumbai-based biodiesel company is planning to build the India's first biodiesel plant in the eastern Indian state of Orissa with a capacity of 100,000 mt/year plant. The construction cost for the biodiesel plant is expected to be around $USD 75million which does not include the company's already access to 350,000 acres of jatropa farms across the country.

The construction will take two years to coincide with the maturity of its jatropha crops which are 40% planted in Orissa. Jathropa crops have made its way as a sustainable source for biodiesel fuels in the debate of carbon balance.

Itochu Bought New Zealand MDF Plant

Japanese conglomerate Itochu Corp has reportedly bought New Zealand’s Carter Holt Harvey's medium-density fibreboards (MDF) plant in Rangiora, New Zealand for an undisclosed amount.

The new joint venture is housed under new shareholder, Japan’s Daiken Corp of which 51% owned by Daiken and remaining by New Zealand.  The MDF joint venture will be known as Daiken New Zealand.

NPC Iran to Start-up New PDH Plant

Iran's National Petrochemical Co (NPC) will be starting up its new 350,000 tonne/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant at Bandar Imam, Iran, by 2011 which is currently under construction. So far the propylene product has no outlet for derivative downstream other than planned polypropylene (PP) units at Bandar Imam. It was also reported that phenol-acetone projects are currently underway at Bandar Imam, Iran.

Malaysia to Build Petrochemical Plants in Sabah

Malaysia is expected to build a petrochemical plant in Sabah, despite global economic downturn after heavy pressure from the local political scene. The Malaysian government has instructed the complex after Petronas, its national oil company to construct the RM3billion gas pipeline from Sabah to Sarawak.

Early indication is expecting a full-fledged petrochemical industry setup.

Samsung Petrochemicals Running Reduced Capacity

Samsung Petrochemicals's PTA plant is currently operating at reduced capacity levels due to a regular maintenance turnaround. The PTA plant which is now running at 75% capacity is located at Daesan with production capacity of 700,000 metric tons per year.

However, it is expected that the PTA plant will resume production at lower rates especially as many petrochemical plants in South-East Asia are reducing their operating levels due to poor operating margins and decline in demand for petrochemical products from downstream players. This is mainly due to the current financial crisis and the doom of commodity prices.

MOPCO Took Over Agrium Fertilizer Project

After months of delay, Egypt’s MISR Oil Processing Company (MOPCO) has agreed to acquire EAgrium joint-venture fertilizer project making EAgrium a subsidiary of MOPCO. Under the new deal, Agrium would own 26% of the combined project, including MOPCO’s recently completed 675,000 tonne/year urea plant as the acquisition is based on share swapping.

The Egypt Fertlizer project worth $1.2 billion was delayed on 21 April due to local resistance with Egyptian government was rumoured to take over the whole project.

China's Jianfeng Signing JV for Melamine Plant

Despite recent hiccups in melamine prices, China-based JianFeng Chemicals has signed a joint venture (JV) agreement with Austria’s Agrolinz Melamine International (AMI)for a $67 million melamine plant in southwestern Chongqing city. The melamine plant will have a capacity of 30kmta located in Baitao chemical industry park with expected construction to be determined at a later stage.

Petronas - Australia Gladstone LNG Ink MoU

The Directors of Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd inked down a Technology Memorandum of Understanding with SK Engineering and Construction (SKEC) for the framework for SKEC and the Company to establish a technology joint venture. The JV is 50% each for between LNG (which is partly-owned by Malaysian O&G PETRONAS) and another 50% for SKEC.

The agreement focuses on:

• Completion of the final design of the OSMRTM process technology for inclusion in the Gladstone LNG Project front end engineering and design (FEED) package
• OSMRTM process technology license to the Gladstone LNG Project process guarantee.
• Colloboration for commercialisation of the OSMRTM process technology including development, marketing and LNG related processes.

New Fertilizer JV by Ecuador-Venezuela

Ecuador and Venezuela is signing an official agreement between both energy ministers for a new fertilizer project joint-venture. This will make both coutries as the major producer of fertilizers in the region. The agreement involves a construction of 300,000 bpd refinery which is to be completed by 2013. The stakeholders are known to be Petroecuador of Ecuador 51% stake and Venezuela's PDVSA owning 49%.

Lotte Daesan Commissioned South Korea New PP Unit

South Korea based company, Lotte Daesan has commissioned up its new 300,000 tonne/year capacity polypropylene (PP) plant in Daesan. Lotte Daesan complex has previously undergone expansion on its ethylene, benzene, linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), butadiene (BD) and monoethylene glycol (MEG) plants. The PP unit is now under quality control measure before going to market.

Yara Formed Joint-Venture with NOC Fertiliser

Norway’s Yara has signed major agreements with National Oil Corp (NOC) and the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) to form a joint venture for the production and marketing of mineral fertilizers

The JV comprise of 50% stake by Yara and remaining owned by LIA and NOC. The JV was setup to upgrade existing ammonia and urea production plants with capacity of approximately 700,000 tonnes/year of ammonia and 900,000 tonnes/year of urea located at Marsa el-Brega and additional new fertilizer plants.

New Methanol and DME Plants by Hubei Biocause China

China-based Hubei Biocause Pharmaceutical Co is constructing a methanol plant and a dimethyl ether (DME) unit, both with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes/year. The chemical plants are located at Jingmen city.

