Pertamina Collaborating with Petronas & Total for Natuna Project

Indonesian state oil and gas company PT Pertamina will be in collaboration with Malaysia’s Petronas and France’s Total SA for East Natuna project in Indonesia waters. This comes amids Pertamina inking agreement with ExxonMobil earlier.

Pertamina is looking for collaboration both for investment and technology provider such as one in regards to high CO2 content in the oil field.

Saudi Aramco to Increase Gulf Chemical Production to $80 Billion

Saudi Aramco in its statement says that they would want to increase the chemical production in the Gulf to $80 Billion by 2020. Saudi Aramco is targeting to increase from the current chemical industry from $40 billion to $50 billion in per-annum revenue.

The expected revenue is likely to come from Saudi's Wasit gas plant, expected to commission in 2013, UAE's Borouge, tripling capacity to 4.5 million tonnes per annum by the end of 2013, and nine new crackers and downstream plants in the Gulf by 2015.

Shell Expanding its Saudi Arabia Sadaf JV

Shell is conducting a study for its Saudi Arabia joint venture, Sadaf with SABIC for expansion of capacity under the provision of enough and reliable feedstock supply from its partner. The expansion will be looking specifically for additional capacity of polyurethanes (PU), polyols and alpha-olefins even though the Sadaf JV also produces ethylene, crude industrial ethanol, styrene, caustic soda, ethylene dichloride and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).

Saudi Aramco Launching New Petchem Products Through JVs

Saudi Aramco which has joint venture projects with Japan's Sumitomo Chemicals and Dow Chemicals is expected to introduce petchem products higher in the value chain including metallocene-based elastomers, glycol ethers, methyl methacrylate (MMA), polymethyl metaacrylate (PMMA), nylon and EP rubber. This comes as Phase II expansion of PetroRabigh is expected to commence which currently produces 1.3 million tonne per year of ethane cracker and 700,000 tonne per year of MEG.

Engen Petroleum Ltd Acquired Chevron Corp.'s assets in Africa

Malaysian Stateoil Petronas subsidiary, Engen Petroleum Ltd. has just reportedly completed acquisition of Chevron assets in Malawi, Zambia and the French territory of Reunion. Engen Petroleum which operates South Africa’s largest fuel retailer is also in stage of getting regulatory approval to buy Chevron’s assets in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania and Mauritius in 2011.

India to Build New 450,000 tonne/year Ethylene Plant

India is building a new 450,000 tonne per year of ethylene plant in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state. The project which is owned by GAIL, will be using technology and engineering services from Shaw Group under EPCC.

PETRONAS & BASF Signing MoU for Joint Feasibility Study

BASF and PETRONAS has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to undertake a joint feasibility study for new complex producing specialty chemicals in Malaysia worth MYR 4 Billion. The partnership is said to leverage on the existing BASF-Petronas Chemicals joint venture plant in the Malaysian Pahang state.

Petronas and BASF will both evaluate the technical, commercial and economic viability of jointly owning and operating world-scale facilities for the production of specialty chemicals. The scope is said to include C4 based specialty chemical products including non-ionic surfactants, methanesulfonic acid and iso-nonanol.

PTT Acquired Canadian Shale Oil from Statoil

PTT Exploration & Production PLC, has recently acquired 40% stake in Kai Kos Dehseh oil sands project from Statoil worth US$4.3 billion of recoverable bitumen capable at extraction rate of 10,000 bpd of bitumen.

The acquisition means PTT is in a new playfield of breakthrough shale oil extraction which will allow the company to build technlogical capability in that shale oil area.

Shell Taking Over ExxonMobil for Qatar Petrochemical Complex

Shell is reportedly now discussing with Qatar Petroleum for the worldscale petrochemicals complex in Ras Laffan, Qatar after ExxonMobil was reportedly exiting its position for the co-development with Qatar state oil giant.

New $6 Billion Petrochemical Plant to be Build in Qatar by Total

French TOTAL is planning to build a $6 billion petrochemical plant in Qatar with the state oil company, Qatar Petroleum even without ExxonMobil’s participation. The products and capacity remain undisclosed for time being.

New S-SBR Plant in Singapore by Sumitomo Chem

Japan's Sumitomo Chemical is planning to build a 40,000 tonne/year solution styrene butadiene rubber (S-SBR) plant in Jurong Island, Singapore, a well-known feedstock for the tyre industry.

