Supercomputers to Replace Engineers in Oil & Gas Company?

The latest trend in oil and gas companies including some of petrochemical players are setting the horizon for the upcoming age of abundance, and possibly replacing most engineers and skilled individuals in the oil and gas industry by the supercomputers. The likes of BP has spent millions of dollars of building its supercomputer, aimed at seismic imaging and interpreting geological data previously done by groups of skilled geologists. 

BP datacenter in Houston houses 2 petaflops supercomputer which is also used for drilling activities. Already

Indonesia Becoming Petrochemical Net Exporter

Indonesia is fast building its petrochemical industry with the government in planning to bring Indonesia petrochemical output dramatically by 2016 making it a net exporter country in terms of petrochemical products. Through its state oil and gas company, Pertamina, Indonesia is gazetting two major petrochemical hub in Muara Enim and Bintuni Bay for production of methanol, ammonia, polypropylene and polyethylene. 

The government is looking at putting up world scale refinery and petrochemical cracker with a foreign partner. South Korean Honam Petrochemical and PTT Chemicals are some of the potential partners with Pertamina. Indonesia government is also announcing considerable tax breaks to attract foreign direct investment for its growth in the petrochemical industry.

Indonesia's Pertamina To Become Asia Oil & Gas Major in Asia

Pertamina, Indonesian state oil company which was once considered a pioneer in government-owned oil and gas major is setting a goal to become the Asia's biggest oil and gas player by 2025. The announcement came after a recent announcement that it is currently looking at petrochemical partner to further add value of its downstream petrochemical business. 

 Pertamina owns many of Indonesia's refineries and is venturing into partnership with PTT Global Chemical into bringing alive its petrochemical business again. Many considered Pertamina demise was due to the influence of Indonesian government into its business during its peak.

Petchem Plant: US Capitalizing Shale Gas - Mitsubishi Building a US Resin Plant

US is capitalizing and promoting the use of shale gas in its petrochemical downstream production. Mitsubishi is reportedly in planning to set up a resin processing plant in the US that takes the feedstock from a "cheap" shale gas. 

The plant is said to obtain the feedstock from Dow Chemical which is building a cracker to produce ethylene from the US shale gas. The new plant will be commissioned in 2017 producing 250 ktpa of acrylic resin.

Malaysian Politics Pull Both Strings on PETRONAS

Malaysia politics from both end of the string, ruling and opposition are trying to impose power on PETRONAS as the Malaysian poll is approaching. The opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim is asking for change of PETRONAS policy, a state oil and energy company, towards boosting overseas expenditure.

He calls for reduction of PETRONAS dividend to the state but also a change in policy of payment according to certain percentage. The announcement is seen to also impact many of PETRONAS project in domestic Malaysia especially the new mega refinery-petrochemical project in southern Johor, a the tip of the peninsular Malaysia, at the Pengerang site. 

 The project which involves numerous of parties and commercial partners will be subject to the opposition review of viability and will call for certain transparency. The announcement comes to a no surprise to industry analysts which foresee that new political power will play its role on the country's biggest state company. There is likelihood that the new marginal fields in the domestic Malaysia will require further review.

Market History: Top 20 Petrochemical Companies in 2012

As we are approaching the end of 2012, let's have a look at the list of top petrochemical companies. The list is for Dec 2011 year end, consolidated in 2012. BASF of Germany maintains its top position of top spot for biggest petrochemical company in the world followed by Sinopec which slightly topples Exxon Mobil for a second place.

Global Ranking	Petrochemical Company	Revenue in US$ Million for 2011
1	BASF	95,245
2	Sinopec	65,752
3	Exxon Mobil	64,731
4	Dow Chemical	59,985
5	Lyondell Basell Industries	51,035
6	SABIC	50,636
7	Shell	46,963
8	Mitsubishi Chemical	38,713
9	DuPont	37,961
10	INEOS	27,529
11	Total	26,839
12	Bayer	24,975
13	Sumitomo Chemical	23,505
14	Akzo Nobel	20,342
15	LG Chem	19,580
16	Johnson Matthey	19,252
17	Toray	19,170
18	Air Liquid	18,735
19	Evonik	18,308
20	Linde Group	17,867

Sabic Building Ultra-high Molecular-weight Polyethylene Plant

Sabic through its two affiliates are building a 35 ktpa ultra-high molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia which will be located at Kayan Petrochemical Complex. The plant is expected to be commissioned in 2014.

Mitsubishi Building A Methanol Plant in Trinidad Tobago

Mitsubishi is planning a methanol plant which will be the feedstock for its downstream petrochemical products. The plant, which will convert methanol to DME (dimethyl ether) will be built in La Brea, Trinidad and Tobago. The project is estimated to cost around USD 850 million.

BASF ink MoU with Sinopec China for INA

BASF explored new investment in China together with its local partner Sinopec. The chemical company is looking for a production of the plasticizer isononanol (INA) in Southern China. Both companies are eyeing the feasibility of a world-scale plant for production of INA in a new joint venture expected to be completed by end of 2012.

BASF has yet to announce any CAPEX figures. The company has yet to make any other investment of INA outside its INA complex in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Currently Evonik is the number two manufacturer of INA in Europe and worldwide with capacity of 340 ktpa INA in Marl. Exxon is the leading manufacturer of INA.