The DME unit is expected to come on-stream llate 2008 completing the third phase of the total 1millin tonne/year DME chemical complex. The first phase of the project was completed in April 2007 with nameplate capacity of 100,000 tonne/year and then another 200,000 tonne/year unit was brought on-stream in June 2008 for second phase of the project.

Shanghai Petrochemical Expanding Cracker Capacity

Sinopec subsidiary, Shanghai Petrochemical, is in the midst of expanding the capacity of its No 1 cracker to 600,000 tonnes/year from 150,000 tonnes/year to build new chemical plants.

Some of the new chemical units planned are 300,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) unit and a 380,000 tonne/year monoethylene glycol (MEG) facility which may mean that the cracker need to be expanded up to 800,000 tonnes/year.

Japan Energy Venturing Into Petrochemicals from Plastics

Japan Energy has become the Japanese first refiner to use processed waste plastic as a thermal cracking fuel at its Mizushima refinery. The technological breakthrough is seen as a great potential for the company as petrochemical feedstock is skyrocketing and plastic wastes will not only save feedstock cost but it might as well be counted as negative cost due to save on waste management.

The nation’s sixth largest refiner has the capacity to turn 1,000 kilolitres/year of liquefied waste plastic to petrochemical products using the hydrogenation refining unit at Mizushima. Most of the refined products will be naphtha. Currently there is an abundance of plastic wastes in which Japan generates 10 million tonnes of waste plastic in 2006. Only 5,000 kilolitres of liquefied plastic was produced for refiners from the total of 10,000 tonnes processed.

Shell Seeking JV Partners for Styrene Monomer/ Propylene Oxide Latest Technology

Shell Chemicals is seeking potential joint venture partners for its new styrene monomer (SM) and propylene oxide (PO) facility. The chemical plant is expected to cost in the region of $500 million which is to be built in Southeast Asia or Middle East with a world-scale capacity for Asia Pacific demand.

The chemical will be producing mainly PO with SM as co-products hence having higher flexibility and financial advantages due to current strong propylene oxide value chain.

India Urea Plant Revived by RCF and DoF

India’s Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) together with the Department of Fertilizers (DoF) plan to revive India's already mothballed plants due to rising demand and shortages of fertilizers. Currently, India is importing 5 to 6 million tonnes of urea on top of 20 million tonnes local production.

RCF and DOF planning to revive Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation’s Durgapur plant in West Bengal, which was earlier a naphtha plant, and Fertilizer Corporations of India’s coal-based Talcher plant in Orissa which both are now at the first stage of our feasibility study to produce 100,000 tonnes/year of urea.

The revival plan is expected to be completed in 2012 subject to assurance by the Petroleum Ministry of natural gas to supply within three-to-four years for manufacturing urea.

Natpet's Yanbu Project Gets US$ 125 Million Loan

Saudi National Petrochemical Industries Company (Natpet) has signed a financial agreement with Saudi General Investment Fund for a $125m loan which will be used to finance the company project in Yanbu.

The project consists of a Spheripol PP technology from Basell petrochemical plant with capacity of 400,000 tonnes/year propylene and polypropylene.

Jubail Petchem Company Established by Aramco and Total

Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) and France’s Total have signed a joint venture Petrochemical Co for a 400,000 bbl/day capacity Jubail Refining. The refinery is expected to begin operations by 2012 producing diesel and jet fuels, 700,000 tonnes/year of paraxylene, 140,000 tonnes/year of benzene and 200,000 tonnes/year of polymer-grade propylene.

The refinery is in its close proximity to the Arabian heavy crude supply system and closeby to the Jubail Industrial City's King Fahad Industrial Port, power and water grids, and residential areas.

Australian Titanium Oxide Production Continues

Australian TiWest, the company that produces Titanium Oxide (TiO2) will continue operation by Tronox of US Texas. TiWest titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a joint venture in western Australia. The production has been badly hit by a force majeure declaration due to natural gas supply limitation.

Tronox however mentioned that the sustainability of the TiO2 production is now susceptible to supply of natural gas and electricity.

TiWest complex houses Cooljarloo mineral sands mine, Chandala synthetic rutile plant and Kwinana titanium dioxide pigment plant. The disruption of natural gas supply cost has not been revealed yet.

Oman Octal Building new PET Chemical Plant

Omani-based Octal Petrochemicals is planning a new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin capacity of 300,000 tonnes/year and is due to start up in the fourth quarter of 2008 in Salalah.

Environmental Concern Grows at Egyptian Fertilizer Plant

Canada-based fertilizer producer, Agrium who owns a $1.2bn Agrium joint-venture nitrogen fertilizer plant in Egypt, is working to address concerns on the environmental impact of the chemical plant towards the nearby community at port of Damietta.

The fertilizer chemical plant is scheduled for completion in 2010 with capacity of two 1,200 tonne/day ammonia plants and two urea plants of production capacities of 1,925 tonnes/day.

New PVC Plant in India to be Comissioned

India's Chemplast Sanmar Limited (CSL) is expected to commission its greenfield polyvinyl chloride (PVC) chemical plant at Cuddalore in Tamilnadu State by end of 2008 with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes/year of PVC at the Cuddalore plant.

Feedstock for the intermediate vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) will be supplied from its Egyptian associate TCI Sanmar Chemicals LLC (TCI). The parent company, Sanmar group had announced that it is also evaluating the prospects of producing ethylene dichloride (EDC) and VCM at the complex located at Port Said in Egypt.