The plant which will comissioned in 2013 has a capex of $120 million which is timely due to the strength of the yen currency. The plant will not replace Sumitomo's existing 10,000 tonne/year S-SBR plant in Ichihara, Chiba, Japan which is catering for the captive Japanese market.

Higher Plastic Usage in Cars to Increase Demand of Plastics

The global car industry sees jump in cars demand as rising economies in China and rest of Asia sees increase in middle class population. China has already surpassed Japan for largest automotive producer and close to overtaking US as the largest automotive market.

Engineering polymers which widely used in the cars production is expected to increase from 18% to 25% per car as the auto sector scouting for means for weight savings to enhance fuel efficiency and costs.

Bayer MaterialScience Investing €110m in China

Bayer MaterialScience is planning to expand in invest in Shanghai, Qingdao and Chongqing with investment totalling €110m ($149m). They have announced five facilities for polyurethanes and polycarbonate without any mentioning on capacities of each.

Cangzhou Petrochemical Starting Up Debottlenecked MTBE Plant

Cangzhou Petrochemical Co is operating its methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) plant. The MTBE unit capacity has been increased recently to 50,000 tonnes/year from 20,000 tonnes/year in November. All of the capacity of the MTBE unit is used for captive consumption in gasoline blending.

Malaysia Stock Market Boost with Oil Companies Participation

Malaysian stock market, KLSE or locally known as Bursa Malaysia is getting a boost after the Malaysian's national oil and gas participation in listing of its subsidiaries and companies on the stock exchange. PETRONAS who will have six of its units listed on the Bursa Malaysia will be controlling 10% of the Malaysian stock market based on value.

It's latest listing is an IPO for its petrochemical group, Petronas Chemical Group (PCG). The listing of Petronas companies is seen as politically driven after announcement from Petronas Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak for more private sector participation.

LyondellBasell New Management Lineup

LyondellBasell, a joint-ventured petrochemical company as a product from the hard hit of global recession has announced that new management line-up for its Olefins & Polyolefins unit. Bhavesh V. (Bob) Patel has been named senior vice president who will succeed Anton de Vries.

The announcement was welcomed by LyondellBasell CEO Jim Gallogly.

LAB plant expansion to be constructed by Foster Wheeler in Jubail

Foster Wheeler has been awarded for the expansion in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia for a new Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB). The award was given by Gulf Farabi for completion by 2011 for the new 100,000 tonnes per annum of LAB.

PETRONAS Chemical Group to Offer RM5 per IPO share

Integrated petrochemicals producer Petronas Chemical Group Bhd has been cited in the local news to be selling its IPO share for RM5 (USD1 = RM3.01). However the report has also indicated that the company which is at its infant stage as a group of companies will likely to reduce and revise the price.

TOTAL Bringing Up GLNG Project

Total entry via acquisition in the GLNG project has expedited the project to progress further. Total had previously announced the acquisition of 15% and 5% stakes in GLNG from Santos and PETRONAS respectively. Under the new arrangement, Total will also take up the volume of 1.5 million tonnes per annum from the project for 20 years.

Qatar to Supply LNG to Bangladesh

Bangladesh is reportedly to sign a deal with Qatar for import liquefied natural gas (LNG) by ship. The arrangement of the deal will see Qatar supply LNG upon a sign of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) by both countries expected by this month.

Petronas Sold 5% Stake in GLNG Australia to Total

PETRONAS has agreed to sell a five per cent stake in the Gladstone Liquefied Natural Gas (GLNG) project in Australia to Total, the world's fourth largest listed natural gas producer. Total will be acquiring a total of 20% stake in the project after Santos, Australia's third-largest oil and gas producer, which is also the current partner in the project willing to sell 15 per cent of its stake in the GLNG project to Total for A$650 million.

Upon completion of the transactions, Santos will retain a 45 per cent ownership, Petronas 35 per cent and Total 20 per cent. The main agenda behind the new partnership is to harness the experience of each into the project with Santos for its expertise in gas production in Australia, and with Petronas for its experience in marketing LNG in Asia.

Malaysia Petrochemical Plant and Outlook to Change

With the upcoming release of IPO from Malaysia's biggest petrochemical player in the country, Petronas, the horizon of Malaysian's petrochemical industry is set to change.

