Robot to Replace Inspection Engineer in the Chemical Industry

We all know how difficult a decision would be for the management of the refining and petrochemical plants when inspection engineers will need to do critical inspection when the integrity of the plant is in doubt. In chemical industry such as production of highly combustible gases and gases that self-ignite upon loss of containment, this is very dangerous.

A Mexican company has come up with a prototype of RoboPipe, a robot that could do the inspection of

Cyberfuels – A New Type of Gasoline Provides “Virtual Energy”

CyberFuels, a potential contender to the standard gasoline is on its way. Known as Enhanced Methanol Gasoline, it contains 85% methanol, only 14% gasoline and a proprietary CyberFuels patented additive. 

The new type of fuel produces less carbon dioxide and heat and has been known to provide virtual energy,

PETRONAS Criticized for Overpaying Canadian Progress Energy Shale Gas

Malaysian state-oil company, PETRONAS has been criticized by the Malaysian opposition party for purchasing the stakes in Progress Energy at almost double the market price.

Rafizi Ramli, the opposition party strategic director has questioned the move made by PETRONAS started in 2012 for the takeover of Progress Energy in Canada. The multi-billion dollar takeover ensures that PETRONAS secures the rights for shale gas in Canada. The shale gas hyped has driven the natural gas in United States and Canada to shoot up recently but price has since stabilized. The deals was likely made on the basis of high natural gas price and a for a significant premium above the share price. PETRONAS has previously indicated that the premium was necessary to counter a bid from another company for Progress Energy.

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.

Dim Outlook on Iran's Petrochemical Sector

Iran's Petrochemical sector is expected to be badly affected by the recent announcement by the US Government to impose yet another sanction. This time it is specifically targeting Iran's petrochemical industry.

The sanction can be as soon as next Monday.

Iran has responded that it is largely a political motive by the IAEA and the United States in accusing Iran of having nuclear power. European countries are expected to follow suit, but not immediately, especially during these times as the bloc is fighting its own economic turmoil and companies with roots in Europe are feeling nervous.

Further sanctions will hurt the companies having business deals on the petrochemical industry with Iran.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Improving Economy Boosting Oil Demand

The International Energy Agency had revised its forecast for world oil demand on improved Asian economic activity however most likely will still be offset by countries like Russia who are pumping more crude than the added rise in consumption.

The agency which is based in Paris revised the forecast to 83.94 million barrels a day. The world is still having a huge reserve of oil supply with non-Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries producing more supply than previously expected. Russia, the world's biggest oil producer churns out a total of 360,000 barrels a day as new fields being developed in Western Siberia and enhanced oil recovery techniques are used to squeeze out more hydrocarbons from existing fields.

Despite current projection, some analysts think Russia will pump around 9.7-9.8 million barrels a day on average this year rather than 10.07 million barrels a day as expected by the IEA with global crude demand to rise 1.6% next year outpacing non-OPEC supply growth of about 1% in 2010.

Countries like the U.S which is the biggest consumer for oil and energy has 8 days higher average on its inventory which stands at 61.7 days this year. China has indicated a move to follow the same lead.

Brazil Discovers Huge Oil Deposit

Brazil may be striking a gold mine or more precisely a black gold mine as its' discovery on the Maranhao site may have oil deposits as huge as the Campos Basin, which produces 85 percent of the Brazil's oil.

The basin was discovered by Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Devon Energy Corporation 160 kilometers off the coast of Sao Luis which this year alone has produced an average of 1.65 million barrels per day this year.

Maranhao state in northeast Brazil is famous for luring oil refining, steelmaking and pulp for export due to its five days closer to Europe proximity. With the stable output from Maranhao basin, Brazil's state oil company, Petrobras is planning to build a $20 billion premium-products refinery 30 kilometers from Sao Luis, for Europe and North America export by 2013.