Progress Heating Up at Al-Jubail Petrochemical Complex by Saudi Kayan

Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co (Kayan) who is reportedly going worldwide scouting for employees has awarded all the contracts to build its mega petrochemical complex which now stands at 73% progress.

The petrochemical complex at Al-Jubail will produce 6m tonnes/year of petrochemical products including ethylene, propylene, monoethylene glycol (MEG), polypropylene and other chemicals due to be commissioned late this year.

Map Ta Phut Petrochemical Complex Commission in 2010

Map Ta Phut Olefins, a new venture by Thai producer Siam Cement Group which is now in heavy construction of its benzene, toluene and mixed xylenes (BTX) facility will be starting up the petrochemical complex in the second-half of 2010 which is integrated with its new naphtha cracker.

The naphtha cracker has an ethylene capacity of 900,000 tonnes/year and 400,000 tonnes/year of aromatics. This is an addition to its existing facility produces 190,000 tonnes/year of benzene and 90,000 tonnes/year of toluene.

SABIC Ar-Razi New Methanol Plant On-Stream in May

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) joint venture mega methanol plant in Saudi Arabia, Ar-Razi 5 is expected to come on stream in May as per schedule. Rumours have spread that there was insufficient gas for the plant lagging the on-stream date.

Saudi Methanol Co, a joint venture of SABIC and a Japanese consortium will have a total capacity of methanol 5.7 million tonnes/year if the new mega methanol chemical plant is on-stream at Al-Jubail.

Another $570 Million Investment by Russia Eurochem

200 will mark another Eurochem, a Russian fertilizer producer plan to invest $570 million to upgrade its existing production facilities and building new units including a new 50,000 tonnes/year melamine facility at Azot, Nevinnomyssk.

The chemical plant which costs $277m using Germany's Lurgi process technology, is due on-stream in 2011. Overall, Eurochem is expecting an increase in its Azot, Novomoskovsk urea capacity by 25% to 2,000 tonnes/day as part of Eurochem's vision to conquer the Russian market.

Paulinia Polypropylene Plant by Braskem

After years of construction and planning, Brazil petrochemicals major Braskem is starting up a 350,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant at Paulinia in Sao Paulo state in the Brazil which had costed $420million. The feedstock for the plant is supplied by Brazil oil major Petrobras from the refineries in the Sao Paulo state.

The plant is expected to increase Braskem’s overall annual PP production capacity to 1.1million tonnes/year, a producer and market leader in South America.

$1 Billion Petrochemical Complex Project by Saudi OSOS

Saudi Arabia's Osos Petrochemicals is planning to develop its estimated $1bn polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) petrochemical complex. The earlier plan was to include Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) for a 35% stake but SABBIC withdrew from the project.

The chemical plant will be located at Yanbu on the Red Sea coast with capacity of 60,000 tonnes/year of PBT, 50,000 tonnes/year of butanediol, 3,500 tonnes/year of tetrahydrofuran, and 85,000 tonnes/year of maleic anhydride acid. For the cost of $1 billion for the construction, analysts are considering the cost to be a bargain.

The polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) complex is in commercial phase with EPCC (engineering, procurement and construction contractors) for award of contracts in the end of the third quarter of 2008. A few contractors including Oslo-based Aker Kvaerner with China's Sinopec, and South Korea's GS Engineering & Construction, Samsung Engineering Company and Hanwha Engineering & Construction are currently in the bidding process for the award of construction contract.

Formosa Plastics Starting It's New PP Plant

Formosa Plastics had obtained governmental approval to receive propylene feedstock at its Ningbo port terminal, with the first refrigerated propylene cargo and eventually to start feeding feedstock propylene into Farmosa Plastics's new 450,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant in Ningbo.

The start-up has had many hiccups due to governmental regulations and construction problems and the successful start-up of Formosa’s Ningbo PP plant would tighten the critical propylene supply in the market.

MTO Projects Spur in Inner Mongolia

China’s Inner Mongolia is spurring with methanol investments through methanol-to-olefins (MTO) projects due to its cheap and abundant coal supply with estimated of nearly 10 million tonnes/year of methanol will be produced by the next 5 years.

MTO projects such as by Datang International Power has capacity of 1.7 million tonne/year methanol with around 1.5m tonnes will be converted to propylene using Lurgi’s technology as feedstock to make around 500,000 tonnes of polypropylene (PP).

The cost of polypropylene made from this route is expected to be cost competitive, given the low price of coal in Inner Mongolia using coal gasification technology from Shell with 3 tonnes of methanol are needed to produce 1 tonne of propylene through the process.

Thailand Bisphenol-A Chemical Plant By PTT

Thailand PTT’s has decided to invest in a $250 million bisphenol A (BPA) petrochemical plant which has a capacity of 150,000 tonne/year of BPA at Mab Ta Phut, Rayong.

Construction is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2010. Upon completion, the bisphenol-A plant will use 128,000 tonnes of phenol and 41,000 tonnes of acetone as feedstocks each year which will be supplied by joint venture PTT Phenol having annual capacity of phenol and acetone of 200,000 tonnes and 125,000 tonnes respectively.