Currently, petchem industries in Malaysia has its joint ventures with multinational companies, normally the technology providers such as Shell, ExxonMobil, Kaneka, BASF, Dow Chemicals, ConocoPhilips and others.

The petchem scenario is considered medium matured with investments of RM28 billion in the sector producing 39 types of petrochemical products such as olefins, polyolefins, aromatics, ethylene oxides, glycols, oxo-alcohols, exthoxylates, acrylic acids, pthalic anhydride, acetic acid, styrene monomer, polystyrene ethylbenzene, vinyl chloride monomer and polyvinyl chloride. World scale petrochemical plants producing LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE, PP, EPS, GPPS, HIPS, PVC, ABS, SAN and PET resins have spurred the plastic industry in the country.

There are three petrochemical zones in Malaysia which are Kerteh, Gebeng and Tanjung Langsat.
With Petronas consolidating most of its petrochemical plants in Kerteh, and some in Gebeng and other areas, it is expected that the level of playing field will be raised with increase in efficiencies and cost cutting measures. This will in turn, give better profits to its shareholders which will be opened to public soon.

Malaysia’s petrochemical sector has also contributed to the development of local downstream plastic processing activities.

China Doubles Renewable Energy Subsidies

World's biggest energy consumer, China is doubling its subsidies for renewable energy in order to increase the burden on electricity users to reduce air pollution using conventional energy source. Renewable energies from generators harnessing the wind, sun and biomass are paid subsidies in order to increase the development of new energy sources and combating the country's worsen air pollution.

Southeast Asia Biggest IPO by PETRONAS

Industrial sources are quoting that PETRONAS under its Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd may offer Southeast Asia's biggest IPO offering as much as $3.53 billion in a few coming months. The IPO will include 22 companies under the Chemical Group with annual capacity of 11 million metric tonnes.

Oman Oil Company Reviving Indian's Fertilizer

Oman Oil Company is reviving Indian's Fertilizer Firms at cost of around $3bn (€2.3bn) to be given to Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCI) and Hindustan Fertilizer Corp's (HFCL). These two units of fertilizer plants can produce a combined of 2.3 million tonnes per year of urea.

Japan Impose Sanction on Iran

Japan has followed it's counterpart United Stats in imposing additional sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear programme despite Tokyo's reliance on oil imports from the country. This will heavily put a restraint in terms of financial activities with restrictions in banking activities with designated Iranian banks. The sanction also includes a halt in new energy-related investment.

BP Quiting Malaysian Investment

BP is expecting to sell off its Malaysian C2 & Polyethylene plants which is currently a joint venture with Malaysian Petronas for $363 million. The company produces 440,000 tonnes/year of ethylene and 318,000 tonne/year PE plant at the same site.

SABIC Venturing into Oleochemicals with Lurgi

Saudi's SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp) has announced that it will partner with German's Lurgi for technology provider in oleochemicals. The said arrangement is set to tapped into Lurgi's technology that will utilize renewable feedstocks with planned oleochemicals plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

The renewable feedstock is targeted to produce 83,000 tonnes/year of distilled natural alcohols by 2013. It is likely that the plant will be a trial set-up utilizng Lurgi's new technology.

Iran Expected to Get New Investors for Petrochemical

Iran's NIPC is looking to get new foreign investors for petrochemical projects in Iran. The company has set up a firm in the United Kingdom to attract foreign investors to finance three big projects with an estimated value of $2.2 billion as part of Tehran's aim at becoming the number one producer of petrochemical products and materials in the region in terms of value.

Turkey had initially planned to assist Iran with the construction of two petrochemical plants in southern and western Iran amidst US sanction on Iran.

China's Coal to Olefins (CTO) Utilize New Technology

China will be using new technologies, of which yet to be informed for its $10 billion coal-to-olefins (CTO) project between China's Shenhua Group, the largest coal mining company in China, and US-based Dow Chemical.

China is the world's leading producer of goal, most of which is for nonpower related industrial gases with projection of increase almost 10% annually.

The CTO and its downstream derivatives are expected to utilize integration for production of methanol, olefins, acetylene-carbide polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ammonia/urea and aromatics.

New US$40 Million Gasco Plant Awarded to Siemens in Abu Dhabi

A US$40 Million Contract for Gasco plant in Abu Dhabi was awarded to Siemens Energy to engineer and supply an integrated power solution for natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation plant. The plant which will be set-up by Abu Dhabi Gas Industries (GASCO).