BASF is also in a planning for a world-scale plant in Malaysia, together with Petronas. This will leapfrog BASF against Evonik to be the number one INA supplier in the world.

Japan Turning Second as Biggest Solar Power Market

Japan is planning big on its solar projects to replace the vacuum left by its nuclear facilities for the electricity generation in the country. Softbank of Japan will be operating seven megasolar plants producing 260 MW making it the biggest Japan’s solar power firm.

Japan’s latest policy subsidizing renewable energy may see Japan to leapfrog Italy to become the number two market for solar power behind Germany. A new superscale of solar power capable of producing 200MW is also on the pipeline for Hokkaido plant.

New Cheap Solar Panels Created

Researchers from the University of Toronto and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia had created a solar cell out of cheap, inexpensive materials for usage of solar panels with an impressive 7% efficiency.

The new solar cells use quantum dots which can harvest electricity from both the visible and invisible wavelengths of the solar spectrum. Furthermore, it can be created using similar methods used to produce paint or ink which can be fabricated on flexible substrates in the same way newspapers are rapidly printed in mass quantities.

The new way of producing the material pushed the efficiency by 37% compared to previous method using hybrid passivation method using small chlorine atoms.

Korea Gas Corp eying shale-gas assets

Korea Gas (Kogas) is to invest $3Billion in Australia LNG Projects comprising an estimated $1 billion in Royal Dutch Shell's Prelude LNG project and at least $2 billion in the Gladstone LNG project.

Each project is expected to provide the company with around 3.5 million tons of LNG annually.

Kogas is also looking at the U.S. shale gas assets. Kogas is planning a new Houston office.

Saudi Building Ethyl Acetate and Butyl Acetate Plants

Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) through its subsidiary is planning a Saudi Riyal 350 Million ethyl acetate and butyl acetate plant (EA/BA) with production capacity of 100,000 tons per year. The new chemical plants will be located in Jubail Industrial City.

The chemical plants will be vertically integrated with the feedstocks, acetic acid and ethanol to come from another Sipchem subsidiary. The chemical complex is planned to start commercial operation in second half of 2013.

SOCAR Launched Mega Refining Petrochemical Mega Project

The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has launched a new joint venture with global engineering and construction company Foster Wheeler for a $15bn (€11.4bn) mega project for a new refining-gas-petrochemicals complex.

The complex will produce more than 2 million tonnes per year of polymer capacity which includes

polyethylene (PE) with capacities of 670,000 tonnes/year and polypropylene (PP) with 550,000 tonnes/year.

The refinery is targeted to produce as much as 10 million tonne/year oil of products. The mega complex will also house gas processing unit which will also provide the feedstock ethane for the cracker.

Halliburton Teams up with Petronas

Petronas has teamed up with Halliburton for exploration of potential shale oil and gas resources in Asia Pacific. The collaboration includes framework agreement for the evaluation and development of shale technical centre of excellence to be enjoyed by both parties.

Petronas under its exploration and production arm company, Petronas Carigali is expected to be benefited from the deal to develop internal capabilities in development of shale oil exploration activities.

BASF Investing a New Polyurethane Site in Dahej, India

BASF India is looking at investing a Rs 10 Billion (USD $195 million) for an integrated hub for polyurethane manufacturing producing care chemicals and polymer dispersions for coatings and paper at Dahej. The site is expected to be ready by 2014.

Products to be churned out from the site will be polyurethane facility will produce Elastollan TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane), Cellasto NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) parts and polyurethane systems including care chemicals for surfactants production, and polymer dispersions facility producinge Acronal and Styrofan, key ingredients for architectural coatings, adhesives and construction, Styronal and Basonal for paper coating and Basoplast for sizing.

Mega Projects Will Send Shortage of Engineering Talents

The oil and gas industry in particular to mega projects which integrate refinery and petrochemical is expecting to attract and compete for engineering talents due to the massive manpower requirement for the mega projects.

By end of this decade it is expected that at least four mega project for refinery and petrochemical integrated site will be already onstream which includes Sadara Chemical, a Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemicals joint venture in Saudi Arabia, Reliance new refinery-petchem site in India, Shell joint venture with CNOOC China and PETRONAS RAPID project for massive refinery and petrochemical project in Southern Malaysia.

These mega projects will require top talents in the senior project engineering, business development and trading and operation staff and require certain competitive edge to gain access to advanced technology and technical and market knowledge.

Shortage of engineering talents expected to heighten in the year 2015 where peak of activities will merge from all these mega projects in various stages.

SABIC signed TDI/MDI agreement with Mitsui Chemicals in Polyurethane Technology Deal

The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has signed a TDI and MDI technology license agreement with Mitsui Chemicals for collaboration in the polyurethane chain inked in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The agreement was signed by Mohamed Al-Mady, SABIC vice chairman and CEO, and Toshikazu Tanaka, Mitsui Chemicals president and CEO.

Under the deal, SABIC will use Mitsui’s technology to produce polyurethane raw materials which are TDI and MDI, which are both raw materials for producing polyurethane. SABIC will also be able to participate in joint technology development for TDI and MDI.