Sinopec Collaborate with Mitsubishi Chem for New $300 Million Bisphenol-A, Plycarbonate Plant

Mitsubishi Chemical (MCC) under its partner Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics (MEP) has formed a $300 million joint venture with China’s Sinopec for a bisphenol-A (BPA) and a polycarbonate (PC) chemical plants in China. The plants, with capacity would be 150,000 tonne/year of BPA and 60,000 tonnes/year PC will be built in Beijing starting end of 2008 with target completion in 2010.

Mitsubishi Chemicals (MCC) will provide the license for Bisphenol-A production technology together with the feedstock of diphenyl carbonate (DPC) for the polycarbonate production. Sinopec in returns will provide the key feedstocks for production of Bisphenol-A of phenol and acetone.

Russia's Sakhalin plans methanol, ammonia plants

New methanol and ammonia production facilities are planned to be built in Russia's Sakhalin region. Feedstock for the methanol and ammonia complex would come from natural gas deposits in northern Sakhalin.

This is shortafter announcement that Russia's Yakutiya region plans to build two facilities for $1 billion to produce 450,000 tonnes/year of methanol and 200,000 tonnes/year of ammonia by 2012.

Saudi Arabia's Ar-Razi 5th Methanol Plant To Be Commission

Saudi Methanol Company (Ar-Razi), plans to commission its fifth mega-methanol plant at Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia late April of 2008 with commercial operations in June.

This fifth mega-methanol plant will be in addition to Ar-Razi current four methanol plants at Al Jubail, two with a capacity of 700,000 mt/year each, and two that are capable of producing 850,000 mt/year each.

New Dow/BASF HHPO Technology Plant Delayed

Dow/BASF joint-venture for a 300,000 tonne/year capacity hydrogen peroxide-to-propylene oxide (HPPO) plant at Antwerp, Belgium is delayed until the second part of 2008 which was previously scheduled to come on-stream in May 2008. This will be the first HPPO petrochemical plant in the world incorporating the JV technology by Dow and BASF. It was claimed that the process technology is more economical and environmentally friendly.

Indian Methanol Producer GNFC Expanding Capacity

GNFC, India’s largest methanol producer or Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertlisers Co is shutting down its 700 tonne/day capacity production complex in Bharuch for a catalyst change. The methanol producer will take the opportunity to debottleneck methanol capacity by 200 tonnes/day making the total production capacity 900 tonnes/day.

Indian methanol producers mostly used for local consumption, with additional demand met by Middle Eastern producers such as Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), Iran, Qatar Fuel Additives Co (Qafac) and Oman Methanol. As much as half of the nearly 950,000 tonne/year Indian methanol demand comes from these methanol suppliers.

Texas Building Renewable Fuels Complex by Orion

Orion Ethanol is planning to build a renewable fuel complex from corn fructose in Texas. Orion has already secured an idle wet mill in Dimmitt, Texas, which will be integrated into the company's 2million gal/year renewable fuels complex.

The wet mill will be able to produce 60m gal/year ethanol 10m gal/year edible oil for the first stage of the project. Later, Orion Ethanol plans for additional 10m gal/year cellulose-to-ethanol process, a 12m gal/year biodiesel plant, a 25,000 tonne/year yeast plant and a 60-75 megawatt (MW) wind and biomethane power plant.

Japanese Plastic Maker, Ube Investing in Thailand

As much as $118millions will be spent from Ube Group, Japanese engineering plastics maker to expand its petrochemical plants capacity. Ube Group plans to add a second nylon plant in Rayong to triple its annual capacity to 75,000 tonnes/year. Construction is expected to complete in October 2009.

The company's caprolactam capacity will also be boosted to 130,000 tonnes from 110,000 tonnes in 2010. The whole revamp is expected to raise its annual ammonium sulphate output by 80,000 tonnes to 520,000 tonnes.

The Japanese maker is also currently studying a 1,6-hexanediol project with capacity of 6,000 tonne/year plant for completion in 2011.

Russia's New Aromatics Unit

Kazakhstan's Atyrau Refinery company is planning to build an aromatics production unit in Atyrau, Russia due to be on stream in 2012. The aromatics unit estimated at $800 million would have a capacity of 500,000 tonnes/year of paraxylene (PX) and 130,000 tonnes/year of benzene situated in the new $5.2bn petrochemicals hub in Atyrau.

The petchem hub has the capability to produce 800,000 tonnes/year for polyethylene (PE) and 400,000 tonnes/year for polypropylene (PP).

Sibur Polypropylene Using INEOS Technology

INEOS has been selected for a contract to provide 200,000 tonne/year Polypropylene plant in southwest Siberia process technology for Sibur's proposed plant in Tomsk, Russia. The construction is expected to start commissioning in 2012.

This will be Sibur's second polypropylene plant using INEOS process technology. Previously, Sibur used INEOS’ Innovene polypropylene process technology for a proposed 500,000 tonne/year PP plant at Tobolsk, Russia.

Ethylene Oxide/ Ethylene Glycol Licenses Sold by Shell to CNPC

Shell has agreed to sell ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol (EO/EG) licenses for process technology to produce these two chemicals to China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). CNPC is planning to build a new plant near Chengdu, Sichuan, capable to produce a 380,000 tonnes/year mono ethylene glycol (MEG) facility and a 50,000 tonnes/year ethylene oxide capacity. So far, Shell has sold six EO/EG license to China and with three of them for CNPC. The petrochemical plant will be operated by PetroChina Sichuan Petrochemical, CNPC subsidiary with commissioning targeted in 2010.