Dow Chemical & Rohm & Haas Completing Merger Dispute Deal

Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) ccompleted its dispute with Rohm & Haas Co. (ROH), agreeing to pay the $78 a share as originally established. Dow Rohm & Haas struck a $15.3 billion merger deal in July 2008. 

The legal battle started after Rohm & Haas sued Dow in January after the company stalled on the merger which Dow blamed due to the frozen credit markets. Dow, like other companies in the world faced threatening decline in its business due to the global recession. 

Several parties have agreed to help Dow to pay for its purchase of Rohm & Haas including a $3 billion in funding from Berkshire Hathaway and $1 billion from the Kuwait Investment Authority. 

Nitrogen Enriched Gasoline by Shell

Shell has unveiled its new nitrogen-enriched gasolines at Shell stations across the U.S codenamed Nitrogen Enriched Gasolines.

The new gasoline contains a unique cleaning system designed to purge carbon deposits in the engine. The new Nitrogen Enriched cleaning system protects and cleans up carbon deposit build-up on intake valves and fuel injectors.

It is believed that the usage of nitrogen as an active cleaning molecule in the new fuel significantly makes it more stable at higher temperatures in modern, tougher conditioned engines. The nitrogen increases the properties of resisting thermal breakdown better than conventional cleaning additives.

US Fertilzer Expected to Continue on Strong Demand

Despite the recent global economic turmoil, US fertilizer industry is looking bright as corn futures prices for December 2009 delivery indicate that the upcoming seasons should be picking up demand. The corn industry is one of the largest consumer for the fertilizer industry and this will boost demand for as farmers are expected to plant corn instead of soybeans which will boost fertilizer demand.

Analysts are predicting that the fundamentals that's driving fertilizer demand remains strong coming from world growing population in developing nations.

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%.

US A Schulman Selling Business Unit

US plastic compounder A Schulman is plannning to either establish a joint-venture or selling its Invision business unit,

Schulman Plastic Company initially marketed Invision to be used in automobile interiors as a substitute to polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
However, US automobile sales is declining forcing the company to sell to non-automobile market as well which is also under hit due to US economy slowdown.

The news receives mix reaction with others claiming the product is well received which could lead to opportunity loss. The Invision business unit reported operating losses of $1.6m this year with $2.2m loss for last year.

Technology to Convert Waste to Fertilizer

Two Illinois companies have been awarded a $1m from United States federal grant to look into ways to produce nitrogen fertilizer from wastes.

US Department of Agriculture (USDA), is funding the research on a process derived from N-Ovation and Fluidic MicroControls, which in theory can derive nitrogen from a gas created by cooking crop residue. The gas comes from cooking farm waste, which then turned into nitric acid by introducing a spark of electricity.

The protoype is already existing and the companies are looking at efficient way and to create a machine that capable of supplying 1000 acre of farm fertilizer. This will revolutionize the way fertilizers are made which currently extensively from petrochemical plants.

New Demand for Methanol: Fuel Cell

Following the US Transportation Department approval to permit in-flight use of methanol-powered fuel cells for laptop computers it is expected that a slight boost will be seen in both methanol and fuel cells.

Passengers will be allowed to use methanol fuel cells in commercial airliner passenger and crew compartments, major manufacturers of portable consumer electronic devices such as in mobile phones, digital cameras, DVD players as well as laptops.

Brazil Cosan Acquiring ExxonMobil

Brazilian energy giant - Cosan which produces Brazil's major ethanol is planning to acquire ExxonMobil’s operations in Brazil for $826m for a direct control of more than 1,500 fuel stations in Brazil.

The take-over will inherit $163m in debt from ExxonMobil and $35m in net credits specific for the fuel stations operation. However, ExxonMobil is still in charge of its major chemical plants and upstream oil and gas operations especially at offshore Santos Basin.

Analysts are looking at the strategic move as a favorable one since it lets Brazil Cosan to take charge of the fuel stations for distribution of its vast production of Brazil's ethanol.