News archive for December, 2010
Reliance Industries today said it will invest USD 450 million (about Rs 2,000 crore) along with Russian petrochemical firm SIBUR in setting up a butyl rubber plant at Jamnagar in Gujarat (India).
“Reliance and the leading Russian petrochemical company SIBUR today announced a joint venture for the production of butyl rubber in India,” the company said in a statement here.
The agreement to this effect was signed during the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to India.
“The joint venture facility will have an initial capacity of 100,000 tonnes of butyl rubber at RIL’s integrated refining-cum-petrochemical site in Jamnagar, India and is expected to be commissioned by 2013,” it said.
Estimated investment in the project will be USD 450 million. The plant will initially produce regular butyl rubber and is expected to manufacture other types of butyl rubber specialities in the future.
“SIBUR will provide its proprietary technology for butyl rubber polymerization and finishing, while RIL will supply monomers and provide the JV with world-class infrastructure and utilities,” it said. “RIL will have a majority stake in the joint venture.”
Commenting on this development, RIL Executive Director NR Meswani said: “This is a significant step towards Reliance’s commitment to service India’s growing automotive sector by bringing in complex technologies, available with only a very few companies globally.
“The setting up of domestic manufacturing of butyl rubber will fulfil a long standing demand of the Indian tyre and rubber industry and this investment is part of Reliance’s vision of emerging as a significant global payer in the synthetic rubber business.”
“We are satisfied with the dynamics of the creation of the joint venture and hope to begin construction soon,” said SIBUR’s President Dmitry Konov .
“SIBUR has unique technologies for the production of synthetic rubber, which in partnership with Reliance will cater the growing needs of the Indian tyre industry with high -quality raw material,” he said.
SIBUR is the largest petrochemical company in Russia and Eastern Europe.
OAO Nizhnekamskneftekhim has successfully completed the registration of its products according to the requirements of Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006 (REACH) scheduled for 2010, says press service company.
In all, in the framework of REACH Regulation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) 25 substances (commercial products and monomers as polymer components) were registered.
All registered products were granted certificates of the European Chemical Agency acknowledging their registration that confirms their compliance to the requirements of REACH legislation. Implementation of the requirements for chemicals registration in the European Union enables the Company to continue exporting the chemical products to the European markets and to maintain their competitiveness.
The major amount of work for registration of substances according to REACH legislation was done by the specialists of Export Department and Research and Development Center of the Company, series of analyses was performed by the corporate Technical Control Department.
The work of the Company in the scope of REACH will continue in 2011 with account of the legislation of different countries on the safe handling of products, because OAO Nizhnekamskneftekhim is a dynamic, developing company working constantly over the expansion of sales markets, and the geography of the Company’s product registration will be expanding in the course of time.
Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) announced today that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with SIBUR, Russia’s leading petrochemical company, for the establishment of a joint venture with the Scientific Research and Design Institute for Gas Processing (NIPIgaspererabotka) in Krasnodar, Russia. Fluor will initially commit a 10 percent stake in the SIBUR design institute. Three Fluor executives will become members of the Board of Directors of NIPIgaspererabotka.
The team will then launch a pilot project for the design and construction of the Yuzhny Balyk-Tobolsk gas pipeline, which will connect the South Balyuk gas processing plant with the Tobolsk petrochemical complex.
The joint venture participants plan to develop the company into one of the leading engineering, procurement and construction management service firms for the oil and gas markets in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
“Fluor’s long history with SIBUR and NIPIgaspererabotka in Russia makes this new alliance a logical next step,” said Peter Oosterveer, president of Fluor’s Energy & Chemicals Group. “We believe that combining local Russian capabilities and ingenuity with Fluor’s proven global project execution systems will provide value for oil and gas development projects in Russia and the CIS.”
“The partnership with Fluor will allow SIBUR and other market participants to use world-class engineering services for Russian and CIS capital development projects,” said the SIBUR President Dmitry Konov. “NIPIgazopererabotka has a wealth of project design and project management experience, and we believe the additional expertise in this area will raise the investment process of the company to new levels.”
The competitive advantage of the new business will be the union of the global engineering, procurement, construction and project management expertise of Fluor with the investment and construction experience of SIBUR and NIPIgaspererabotka in Russia and the CIS.
