Asia/Pacific
Indian oil companies eye investment opportunities in Canada's LNG sector
"With huge shale gas discoveries in the US and Canada," LNG imports could be cheaper than other sources, said junior oil minister R.P.N. Singh, who added that transportation and the mechanism of determining LNG prices could affect the economies of LNG imports.
Hebei Haiwei to license CB&I propylene technology for new China plant
The unit will use the CATOFIN propane dehydrogenation process from Lummus Technology, which employs Süd-Chemie’s latest catalyst to produce 500,000 tpy of propylene. The plant is expected to start up in 2015.
Jacobs wins work on RSPL India soda ash project
Under the terms of the contract, Jacobs is providing detailed engineering, project management, procurement and construction supervision services for RSPL’s greenfield project. The capacity of the facility is estimated at 500,000 tpy of light soda ash. Officials did not disclose the contract value.
Cosmo Oil to close Sakaide refinery in Japan amid falling local demand
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry set rules in July 2010 requiring refiners to raise residual cracking capacity to a designated percentage of crude refining capacity, as calculated by a formula, by March 2014. By closing the refinery, Cosmo expects to save Y10 billion a year in costs.
Protesters occupy Gazprom Arctic oil platform
UPDATE: Fifteen hours after boarding Gazprom's Arctic oil platform in the Pechora Sea, six Greenpeace International protesters have left the platform. Gazprom officials said in a statement that normal operations continue on the platform and were not interrupted by the protest.
Shell worried by rising Australia LNG project costs
Cost pressures are building as leading energy companies mull whether to export LNG to Asia from North America and East Africa, potentially increasing competition. Shell has already committed almost $30 billion to Australian gas-export projects being built over the next five years.
PetroChina achieves on-spec LNG at Ansai project
The successful industrial application of the double mixed refrigerant process, independently developed by China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering, is the first of its kind regarding large-scale gas liquefaction.
Honeywell develops fuel-saving flight management software for airliners
Some estimates place potential benefits at as much as 3% in savings on reduced fuel use. Others project as much as $200,000 in annual savings per plane while cruising long oceanic routes. United Continental Holdings is running demonstration flights to verify such estimates.
Chemtex, Black & Veatch win engineering deal for large China LNG project
Expected to be completed in late 2013, the 500,000 NM³/day plant will be the largest of its kind in northeast China. It will be delivered by the Chemtex / Black & Veatch team using a complete lump sum engineering, procurement and construction package, officials said. Financial terms were not disclosed.
BASF joins collaboration to develop bio-acrylic acid
BASF, Cargill and Novozymes recently signed an agreement to develop bio-based technologies to produce acrylic acid from renewable feedstocks. The annual global market volume of acrylic acid is around 4.5 million tons, with a value of $11 billion at the end of 2011.
- XRG to expand its global chemicals reach with takeover of Covestro 11/21
- U.S. FERC explores blanket authorizations for LNG projects 11/21
- thyssenkrupp Uhde selected by Dangote Fertilizer Ltd. to license four urea granulation units in Nigeria 11/21
- Indian and Chinese refineries are moving to comply with U.S. sanctions on Russia 11/21
- Dynamis Power Solutions awards Baker Hughes with significant order for gas turbine technology to support mobile power for oil and gas applications 11/21
- China's first coal-to-chemicals project with green hydrogen starts commercial operations 11/20