New Dispersions Plant by BASF in South China

BASF has announced new dispersions plant in Southern China of Huizhou with 100 kmta annual capacity producing XSB dispersions and acrylic dispersions. The production will be getting feedstock from local China with customers mostly in China market as part of its verbund concept. The plant which will be up by 2012 will serve mostly paper industry and industries such as coatings, adhesives and packaging.

Application of XSB dispersion.

India 2010 Outlook: World Fastest Growing Economy Exceeding China by 2013

The global market changes constantly and by 2013, China will no longer hold the throne of the fastest growing market. China is expected to grow by 9% in 2012 down to 8% in 2015 while India is expected to have growth rate by 9% in 2013 up to 9.5% in 2015.

Much of the growth is expected to come from its demographic since India has one of the lowest median ages among the major economies with high percentage of young working age population which can contribute to the country's growth.

This is coupled to the fact that globalisation permits high opportunities for job placement either inside or outside the country which can increase the domestic savings.

Iranian to Launch New Bushehr Nuclear Plant

Iran will be launching its first Bushehr nuclear power plant after completion of the plant's main tests and inspections. The Bushehr nuclear power plant project was started by German firm Siemens in the 1970s, and was then handed over to Russia in 1995.

Biggest Polyamide Plant to be Built by Lurgi in China

The biggest polyamide plant is underway in China with capacity of 260 tonne per day. The plant will the biggest in the world upon completion to be built by German engineering firm Lurgi, a unit of Air Liquide of France in Fujian, China.Lurgi will be responsible supplying the main equipment and technology as well as the supervision of erection and commissioning of the new polyamide plant. The new plant will be owned by Fujian Jinjiang, a local Chinese company in the business of manufacturing and selling of high-end polyamide fibre. The polyamide will be able to supply synthetic thermoplastic which is mainly used for engineering plastics, textile filament and carpet filament largely use in the for textile applications.

Sipchem Starting Up New VAM Plant

The Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) in its bid to aggressive expansion is starting up its new Vinyl Acetate Monomer Plant (VAM) in Jubail Industrial city capable of producing 330 kmta of VAM annually.

Sipchem, like many other Middle Eastern petrochemical companies is regarded as fast expanding with many of its new plants are starting up. Just recently, the company has started commercial operation of Carbon Monoxide plant and Acetic Acid.

Iran's Assalouyeh New 2.25 million tons Petrochemical Capacity

Despite the economic sanction on Iran, two petrochemical projects have been announced in Assalouyeh to produce 2.25 million tons of domestic petrochemical production capacity by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The petrochemical complex is said to be the second largest global unit and the largest middle East unit for urea production in a single facility with expected turnover of US$550 million when operating, although business skeptics are worrying on the figure with the current situation in Iran.

Uruguay Setting Up First LNG Terminal

Uruguay is setting up its very first new LNG receiving terminal to be built in Montevideo, in the region of Río de la Plata, Uruguay. The construction was awarded to Foster Wheeler by Uruguay’s state-owned oil company, Administración Nacional de Combustibles, Alcohol y Portland (ANCAP).

The LNG Terminal is in conjunction of the 2007 Uruguay and Argentina Energy Cooperation Agreement for the construction of a regasification plant in Uruguay. The gas plant will fuel natural gas supply for Uruguay and Argentina local consumption using Cruz del Sur Gas Pipeline, the existing natural gas infrastructure between both countries.

New Ethyl Acetate Plant in Saudi Arabia

Sipchem of Saudi Arabia (Saudi International Petrochemical Co) has announced a 100 kmta ethyl acetate plant in Saudi Arabia. The plant will be built in Al-Jubail with collaboration with Rhodia of France for technology license, a marketing agreement and an ethanol procurement deal.

The Ethyl Acetate plant which could also produce butyl acetate will be receiving feedstock from International Acetyl Co for the acetic acid and imported ethanol from Rhodia. It is expected to be commissioned in 2013.

Largest Polypropylene Plant in Russia

Russia will be holding the crown for the largest polypropylene plant in the world with the upcoming 500 kmta of polypropylene capacity plant is currently under construction in Tobolsk. The construction is said to be completed by end of 2011 and commissioning of the plant to be scheduled sometime in 2012.