About NIPIgaspererabotka
NIPIgaspererabotka is Russia’s leading research and design institute for gas processing. It is the general designer for more than forty gas processing plants and other facilities for the transportation and preparation of hydrocarbons. The Institute employs around 700 staff. The central office is located in Krasnodar. The Institute includes scientific and design production, as well as a subsidiary enterprise NPO Tekhneftegaz.
About Fluor Corporation
Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) designs, builds and maintains many of the world’s most challenging and complex projects. Through its global network of offices on six continents, the company provides comprehensive capabilities and world-class expertise in the fields of engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, operations, maintenance and project management. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Fluor is a FORTUNE 200 company and had revenues of $22 billion in 2009.
URALCHEM, OJSC was given a certificate of participant of International Responsible Care Programme at the annual meeting of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) covering realization of the programme.
URALCHEM joined the Global Responsible Care Initiative in December, 2009. The purpose of the initiative is to increase the quality and overall level of technical, environmental safety and safety at work, and improve the quality of products and production process.
In the previous year URALCHEM Group did a lot of work in connection with the above: integrated management system at Azot, OJSC successfully passed compliance audit, and the plant began realization of several types of activities in order to decrease the use of water from the Kama River and cut the amount of waste water in the sewage systems. VMF, OJSC received OHSAS (ISO 18000) compliance certificate. URALCHEM, OJSC invested considerable funds in environmental and industrial safety at the production sites.
The result of all these steps was reflected in the annual report that URALCHEM, OJSC filed with the Russian Chemists Union – Responsible Care Programme operator appointed by the International Chemical Association.
At the certificate giving ceremony Igor Kukushkin, Executive Director of the Russian Chemists Union said: “When such big companies as URALCHEM participate in Responsible Care Programme, it means that business is willing to make maximum efforts with regard to environmental and industrial safety”.
Dmitry Osipov, the Chief Executive Officer of URALCHEM, OJSC said: “Participation in this programme made it possible for us to take a new look at risk management in the area of ecology, personnel health, and industrial safety. Consolidated reports that were prepared by the company when participating in the programme helped us form new complex approaches to these tasks. In addition, participation in Responsible Care Programme created great atmosphere when we could learn the experience of the world leaders in labour, environmental and industrial safety”.
Vladimir Onishchenko, Adviser to Production Director in the area of technical regulation and standards at URALCHEM, OJSC said: “Responsible Care is a serious international programme supervised by UNO through United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). By no means all companies are allowed to take part in the programme. And, since Uralchem did take part, this is indicative of our determination to comply with cutting-edge international environmental, labour and industrial standards”.
9 December 2010. The Board of Directors of the SIBUR Holding has decided to voluntarily liquidate the legal entity OJSC “AK Sibur” in connection with the basic conditions of a settlement agreement with its creditors, which was concluded in 2002, says Media Center SIBUR LLC.
The OJSC “AK Sibur”, established in 1995, pursued the consolidation of the petrochemical industry in Russia, using borrowed funds that were mainly provided by the Gazprom group. By 2002, the company was facing bankruptcy. In September 2002, The OJSC “AK Sibur” concluded a settlement agreement with its creditors, according to which the company pledged to repay its liabilities, in the amount of more than 27 billion rubles, by the end of 2010.
In December 2005, the amount owed to the Gazprom group were repaid by converting the amount of the debt into shares of the newly established OJSC “SIBUR Holding”, to which the ownership of all manufacturing assets and management activities of the OJSC “AK Sibur”were transferred.
At present, the OJSC “AK Sibur”, which was effectively a subsidiary of the SIBUR Holding, has fulfilled all of its contractual obligations according to the settlement agreement and, following the transfer of the outstanding funds to creditors and tax authorities by the end of 2010, the company shall cease to exist.
SIBUR is the leader of petrochemistry in Russia and Eastern Europe. The Company operates across the entire petrochemical process chain from gas processing to the production of monomers and plastics, mineral fertilizers, tyres and industrial rubber items, as well as the processing of plastics.
