Hydrocarbon_Processing_September_2012

(1)

RENTECH breaks new trails in the

boiler industry with its focus on custom

engineering and design.

There’s no “on the shelf” inventory at RENTECH because we design and build each and every boiler to operate at peak efficiency in its own unique conditions. As an industry leader, RENTECH provides solutions to your most demanding specifications for safe, reliable boilers. From design and manufacture to installation and service, we are breaking new trails.

(2)

HydrocarbonProcessing.com | SEPTEMBER 2012

®

REFINING DEVELOPMENTS

Innovative solutions upgrade

heavy oil into ‘cleaner’ transportation fuels

HEAT TRANSFER

DEVELOPMENTS

Energy efficiency found through better simulation modeling and maintenance

(3)

Engineering

transformation.

That’s how we meet our customers’

toughest challenges.

Learn about innovations past and present at http://cwfc.com Building on our rich technology legacy,

we embrace the toughest challenges with our passion to explore the limits of our innovation and creativity. Today, we’re breaking new ground in industries beyond our aviation roots. Our DeltaValve business unit forever changed coke drum unheading — saving lives and improving reliability — with its fully automated coke

drum unheading devices. Farris Engineer-ing, creator of pressure relief valve designs that are now industry standards, has led the way in pressure relief system manage-ment with the patented iPRSM software. And EST Group’s Pop-A-Plug makes the process of sealing leaking heat exchanger and condenser tubes faster, safer and damage-free. Pushing past what others

thought was possible, this is what drives us. We offer solutions to our customers’ toughest challenges and help transform the way their business is done.

DeltaGuard Pop-A-Plug® _iPRSM®

(4)

Cover Image: The Valero Port Arthur Refinery was commissioned in 1901 by Gulf Oil Co. to process Spindletop crude oil. This Gulf Coast refinery has had many process additions and improvements throughout its history. In 2001, nearly $850 million was invested in a delayed coker and hydrocracker to enable the plant to run heavy, sour crude. At present, the Port Arthur Valero refinery has a throughput capacity of 310,000 bpd. See page 20 for more history of this refinery. Photo courtesy of Valero Energy Corp., San Antonio, Texas.

SEPTEMBER 2012 | Volume 91 Number 9 HydrocarbonProcessing.com

SPECIAL REPORT: REFINING DEVELOPMENTS

39

Maximize diesel production in an FCC-centered refinery, Part 1

P. K. Niccum

47

Redefining reforming catalyst performance:

High selectivity and stability P.-Y. Le-Goff, J. Lopez and J. Ross

55

Upgrade heavy oil more cost-efficiently

C. A. Cabrera and M. A. Silverman

63

CO₂ capture from SMRs: A demonstration project

W. Baade, S. Farnand, R. Hutchison and K. Welch

71

Increase FCC processing flexibility

with improved catalyst recycling methods M. Lippmann and L. Wolschlag

79

Bio-isobutanol: The next-generation biofuel

R. Kolodziej and J. Scheib

87

Successful fouling control hinges on effective monitoring

X. Price, C. Teran, A. Vanhove and J. Casanova

BONUS REPORT: HEAT TRANSFER DEVELOPMENTS

95

What are the benefits of rigorous modeling

in heat exchanger design?

J. Cazenave

103

Prevent external corrosion of boiler tubes under refractory lining

K. Biramov, M. Maity, E. Al-Zahrani and M. A. Kareem

ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION—SUPPLEMENT

E-109

What you don’t know can hurt you

J. Glenney

E-112

Engineering and construction news

DEPARTMENTS

4

Industry Perspectives

6

Brief

9

Insight

13

Impact

19

Construction

30

Construction Boxscore Update

120

Marketplace

124

Advertiser index COLUMNS

33

Reliability

When not to use oil rings

35

Engineering Case Histories

Case 70: Twenty rules

for troubleshooting

37

Viewpoint

From mill to wing: How waste materials could become the next green aviation fuel

126

Automation Safety

‘Sticktion’: A dangerous

failure mode

10

6

(5)

4SEPTEMBER 2012 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com

P. O. Box 2608

Houston, Texas 77252-2608, USA Phone: +1 (713) 529-4301 Fax: +1 (713) 520-4433

[email protected]

www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com

President/CEO John Royall

Vice President Ron Higgins

Vice President, Production Sheryl Stone

Business Finance Manager Pamela Harvey

Part of Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. Other energy group titles include: World Oil and Petroleum Economist