New Chemicals Anti-Dumping from Indian Government

The Indian government has imposed an anti-dumping duty policy which will be affecting chemical products used for toys manufacturing and adhesives with anti-dumping values of as much as US$608.57 per tonne.

The radical step was taken in a combat to safeguard the local industry against cheap imports from seven countries, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Russia,Taiwan, China and Thailand claimed the Indian Government.

Anti-dumping is seen to protect the local producers which is an endorsed tool by WTO (World Trade Organization). India has seen an increased to 19,020 tonnes in 2008-09 from 3,636 tonnes in 2005-06 from the effected seven nations.

Solutia to Set up Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB) Plant in Malaysia

Solutia Inc has announced that it plans to set up a new polyvinyl butyral (PVB) plant in Malaysia worth US$ 40 million. The plant will be set-up in Gebeng Industrial Park in Malaysia's Eastern Peninsular on a 20 hectare site.

The new PVB plant will be able to produce up to 15 kmta of PVB in capacity by 2012 which can be used toproduce laminated glass, window films and conductive films in solar panels.

Qatar Engineer Designed Natural Cooling Palm

A Qatari engineer has designed the world's first Cooling Palm which has a structure like a palm trees with 40m high and able to cool the surrounding temperature to as low as 25 degC from a 40 degC high temperature which is common in Qatar.

The cooling palm does this by reducing the humidity of the air and converts the moisture to water. An industrial fog valve system then convert the water to cold fog and significantly reducing the surrounding temperature.

The environmental friendly cooling palm device does not consume energy other than using solar power. The application is said to be used in pedestrian streets at hot climate which also serves as beautification through its palm tree like looking.

Shell Selling Assets in African Countries

Shell is reportedly in exclusive negotiations with Vitol Group for its African investments. The acquisition of Shell Oil Products Africa (Shell) downstream businesses is currently at a stage of final price and subject to regulatory requirements.

Vitol is likely to close the deal with Helios Investment Partners for a share of Shell's Retail, Commercial Fuels, Lubricants, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Bitumen, Aviation and Marine.

Confirmed countries in the list are Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, , Namibia and La Reunion.

This will include 1300 retail sites including a massive 1,200,000 cubic metres of terminal storage. Shell is currently employing 2500 staff in Africa. Although it is still in discussion stage, Shell is likely to retain portion of shares in the business including it's brand name.

The exercise is seen as Shell's risk divestment strategy that has been as part of the company strategic direction.

Global Warming May Hinder Petrochemical Outlook

Asian industry leaders are skeptical on the petrochemical outlook in the near future from increase pressure of environmental concern in particular global warming. Japan Petrochemical Industry Association (JPCA) chairman, Kenji Fujiyoshi was urging the industry players to re-look at energy effectiveness and improvement via reusable energy.

Two identified areas are methods for naphtha cracking, where major petrochemical feedstocks are coming from as well as fossil fuels substitutes. Currently there has been a few successful direct alternatives of petrochemical products that using 100% alternative feedstock other than fossil fuels.

It is expected that the trend will continue to grow in 2010, coming mostly from already popular agriculture products such as corns and palm oils. Other growing technologies include bio-glycerol such as ones for propylene oxide production.

Bahrain to Boost Oil to 100,000 BPD and Supplying to Saudi Arabia

H.E. Dr Abdul-Hussain Ali Mirza, Minister of Oil & Gas Affairs, Bahrain has indicated that Bahrain is planning to bring oil output to about 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) from its current 32,000 bpd. The excess supply is reportedly will be sold to Saudi Arabia via pipeline expansion.

Currently Bahrain is exporting 230,000 bpd of oil to Saudi Arabia. With the expansion of the pipeline, it will be capable to supply up to 350,000 bpd.

Biodiesel Producers Looking at Power Plant

Biodiesel players are currently looking at ways of expanding businesses and usage of edible oils. One such company is Desmet Ballestra who is currently looking at acquiring technologies to use ethanol and biomass for power plants.

The move is seen as complimenting the biodiesel industry which has seen big impacts due to food commodities surge in the past years.

Korean Company Bought Malaysian's Titan Chemicals

Titan Chemicals which is one of major petrochemical players in Malaysia has agreed to sell its stake to Honam Petrochemical, a Korean petrochemical player. The deal is said to be all in cash term amounting to 1.5 trillion won or $ 1.26 billion.