Russia's Schekinoazot Methanol Upgrade

Russia's Schekinoazot plans to spend as much as $230 million to upgrade its methanol production facilities to build a new unit to produce 450,000 tonnes/year of methanol.

The unit is planned to be built in the Tula region, south of Moscow replacing existing 370,000 tonne/year methanol facility utilizing Denmark's Haldor Topsoe technology.

MMA Plant Via Ethylene Route by Lucite

The first ethylene route methyl methacrylate production facility by Lucite is on its way in Singapore. The petrochemical plant has the capacity of 120,000 tonne/year of MMA and will be the first petrochemical plant using Lucite's proprietary ICI technology. The feedstocks for the MMA plant will be mainly ethylene, carbon monoxide and methanol.

Construction is expected to complete September with MMA production will gradually ramp up from 15,000-20,000 tonnes in the fourth quarter. Lucite's latest MMA technology is expected to reduce production cost of MMA as opposed to other MMA producers using methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) or acetone with methanol as feedstock as widely practiced by MMA producers worldwide such as Sumitomo Chemical, Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Formosa Plastics and LG MMA.

Russia Polyurethane Project By Dow, Dipol & JSC Nord JV

Dow Chemicals (Europe) together with Dow Izolan, Dow's Russian joint venture, Dipol Chemical and JSC Nord are set to explore the possibility of producing rigid polyurethane (PU) in Russia with production will be sold to JSC Nord’s Polyurethane Unit for 6000 tonnes in 2008.

The group of companies are looking at the economic feasibility of the Joint-venture PU project expected to be completed by end of 2008. The main driving force to build the PU unit in Russia, despite political instability is that Asian competition is skyrocketing, coupled with the weak US dollar.

The JV hopes that products will be focused to Russian's home appliance companis for cost saving with the polyurethane producers.

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Sibur and Evonik on Discussion for Propylene Oxide Plant

Propylene oxide facility (PO) using Evonik and Uhde, a german engineering firm is on discussion for Evonik Industries and Russia-based JSC Sibur Holding to undertake a feasibility study on the construction of the chemical plant.

JSC Sibur partnership in the JV most likely is for penetration into the Russian market which may also looking at creating a joint venture to produce hydrogen peroxide to supply the PO plant as well as for applications in the paper and pulp bleaching industry.

Petrovietnam and Vinatex JV for Polyester

A 50:50 Joint Venture between Petrovietnam and Vinatex (PVTEX JSC) for a $200m polyester fibre plant in Haiphong, Vietnam has been set-up with a capacity of 165 thousand tonnes per day. The feedstock for the plant, monoethylene glycol (MEG) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) will be on import basis.

Under the agreement, Vinatex who is also the parent company for the JV will buy PVTEX JSC’s polyester for its textile and garment production facility. A pre-feasibility study for the project has been laid out to Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).

Thailand's ACN and MMA Chemical Plants High Cost by Asahi Kasei

Asahi Kasei Chemical's Joint Venture to build ACN (Acrylonitrile) and MMA (Methyl Methacrylate) unit in Mab Ta Phut in Rayong, Thailand costs have increased to $760m. The project is expected to start commercial production by 2010, after several construction cost hikes. The JV includes PTT Asahi Chemical Company (PTTAC), of 48.5% share and another 3% by Marubeni Corp.

NPC Fanavaran Methanol Plant Restarting

The short-term methanol shortage due to National Petrochemical Co’s (NPC) 1million tonne/year capacity methanol plant at Fanavaran, Bandar Imam, Iran has been remedied when the methanol plant restarted.

The plant was having problems with its gas supply a likely scenario in Iran having gas supply shortages during the severe winter weather.

Siam Cement & Dow Chemicals Cracker Project at Mab Ta Phut On Schedule

Siam Cement and Dow Chemical new joint-venture for 900,000 tonne/year capacity cracker project in Mab Ta Phut, Thailand is on track to start up in the second half of 2010 despite concerns that the project schedule affected by a recent dispute between Mab Ta Phut residents and government officials over environmental concerns which could turn the site into a “pollution-control” zone.

Siam Cement/Dow Chemicals had already started construction with erection on piling work for the new complex including a new naphtha cracker is on progress. The cracker survives on imported naphtha, as much as 85% for the feedstock.

The economics for the project was uplifted by a value-added downstream integration including propylene oxide (PO) and specialty elastomers through Dow Chemicals. Planned specialty elastomers plant will produce AFFINITY Polyolefin Plastomers and ENGAGE Polyolefin Elastomers for packaging and automotive thermoplastic applications. It was also estimated that as much as 50% savings from construction cost can be achieved as compared to Middle East.

Oman and India Collaborating on Urea/Ammonia Plant

Despite their differences, India and Oman are planning to build a fertilizer plant comprising urea and ammonia plants at Sur in northeast Oman. The capacity of the facility will be able to produce 1.65m tonnes/year of urea and 248,000 tonnes/year of ammonia with total cost of the project amounting at $1bn.

Analysts puts the deal as "opportunity give-away" since the abundance of feedstock in Oman.

Lanxess Building Rubber Plant in Singapore

Lanxess, a German chemical company has selected Singapore as the site for its largest investment $579.7m butyl rubber project instead of Malaysia and Thailand. The new chemical plant will produce butyl rubber for car tyres.

PetroChina Polypropylene Plant Using Technimont

Italian EPCC company, Maire Tecnimont has been selected to supply the technology license, process engineering and basic engineering services for PetroChina’s new 300,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant in Daqing, Heilongjiang province. The total package is worth $30 million.