Publication Agreement Number 40034765 Printed in USA “E15 should be made available when the

science shows it is safe for consumers and consumers actually demand the fuel. Over 95% of cars and light trucks in the U.S. are currently built to run on gasoline containing 10 percent ethanol, or E10, and today’s auto manufacturers will not warranty their engines for the use of fuel with higher ethanol content. They have good cause; a recent CRC study issued in May shows that even the use of E15 in EPA-approved vehicles can cause significant damage.” —CHARLES T. DREVNA, President of American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM)

“After more testing than has ever been completed for a 211(f) fuel waiver, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the use of E-15 for use in 2001 and newer vehicles. Its use will grow slowly over time as the resistance to its use by the refining industry withers in the face of compelling economics and consumer choice.” —BOB DINNEEN, President and

CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association “My answer is only in certain regions. Autos in some countries like Brazil already use 25% ethanol in the gasoline blend. Brazil is also unique in that there is a large portion of the auto fleet that can use 100% ethanol fuel instead of gasoline. In the U.S., we expect the E10 gasoline blend to remain the dominant fuel product and do not expect widespread introduction of E15 for at least another five years. Most U.S. fuel retailers have been reluctant to sell the E15 blend because use of the fuel would void most new car warranties. Another barrier to the introduction of E15 is that state-level fuel specifications would need to be changed; something that took several years when ethanol was first introduced in the late 2000s.”

—ALFRED LUACES, IHS Senior Director of Research and Analysis, Global Petroleum Markets

EDITORIAL

Editor Stephany Romanow

Reliability/Equipment Editor Heinz P. Bloch

Process Editor Adrienne Blume

Technical Editor Billy Thinnes

Online Editor Ben DuBose

Associate Editor Helen Meche

Contributing Editor Loraine A. Huchler Contributing Editor William M. Goble Contributing Editor ARC Advisory Group

MAGAZINE PRODUCTION

Vice President, Production Sheryl Stone Manager, Editorial Production Angela Bathe

Artist/Illustrator David Weeks

Graphic Designer Amanda McLendon-Bass

Manager, Advertising Production Cheryl Willis

SALES MANAGER Bill Wageneck

[email protected]

ADVERTISING SALES

See Sales Offices page 122.

CIRCULATION

Director, Circulation Suzanne McGehee

+1 (713) 520-4440 [email protected]

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Subscription price (includes both print and digital versions): United States and Canada, one year $199, two years $359, three years $469. Outside USA and Canada, one year $239, two years $419, three years $539, digital format one year $199. Airmail rate outside North America $175 additional a year. Single copies $25, prepaid.

Because Hydrocarbon Processing is edited specifically to be of greatest value to people working in this specialized business, subscriptions are restricted to those engaged in the hydrocarbon processing industry, or ser-vice and supply company personnel connected thereto.

Hydrocarbon Processing is indexed by Applied Science & Tech nology Index, by Chemical Abstracts and by Engineering Index Inc. Microfilm copies avail-able through University Microfilms, International, Ann Arbor, Mich. The full text of Hydrocarbon Processing is also available in electronic versions of the Business Periodicals Index.

ARTICLE REPRINTS

If you would like to have a recent article reprinted for an upcoming confer-ence or for use as a marketing tool, contact Foster Printing Company for a price quote. Articles are reprinted on quality stock with advertisements removed; options are available for covers and turnaround times. Our mini-mum order is a quantity of 100.

For more information about article reprints, call Rhonda Brown with Foster Printing Company at +1 (866) 879-9144 ext 194 or e-mail [email protected].

Hydrocarbon Processing (ISSN 0018-8190) is published monthly by Gulf Publishing Company, 2 Greenway Plaza, Suite 1020, Houston, Texas 77046. Periodicals postage paid at Houston, Texas, and at additional mailing office. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Hydrocarbon Processing, P.O. Box 2608, Houston, Texas 77252.

Copyright © 2012 by Gulf Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Permission is granted by the copyright owner to libraries and others regis-tered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) to photocopy any articles herein for the base fee of $3 per copy per page. Payment should be sent directly to the CCC, 21 Congress St., Salem, Mass. 01970. Copying for other than personal or internal reference use without express permission is prohib-ited. Requests for special permission or bulk orders should be addressed to the Editor. ISSN 0018-8190/01.

HydrocarbonProcessing.com reader response:

Yes, within 5 years ... 16%

Yes, within 10 years ... 8%

Yes, but only in select regions ... 6%

No, not safe or economical ... 70%

Visit HydrocarbonProcessing.com to participate in future polls.