Upon completion of the deal, Honam Petrochemical will have total control and sole owner of Titan Chemicals. Titan Chemicals has previously been in financial difficulties and was looking for exit. The deal is widely expected following their current finance standings.

New Breakthrough in Solar Power with 66 % Efficiency

A new breakthrough in solar power brings new hope to increase energy efficiency of solar panel and consequently a wider commercial use of the technology. Researchers from the University of Texas in Austin and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis have discovered a process that can increase the conversion efficiency of solar cells up to 66%.

Current solar panels generate hot electrons and lose the energy through heat before it can be captured and used for electricity. In contrast, the new technology is able to slow down the cooling process of hot electrons increasing the energy that is currently lost as heat in conventional solar cells.

A demonstration site is currently under way at University's Houston Campus with demonstration project to be constructed in Brookshire City, Texas by Evolution Solar.

Shell & Petronas Preparing Award for Iraq Oil Wells

Shell and Petronas are in the process of awarding a deal to drill new oil wells at Iraq's super giant Majnoon oil field which will include engineering, procurement and construction deal to build various production installations at the field.

Potential firms in the bidding lists are reportedly Halliburton, Weatherford International, and Petrofac which will be responsible to develop Majnoon to175,000 barrels a day by 2012.

The oil field is owned by Shell of 45%, Petronas 30%, and Iraq's state-run Missan Oil holding 25%.

Singapore Building Facility for LNG Import from Qatar

Singapore is building new import facility for liquified natural gas on Jurong Island which will receive LNG from Qatar in the country's plans to diversify its gas supply. The facility costs $1.5 billion is due to be completed in 2013 to store more than six million tonnes per annum.

Singapore currently depends on the piped LNG from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Singapore's Prime Minister is replying in response to Indonesian announcement of increasing the supply price.

The partnership with Qatar, the world's biggest natural gas producer is expected after Qatar Petroleum International bought into Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore last November.

ExxonMobil Enters Oil Recovery Enhancement Project with Petronas Malaysia

ExxonMobil has reportedly entering a joint venture project with Petronas Malaysia for a recovery of an oil field, Tapis expected to begin in 2013.

The project which is estimated at $1 billion is considered by many timely in concordance with Petronas's recent announcement of re-shifting its focus backs towards domestic exploration and production and away from its wide-reaching international portfolio. It will look at reviving the 1980s Tapis which is regarded as one of the best API grades in the world and was used extensively in the Asia-Pacific benchmark.

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.

Australia to have 100% Renewable Energy by 2020

Australia is on a path to rely on 100% on renewable energy sources by 2020. It was based on the research by Melbourne University’s Energy Research Institute through its Evironmental group Beyond Zero Emissions which was presented to the Australian Parliament.

The Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy report claims at a price of A$37bn ($32.4bn) a year Australia can totally replace fossil fuel baseload electricity using renewable energy technology that is already available today.

Technically, the strategy aims at a mix of 60% of energy from solar thermal with molten salt storage and 40% from wind power with possibility of advanced solar photovoltaic (PV) to hit grid parity between 2015-20.

US Energy Company Raising Money for First US Oil Sands Project

Earth Energy Resources Inc., a Canadian company has been granted a government's approval to launch the very first US oil sands project in a 62 acre pit in Uintah County, Utah.

The project would be able to produce 2,000 barrels of oil a day by extracting oil out of sands using a proprietary solvent. Earth Energy requires $35 million to fund the project.

Iran to Receive Gasoline from Reliance

Reliance is reportedly transporting gasoline into Iran through Petronas. This becomes a dispute as the Indian refiner has previously instructed traders not to transport its gasoline into Iran following President Barack Obama new push toward international sanctions against Iran.

Reliance has been seen to be prepared not to become a prime target for US legislators which may result into potential punitive measures by the United States.

Petronas would be the second firm after Kuwait’s fuel supplier IPG making deliveries into Iran. It is possible that Petronas through its subsidiary Petronas Trading Corporation (Petco) is selling Reliance gasoline cargo through another trader which may have excluded the additional clause.

Mergers & Acquisition: $11 Billion Deal between Schlumberger and Smith International

As expected by analysts what would be a continual strong year for mergers and acquisition activities in 2010 is beginning to unveil when a $11 Billion deal between Texas-based oilfield tech services giant Schlumberger Ltd and Smith International Inc.