LyondellBasell polypropylene technology Spherizone has been selected making it the eleventh PP plant to be developed using the technology. The Daqing PP chemical plant is expected to be completed by 2010.

Colombia Building 100 ktpa Biodiesel Plant

Colombia biofuels supplier, Ecodiesel is planning to build a massive 100,000 tonne/year capacity biodiesel plant in Barrancabermeja, Colombia with cost of investment to be in the range of $23m to start construction in February 2009.

The plant will use palm oil feedstock using Brazilian engineering technology Dedini A Industrias de Base. Upon completion, Colombia will be Latin America’s second largest biofuels producer after Brazil.

50% stake in Ecodiesel is partly owned by Colombian palm and vegetable oil manufacturers namely Extractora Central, Palmas Oleaginosas Bucarelia, Extractora Monterrey, Oleaginosas Las Brisas, Palmeras de Puerto Wilches and Palmas del Cesar y Agroince.

Algeria to Start Ammonia Plant

Fertiberia, a Spanish fertilizer producer is in the midst of selecting a contractor to build an ammonia plant in Algeria with a capacity to produce 1.2m tonnes/year of ammonia with due completion in 2011. Fertiberia has already entered Algeria market with collaboration with Fertial, an Algerian ammonia producer with 650,000 tonnes per annum of ammonia at Annaba and Arzew. The facility will utilised Sonatrach gas as a supply feedstock to the plant.

ABS Plant in Al-Jubail by Saudi Petrokemya

SABIC affiliate Arabian Petrochemical Co (Petrokemya) is on its way to build an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) petrochemical plant with a capacity of 200 ktpa at Al-Jubail complex.

This come quick after SABIC Innovative Plastics, formerly the US' GE Plastics, which SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp) acquired last year. The ex-GE Plastics is also providing process technology for the plant.

Lanxess Investing in Butyl Rubber Plant in Singapore

Over €400 million investment has been put aside by Lanxess, the largest investment so far by the company in Jurong Island, Singapore. The plan is taking advantage of strong demand growth in Asia. Lanxess is the world’s second largest butyl rubber producer which total capacity will be 380,000 tonnes/year in early 2011 after the completion of the project. The Jurong Butyl Rubber chemical plant will have a capacity of 100,000 tonnes.

With MTBE being banned in many countries, isobutylene, main feedstock for butyl rubber is well sought after and global demand for butyl rubber is standing at 900,000 tonnes/year and butyl rubber is in very short supply.

The facility will also produce synthetic rubbers such as butyl and bromobutyl rubber, which are used in the production of tyres. The unit will use Raffinate-1 from Shell Eastern Petroleum butadiene extraction unit to Lanxess, which will take isobutene (isobutylene) for its rubber production.
Lanxess ambitious plan will also be looking at increasing the isoprene content of its butyl rubber for the tyre application, subsequently allowing it to open up new applications in China and India. The plan also includes expansion at its Sarnia, Canada, boosting its capacity to 150,000 tonnes/year. Lanxess also operates another 130,000 tonne/year butyl rubber unit in Zwijndrecht, Belgium.

$448 million China Methanol Plant to be Built by Hulunbuir

China, the most booming country in the world is planning to have yet another Methanol Plant by Huaneng Group subsidiary Hulunbuir Energy Development Co for a$448 million methanol plant in Manzhouli city, Inner Mongolia with a 600,000 tonne/year capacity methanol plant.

The facility will be using coal to produce methanol instead of natural gas. China is popular for its abundant cheap source of coal.

300ktpa PET Plant in Russia

A joint-venture between Russia's AK Bars Bank and South Korea's KP Chemical has been set-up to build a new 300 thousand tonnes/year capacity polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in Tatarstan, in central Russia. The PET production facility will be built in the special economic zone of Alabuga with investment cost of $149m.

The technology licensors under consideration includes Switzerland's Buhler and Uhde Inventa Fischer and Lurgi Zimmer.

Melamine Plant Joint Venture in China by DSM and Fengxi

Fengxi Fertilizer, a China-based chemicals and fertilizer producer is setting up a joint venture with DSM to set up a melamine plant in the Shanxi province, China with major shareholder being Fengxi Group at 51% equity share. The investment cost is estimated at $14m.

The melamine plant will produce 52,000 tonnes/year of melamine in 2008, to be marketed under the brand name MelaminebyDSM to both the domestic and overseas markets.

New Polyethylene Plant in Russia by Sibur

Sibur Holding, a Russia-based petrochemical company is planning a $9.6m for a pre-feasibility study for a new polyethylene (PE) chemical plant with a capacity of 450,000-500,000 tonnes/year in the country's southern Astrakhan region.

Cellulosic Ethanol for Biorefineries Hitting US

US is investing $114m for cellulosic ethanol projects to explore cellulosic ethanol feedstock options and production processes for biorefineries. The investment is for four years development of funding of four pilot plants before contribution from private sector. The government funding is seen as part of US goal of making cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive with gasoline by 2012 under the President Bush administration.

The pilot plant will be able to produce about 2.5m gal/year of cellulosic ethanol in a plant to build a commercial ethanol plant with annual output capacity of around 25m gallons or 75,000 tonnes.