Is it reasonable for 15% fuel ethanol blends (E15) to be used in passenger vehicles during the next decade?

Industry Perspectives

Key industry officials answer a poll question from HydrocarbonProcessing.com

(6)

||| > > > > : > > : > > ||| T o f in d a n A ll ied Di s tr ibut or , v is it : www .flexitallic.com or c al l U S 1.281.604.2400 : U K +44( 0) 1274 851273.

LIKE

GOLD.

But more valuable.

No matter what the application, the THERMICULITE®_{family of products is the}

gold standard. We’re talking 0º to 1800º F, a full range of chemicals and pressures and use it as a cost effective alternative to PTFE, Aramid, Glass and Graphite gaskets. When you factor in simplification, safety, and environmental compliance its value just keeps on rising. With over 1,000 successful problem applications solved over the last 10 years the Thermiculite family of products has proven it is worth its weight in gold! Talk to a Flexitallic engineer today and let us help you establish a new gold standard for your operations.

Select 93 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS

(7)

| Brief

European refiner affirms renewables project

Total has reaffirmed its partnership and financial backing to the technology of renewable products company Amyris, the companies said in a recent statement. Total dedicated an $82 million funding budget over the next three years exclusively for the deployment of Amyris’s renewable farnesene and for the production of renewable diesel and jet fuel. Upon completion of the research and development program, Total and Amyris intend to form a joint venture company that would produce and market renewable diesel and/or jet fuel, as well as nonexclusive rights to other specialty products, the companies said.

(8)

Hydrocarbon Processing | SEPTEMBER 20127

BILLY THINNES, TECHNICAL EDITOR / [email protected]

Brief

BP has agreed to sell its 266,000-bpd Carson refinery in California and related logistics and marketing assets

in the region to Tesoro for $2.5 billion in cash. The deal value includes the estimated value of hydrocarbon inventories and is subject to post-closing adjustments. The company noted that the sale is part of a previously announced plan to reshape BP’s US fuels business. BP also plans to sell its Texas City refinery, in order to focus on its three northern US refineries, which the company says are “feedstock advantaged.” Subject to regulatory and other approvals, Tesoro will acquire the Los Angeles-area refinery as well as the associated logistics network of pipelines and storage terminals and the ARCO-branded retail marketing network in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. The sale also includes BP’s interests in associated cogeneration and coke calcining operations. The sale is expected to close before mid-2013. BP will sell the ARCO retail brand rights and exclusively license those rights from Tesoro for Northern California, Oregon and Washington and continue to produce transportation fuels at its refinery in Cherry Point, Washington.

Chemicals company Celanese said that a jury ruled in its favor in litigation filed by Southern Chemical relating

to the terms of a multi-year methanol supply contract. The jury said the contract, under which Celanese has paid Southern Chemical about $130 million/year, should continue until its expiration, adding that Celanese did not violate the terms of the agreement. The contract, which expires in 2015, is valid for Celanese operations in the US and Mexico. Celanese is the largest methanol consumer in the US, while Southern Chemical is the second-largest supplier (after Methanex). Under the contract, Celanese received about 800,000 tpy of methanol from Southern Chemical. Southern Chemical alleged that Celanese was not using the purchased methanol solely for internal use, and was instead shipping it to other chemical companies for more than the contract price. Celanese officials, however, said they were selling the material as methyl acetate and had been given clearance to do so by the Southern Chemical president. Celanese plans to build a 1.3-million tpy methanol plant in Clear Lake, Texas, which would presumably replace the Southern Chemical supply once the contract expires in 2015.

KBR and Shell Global Solutions plan to expand their hydroprocessing technology alliance. In addition to

hydrocracking and hydrotreating, KBR will now market, sell and provide technology and design packages for Shell’s deep-flash, high-vacuum unit distillation and thermal conversion technologies. KBR said the new alliance terms will help refinery operators that want to improve their distillation performance to optimize assets, minimize expenditures and capital investment and debottleneck operations. To meet those goals, refiners can use deep-cut vacuum distillation to maximize the recovery of distillate

from residue. The falling demand for residue fuel oil means that refiners can use thermal conversion technologies to convert the bottom of the barrel to higher value products.