SIBUR produces over 2000 different brands of products. The Company processes more than half of APG and produces 23% of propylene, 23% of polypropylene, 17% of polyethylene, from 30 to 49% of different rubbers, 34% of tires, 16% of nitrogen fertilizers, and considerable part of other petrochemical products in Russian market.
SIBUR incorporates plants that employ over 50 000 people in 20 regions of Russia. The Company is managed along product-division lines – Hydrocarbon Feedstock, Synthetic Rubbers, Plastics and Organic Synthesis Products, Mineral Fertilisers and Tyres.
According to PRW.com, Schoeller Arca Systems, the global returnable packaging manufacturer, has begun producing plastic shipping pallets at a new plant in Starovo in central Russia.
Before the launch of the €5m facility, Zwolle, Netherlands-based Schoeller Arca had to supply the Russian pallet market from different Western European plants.
“With local production, we can significantly reduce the cost and serve the growing demand for high quality pallets at affordable prices,” said Natalya Shishkina, chief executive of the group’s Russian subsidiary. The new unit is located in Russia’s Vladimir region.
Schoeller Arca Systems already operates a separate production plant in Russia. That unit manufactures plastic shipping containers in Vsevolozhsk, north east of St Petersburg. The firm says it intends to increase capacity at both its Russian plants in the future. It has two national sales offices in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod.
The group, which produces a range of plastics returnable packaging for materials handling, including crates, pallets and trays, and transit containers, achieved 2009 annual sales of €470m. It has a workforce of around 1,000.
The group is the result of a merger of Netherlands company Schoeller Wavin Systems with Sweden’s Arca Systems in 2005. That deal formed what was then the world’s biggest materials handling returnable packaging manufacturer.
Richard Higgs (PRW.com)
Nalco (NYSE: NLC) announced today its Russian subsidiary has formed a joint venture with a subsidiary of Russia’s largest oil company, OAO LUKOIL, to provide energy chemicals and services in Western Siberia.
The joint venture, OOO Kogalym Chemicals Plant, will be based in Kogalym (West Siberia, Russia) and will provide LUKOIL production operations in West Siberia with Nalco’s upstream chemical technologies and services, including well stimulation and cementing additives, as well as oil field production and enhanced oil recovery programs.
“We are excited about the opportunity to combine Nalco’s leading technologies in these areas with the LUKOIL’s Kogalym supply chain capability to provide world class products and services,” said Erik Fyrwald, Nalco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. LUKOIL’s Kogalym facility will provide blending, bulk storage, rail and road loading and unloading facilities and delivery to the well head.
Technical support laboratories together with field delivery and application teams will enable the joint venture to design customized chemical programs and provide complete chemical management services. In addition to serving LUKOIL, the joint venture will sell these oilfield programs and products to other oil and gas producers in West Siberia.
Nalco’s investment in the joint venture will permit further enhancements of the production process at LUKOIL’s Kogalym facility and the production of Nalco’s innovative programs that are designed to perform in the challenging conditions of one of the world’s most severe environments. The joint venture will be majority controlled by Nalco. It is planned that production volume for the joint venture will increase seven fold by 2015, from an expected 4,000 tons to 28,000 tons per year.
According to EuropeanPlasticsNews.com, KraussMaffei Berstorff, a subsidiary of the KraussMaffei group, is supplying a system for continuous production of PUR-insulated pipe to Russia-based Technopark.
Technopark, a plastic pipe producer headquartered in St. Petersburg, will use the system to make pipes for district heating systems. The pipes are made of crosslinked polyurethane with polyurethane foam insulation and a PE outer sheath.
“The current drive to reduce energy consumption, including capturing off-heat, and to exploit geothermal energy sources and biogas can be expected to produce strong growth in demand for production systems to make insulated pipe,” Michael Hofhus, manager of the pipe product group at KraussMaffei Berstorff, said in a statement.
The manufacturing system is designed for continuous production so unwinds media pipe from the steel drums which is then fed into a foam-contouring unit. Once the PUR foam is applied, the pipe is cased in a PET sheath. Finally, the product is cooled and wound onto rolls.
These pipes are cheap to lay and the number of joints required is reduced, says KraussMaffei. Problems such as leakage and thermal bridging are virtually eliminated, adds the firm.