There are as yet no commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol production units in the US. Current technologies explored under study for cellulosic ethanol production includes conventional cellulosic conversion technologies, biogenetic and microbiotic conversion of cellulosic feedstock into cost-effective fuels.

Cellulosic Ethanol Production Route from Biomass

Incentives to go with ethanol is pressured under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 which requires the US to produce at 100m gal/year of cellulosic ethanol by 2010 and 500m gal/year by 2012 in the route to achieve 36bn gal/year of renewable fuels in 2022.

Peru to have $100 million Investment for Biofuels

Peru is expected to have more than $100 million for biofuels sector coming from the private investment especially in the ethanol and biodiesel projects. The renewable fuels would come mostly from the country's sugar cane. palm oil and jathropa in which companies have had talks with the local governments for land acquisition and collaboration with the agricultural caompanies.

The demand is fueled by Peru's law which requires diesel supply to have a blend of 2% biodiesel by the first of 2009 an the amount is to be increased to 5% by 2011. The biofuels demand is not only for the growing internal market but also following free trade agreement between US and Peru which has seen a new chapter in the development of Peru's energy and technological resources.

The Romero group is expected to complete a biofuels plant based on palm oil next month. Bioterra, is in the process of acquiring land to start up its own biofuels operation while Maple Energy is investing $157m to build an ethanol plant, export terminal and power plant in northern Peru.

Jurong Aromatics Corp (JAC) & BP on $10 Billion Petrochemical Deal

British Petroleum (BP) struck a deal with Jurong Aromatics Corp (JAC) worth $10 billion contract for the Jurong island facility with feedstock. Under the agreement, JAC will supply refined products to BP

BP will be supplying a large proportion of feedstock requirements to JAC for the $2bn world-scale petrochemical plant on Jurong island for the 2011 commencement. JAC will then supply refined products for consumption within BP’s own plants and key third parties around the world.

Typical paraxylene chemical structure, an aromatic.

The JAC facility is expected to have a capacity of around 1.5 million tonne per year of aromatics including paraxylene, orthoxylene, benzene and petroleum products.

Membrane-cell Chlor Alkali Plant in Texas by Dow

Dow is planning to build a new chlor alkali plant in Freeport, Texas using a membrane cell expected completion in 2011. The unique investment scheme for the chemical plant is utilizing Shintech, a vinyl producer to partly invest in the chemical plant while Dow in return will supply a steady amount of vinyl feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) from Dow.

During construction, the existing chlor-alkali complex that will be replaced with the membrane cell will result in chlorine and caustic soda production in the US in the amount of 3.6 mil tonnes of chlorine and 4 mil tonnes of caustic soda capacity per year.

The membrane-cell technology is expected to greatly decrease the production cost through efficient energy use replacing the diaphragm-cell production process in currently in Freeport.

New Fertilizer Plant in Inner Mongolia, China

China is planning another new fertilizer plant in central Mongolia by Yunnan Yuntianhua company of China. The fertilizer facility is expected to produce 500 ktpa ammonia and 800 ktpa urea capacity with total investment cost of $480 million. The project will utilize rich coal reserves as feedstock for the plant.

The company will be a join venture between Hong Kong's Jinxin Group and Yuntianhua 51% stake. The fertilizer complex capacity will eventually be increased into 2 mil tonnes per year of ammonia and 3.2 mil tonnes of urea.

SABIC & Sinopec in Joint Venture for Tianjin Ethylene Derivatives Plant

SABIC and Sinopec had announced their collaboration by signing a Heads of Agreement (HoA) between the two companies for development of a 1 mil tonne per year capacity of ethylene derivatives chemical plant in Tianjin, China. It will be a 50:50 joint venture investment for production of 600 ktpa of polyethylene (PE) and 400 ktpa of ehtylene glycol (EG) chemical plants.

The feedstock for the downstream derivatives will be supplied from a cracker by Tianjin Petrochemical. Completion of the project is expected to be by Q4 2009 with investment cost of $1.7 billion.

The collaboration is the first SABIC's joint venture in China, a step that is seen will be a stepping stone for an even more agressive move towards establishing a petrochemical base in China from SABIC.

Nigeria Planning MTO Project Using UOP Technology

Nigeria will be home to 1.3 mil tonne per year capacity olefins complex using MTO technology by UOP in Lagos. The project is the first MTO technology that would be constructed at commercial-scale including olefins cracking process technologies by EuroChem.

The project would produce 10000 tonnes per day of methanol capacity from natural gas due for completion in 2012 and the MTO technology is expected to be more cost effective than traditional olefins production from crude oil-derived feedstocks.

Upon completion, the MTO plant would give a competitive edge against other petrochemical producers using normal technology such as steam cracker and dehydrogenation.

Malaysia to Build Epichlorohydrin Plant

Epichlorohydrin or ECH is used for epoxy resins production, something that is not widely available in Malaysia. Spolchemie, a Czech epoxy resins producer is building an $80 million epichlorohydrin (ECH) chemical plant in Malaysia, the first in Malaysia, and the first for the company as well. The announcement was made in the 4th Annual CEE Chemical & Petrochemical Forum in Prague.

The construction of the plant would start in 2009 would be owned 100% by Spolchemie integrating the ECH chemical plant capacity with its epoxy-resin production. This is amidst rising concern of economic downturn with market outlook would be to supply demand in China and India.

Spolchemie has first intended Vietnam for the ECH chemical plant but found it lacks the infrasturcture needed. The project is part of Spolchemie plant to be a global player for epoxy resins producer.