The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) will pursue a full investigation to determine the causes of the August 6

fire at the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, California. A CSB team of seven investigators arrived at the refinery several days after the fire and conducted witness interviews while reviewing documents at the site. The fire occurred when gasoil leaked from an 8-in. pipe connected to a crude oil distillation tower in the refinery’s crude unit. Workers initially noted the leak and were in the process of attempting repairs on piping connected to the still-operating crude oil distillation tower when the leak suddenly intensified. The gasoil immediately formed a large flammable vapor cloud. Important issues to resolve in the investigation include understanding why the pipe that later failed was kept in service during a late-2011 maintenance turnaround and what procedures and industry practices exist for responding to a leak of combustible material from a running unit. The CSB anticipates executing a site preservation and evidence testing agreement with Chevron and other investigative groups and arranging for independent testing of the leaking section of pipe to determine the failure mechanism. Both Chevron and the United Steelworkers, which represents hourly workers at the plant, have been cooperating with the CSB team. Chevron has provided assurances that its personnel will freely share their knowledge and investigative information with the Board. Cal/OSHA, Contra Costa County and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Kuwait’s Equate Petrochemical Co. has shut down one of its ethylene glycol units with a total capacity of

550,000 mtpy after a fire on July 31. The fire resulted from a leak in part of a manufacturing unit. Equate said the fire was contained and extinguished promptly, adding that production operations of other production units were not affected. The company anticipates that the shutdown of the damaged unit will last six weeks.

UOP has been selected by Lukoil to provide technology to produce blending components used to makehigh-octane

gasoline and petrochemicals at its facility in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Lukoil will license an integrated suite of Honeywell’s UOP technologies to produce high-quality gasoline blending components, propylene and other petrochemicals, the company said. Russia is the third largest energy consumer in the world, and demand is growing due to increasing economic activity. The suite of UOP technology will be used in a new integrated fluid catalytic cracking complex. The new units, expected to start up in 2015, will produce more than 1 million tpy of gasoline blending components and more than 170,000 tpy of propylene.

(9)

SUPERIOR SPRAY. SERIOUS RESULTS.

Using a quill or injector for water wash or chemical injection? We can help improve performance. Here's how:

UÊÊNozzle selection assistance. There are dozens of options and a wrong choice can result in wall wetting, corrosion and unscheduled downtime. Using a quill? Consider a change. A slot in a pipe doesn’t provide the same precise flow and drop size control as an injector

U Analyze process conditions to determine spray direction – co- or counter-current. Spray direction affects drop size, wall contact, evaporation rate and more – it’s essential to get it right UÊÊDesign validation using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and our proprietary drop size

data. We simulate your environment to verify spray performance, determine injector placement and ensure the materials of construction can withstand thermal stresses, heat transfer, vortex shedding and more

We are uniquely qualified to optimize injector performance: spray expertise, manufacturing capabilities for B31.1 and B31.3 code compliance and a proven track record with customers like Jacobs Engineering, Shaw Group, Bechtel, Shell, Conoco Phillips and dozens more.

Call 1-800-95-SPRAY or visit spray.com/injectors Refinery Wash Water Injector

Constructed of Inconel®_625,

this injector is 6 ft. (1.8 m) long, weighs 2600 lbs. (1179 kg) and has a class 1500 flange.

WIDE RANGE OF HYDRAULIC & GAS ATOMIZING NOZZLES

RETRACTABLE INJECTORS MINIMIZE DOWNTIME

Unmatched Global Engineering, Manufacturing & Technical Support

Nozzles | Control Systems | Headers & Injectors | Research & Testing

800.95.SPRAY

CFD MODELING SHOWS SPRAY PERFORMANCE BASED ON INJECTOR PLACEMENT

Inconel is a registered trademark of Special Metals Corp.

(10)

Insight

STEPHANY ROMANOW, EDITOR / [email protected]

Energy crisis: Time and talent wanted

Maximizing the energy potential from all hydrocarbon re-sources is the main goal for all nations. More efficient utilization of energy—natural gas, coal and crude oil—facilitates economic growth. As shown in the headlines from the last 90 years of

Hy-drocarbon Processing, progress comes in leaps and bounds, and

too often, is followed an economic crisis.

Natural gas has always been part of the energy and econom-ic equation. In the early days, this hydrocarbon was originally “stripped” to obtain the natural-gasoline components that were blended into transportation fuels. Now natural gas is a major segment of the global energy mix; its application has morphed as better methods to use this hydrocarbon developed for power generation and transportation fuels.

News about shale oil and shale gas were published back in the 1950s. However, technologies to extract and to process shale oil needed time to advance, as now witnessed in current media. The hydrocarbon processing industry has and continues to attract great talent to unravel the present-day energy problems. New solutions are investigated and researched to discover energy re-sources for tomorrow.