The merged between the two companies is aimed for access of technical leap to develop unconventional gas plays focusing on shale gas is going to be produced. In financial terms, the merging will gives technical advantage in drilling and bring down the cost per horizontal well.

Oil Companies Venturing to Solar, Led by Chevron

With the expected upcoming government policy changes to force oil companies to curb greenhouse gas emissions, big oil companies are looking at emerging renewable technologies. Chevron’s latest one-megawatt concentrating solar photovoltaic project in New Mexico, is a testimony of the situation.

Chevron will be utilizing technology from Concentrix Solar, whose CPV solar system will be used in the facility at Chevron Mining’s molybdenum mine in Questa, New Mexico expected to begin construction in spring 2010

Mergers & Acquisition (M&A) for 2010 Outlook - Oil & Gas

It is a sign of recovery for the oil and gas outlook where merger’s & acquisition (M&A) value in Upstream oil and gas industry is estimated at $46 billion for the year of 2010. In 2009, this value was catapulted to $153 billion.

In 2009, most of the buyers for the M&A came from National Oil Companies representing 50% of all deals greater than $1 billion in 2009 and similar trend is forecasted for 2010. International oil companies like ExxonMobil however, took the unconventional route with assets acquisition of $41 billion purchase of U.S. independent XTO Energy. China lead the M&A game in 2009 with similar prospect expected for 2010.

It is expected for 2010 that M&A activities will revolve around risk management for current portfolio balancing; venturing into new projects with shared risks and for better management of current resources.

New Technologies Create Oil Industry Boom in North Dakota

Recent technology advancement in drilling techniques has enable bigger oil wells to be developed with faster drilling and lower costs. Such things have turned North Dakota massive oil reserve to be economically able to be tapped.

The two miles underground Bakken Shale deposit has been known and tapped on occasion for decades. This year however is entirely new since technological improvements made it extremely economically and quickly becoming United State's fastest-growing oil-producing areas.

In 2009 alone the oil production has jumped to 80 million barrels, a figure that will be fast growing in 2010 especially since the Bakken Shale could contain up to 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

Malaysia’s Proton Lubricant Business Reaching 2 Million Litres Mark

Malaysia's PETRONAS and Proton Holdings Bhd, the national car company are in collaborations to grow its lubricant business.

It is expected that the collaboration will amount up to two million litres in the next two to three years.

The two companies under the agreement gives Petronas the exclusive rights as Proton partner for all its domestic and global original equipment manufacturered (OEM) lubricants and functional fluids. Petronas in turn will support Proton to produce lubricants that cater specifically to its specific requirements.

Burma Military Jinta Privatising Oil and Gas

Burma’s military government, widely known as Junta is planning to privatize Burma's 50 million oil reserve industry.

This following rumours that a meeting between petrol and diesel business and the government was held in Naypyitaw.

The Junta government had earlier reduced its subsidy for petrol in the country.

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.

Timor-Leste Inviting Petronas to Develop Oil Field

Timor-Leste's government will invite Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) instead of Australian energy firm Woodside Petroleum and partners for the development of offshore Greater Sunrise gas field. The decision is expected due to Woodside's earlier plan for development of Greater Sunrise gas filed without an onshore plant for gas liquefaction.

The Timor-Lester ministry has advised that in order to benefit the country and the people by having a pipeline to East Timor instead of going to straight to other areas such as Darwin.

The decision is also believed due to good relations between Timor-Lester and Petronas and its previous experience in the oil sector and LNG plant.

Rule of Thumb: How to Design a Pressure Vessel

When you work at a chemical plant, there is a great likelihood that you will need to know basic design of process equipment. Regardless whether you work in an operation, or technical service, or design office, and project office, this basic knowledge is required so that you can quickly make sense of the numbers and any peculiarity.

Let’s say you are an operation guy, an operating engineer, you see your process gets upset in the production

Where would a chemical engineer be working?

After you finish your chemical engineering course and get that degree, nothing else matters.

What matters afterwards would be how you apply the knowledge that you have gained, nobody will really ask you the very fundamental of things, but rather you would be required to solve simple problems.

There are tonnes of options for a chemical engineering graduate to go to, but in reality, in can be broken