Petrochemical Plant: Epichlorohydrin Plant in Thailand

Thailand is planning to build an epichlorohydrin plant. The epichlorohydrin plant was considered as "green friendly" chemical plant with total cost in the range of $200 million using Solvay's technology.

The EPH plant would be able to produce 100 ktpa epichlorohydrin for epoxy resin production. The green friendly chemical plant tagname comes from the feedstock for the plant which will use 110 ktpa of glycerin as the raw materials, a renewable source from biodiesel by-products.

The step was seen by analysts as a good venture into not only renewable petrochemicals for Thailand but also expanding Mab Ta Phut petrochemical complex. Solvay is ranked no four as world's largest producer of ephicholorohydrin.

New Acrylic Acid Process Route

US biofuels player and ethanol producer Cargill is in the collaboration with Novozymes to develop a new breakthrough technology that would create acrylic acid through 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3HPA) using sugar. Engineered biological micro-organisms will be used to make 3HPA from fermented sugar. Bio-

Benazir Bhutto Assasination and Pakistan Petchem Industry Risk Assessment

The recent assassination of former Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan is likely to slow down foreign investment in Pakistan due to the political instability. Analysts, however is confident that the impact would be temporary with risk period to be around two quarters or 6 months period.

The death of Pakistan's beloved former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto had somehow impacted the financial

Petrochemical Projects Archive for January 2008

Indonesia Follows Brazils Lead in Ethanol

Indonesia is eyeing on developing a similar biofuels programme as Brazil's ethanol technology. Talks between two countries are looking at technology exchange for FFV (flexible fuel vehicle) which runs on gasoline or 100% ethanol. With rising concern of shortage fuel and energy hikes, biofuels and ethanol is becoming more feasible to replace gasoline shortage.

US Coal Gasification

Rentech is expecting its first pilot plant for a coal gasification production facility to be completed and start

Petrochemical Projects Archive for December 2007

China’s Synthetic Butadiene Rubber Plants On-stream 2008
China is likely to increase butadiene imports in 2008 as 5 new synthetic butadiene rubber plants are coming on-stream in 2008. The capacity for the 5 new plants will add 320 ktpa tonnes per year of synthetic rubber in China.

Butadiene, a scarce feedstock in China has no new capacity expansion announcement yet. The five butadiene rubber plants will be:
1. 100,000 tonne/year SBR plant capacity at Lanzhou Petrochemical
2. 50,000 tonne/year SBR plant capacity in Guangdong province
3. 100,000 tonne/year styrene butadiene styrene (SBS) plant capacity in Guangdong province
4. 20,000 tonne/year styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS) plant capacity in Jiangsu province
5. 50,000 tonne/year polybutadiene rubber (BR) plant capacity in Jiangsu province

Petrochemical Complex: IOC for Plan for Phase II Mixed Feed CrackerIndian Oil Corporation (IOC) has planned for a mixed feed cracker and downstream derivatives petrochemical plants

Petrochemical Projects Archive for November 2007

Mitsui India to Build Polypropylene Facility

Mitsui Prime Advanced Composites India, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese company Mitsui Chemicals is planning to set up a manufacturing facility for polypropylene (PP) compounded resins at Neemrana, in Rajasthan which has an initial capacity of 15 ktpa of polypropylene compounded resins.

The petrochemical plant is expected to be operational from the first quarter of 2009. The polypropylene resins are mostly used in manufacturing bumpers, panels and pillars in automobiles.taking advantage of the state's accelerating economic growth trajectory.

Saudi Kayan Seeks $4 Billion for Jubail 

Saudi Kayan is actively seeking funding from Islamic loans ad loans from BN Amro Bank, BNP Paribas,

Petrochemical Projects Archive for October 2007

RIL, Gail considering JV in petrochemical plants in Russia.

Reliance Industries (RIL) are considering the feasibility of putting up petrochemical plants in Russia together with state-owned Gail India.

US$ 5 Billion Petrochemical Plant by Chevron Philips and Saudi Industrial.

Chevron Philips with collaborating partner Saudi Industrial Group is planning to borrow US$ 1.8 Billion to finance a US$ 5 Billion petrochemical plant at Al-Jubail tentatively to produce ethylene, propylene and polyethylene.

Petrochemical Projects Archive for August 2007

August 20, 2007

Chemical Valley to develop environment-friendly fuels

Chemical Valley is considering a $10-million innovation centre to help Sarnia's petrochemical industry to develop an environment-friendly fuels. This includes financing for the bio-industrial centre at the Sarnia-Lambton Research Park of the University of Western Ontario.

Petrobras and Unipar to Form a Chemical Company
Cia. Petroquimica do Sudeste, the new name of the joint petrochemical company between Petroleo

Petrochemical Projects Archive for June 2007

June 30, 2007

BASF Started up New Alkylethanolamines (AEOA) Plant in Geismar, Louisiana One Month Ahead of Schedule

The new plant will produce over 20 specialty amines, on top of the existing amine production facilities at the Louisiana. The Geismar plant will increase BASF’s worldwide production capacity for AEOA (alkylethanolamines) by 40 percent which is backward integrated with its existing ethylene oxide production at the site. BASF also operates AEOA plants at its Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

June 23, 2007

Hanwha in Talks with Saudi Arabia for US$6.5 Billion Delayed