Headlines from Hydrocarbon

Processing, September 2002:

Proactive strategies needed to improve petrochemical prof-its. A recent analysis by SRI Consulting concludes that this

in-dustry continues to struggle from poor planning over the past five years. By early 2001, fewer new petrochemical plants were under

construction. Likewise, large, high-cost producers have shut down. The global petrochemical industry has begun the supply-side rationalization process. Strategies for long-term survival over the next 10 years by global petrochemical producers will involve: 1) Better integration and more flexibility in feedstock selection, 2) Building plants to capitalize on economy of scale 3) Investing in new technologies, 4) Rationalizing or consolidating high-cost operations and 5) Developing new products and processes.

Middle East emerging as dominant force in polypropylene production. Processing capacity of polypropylene (PP) is set

to explode over the next five years in the Middle East and Africa regions. Approximately 3 million metric tons of new PP capac-ity will be built in the Middle East alone.

NSR update. In June 2002, The US Environmental

Protec-tion Agency (EPA) announced plans to modify the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review (NSR) program. EPA recommended changes on the clarification for “routine repairs and replace-ment.” The second set of changes will focus on “emission mea-surement” policy.

Headlines from Hydrocarbon

Processing, September 1992:

Natural gas makes an impact on the HPI. Natural gas (NG)

continues to increase its role as a plant fuel, petrochemical feed-stock, competitor for distillate markets and a motor fuel. The

New column being raised at the Stanlow (Chershire) refinery. The 240-ton and 170-ft long column was constructed by Babcock & Wilcox at the Renfrew works. Construction at the refinery will be completed by January 1952. Petroleum Refiner 1951.

A 75-ton prefabricated steel column arrives by barge to be installed at the Tidewater Oil Co’s Flying A refinery near Wilmington, Delaware. The column is a gasoline splitter to be installed at the refinery’s gas plant. Petroleum Refiner 1956.

(11)

Insight

NG supply/demand and pricing trends are important to refiners and petrochemical manufacturers. In 1992, NG prices remained low—averaging $1.06 MMBtu—and failed to climb during the winter heating season. The Energy Information Agency believes that NG consumption will increase 5.5%/yr.

Hydrogen supplies a major focus for refiners. Hydrogen

supply is becoming critical as the refining industry adjusts to new environmental regulations and market-driven factors. In Europe, growing demand for methyl-tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) to sustain higher octane needs due to the lead phase-out will require more hydrogen. In the US, gasoline reformula-tion and tough diesel specificareformula-tions will require refiners to also consume more hydrogen. Growing demand for better quality gasoline is placing more pressure on available hydrogen sup-plies. Approximately 3.6 Tcf of hydrogen is consumed in the US, with the refining industry responsible for half of the hydro-gen consumption. With the upcoming changes in the gasoline blending pool, the US refining market will need an additional 1.4 Tcf of hydrogen to meet new clean fuel requirements.

Methanol demand to grow rapidly through 1996.

Metha-nol (MeOH) is forecast to be one of the fastest growing pet-rochemicals over the next five years. Increased blending of MTBE in gasoline has radically changed MeOH demand pat-terns. Oxygenate (MTBE) production will account for 60% of the MeOH consumption in the US market. A recent rebound in the formaldehyde market is also increasing MeOH demand.

Headlines from Hydrocarbon

Processing, September 1982:

Third oil crisis is likely before 1990. Energy champion and

economist, Dr. Daniel Yergin has released a new book based on a four-year international research project at Harvard enti-tled: Global in security, a strategy for energy. Dr. Yergin believes a third oil crisis is likely before 1990, and oil prices will double by 2000. (Oil prices averaged between $27.66/bbl to $33.56/ bbl in July 1982.) These trends are based on rising demand for petroleum and economic recovery.

US refining capacity increasing. According to the American

Petroleum Institute (API), US crude oil distillation capacity is forecast to increase to 17.7 million bpd (MMbpd) by March 1983; it is a 227,000 bbl increase over reported 1981 distilla-tion capacity. The API survey also indicated that 2.3 MMbpd of the US capacity was shut down in March 1982—about 12.5% of the US distillation capacity. The increase reflects new refineries and expansion projects under construction and ex-pected to be complete by year end.

Acid rain: A growing controversy. Efforts continue to define

“acid rain.” The new debate focuses on EPA’s efforts to roll back sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. It is estimated that the new environmental rules will cost billions to implement. In addition, the US Congress is reauthorizing the Clean Water Act (CWA) to meet second stage treatment requirements by 1984. Questions still exist on best available technology (BAT) for water treatment. Over 90% of the US chemical industry met the CWA of 1977 rules. Nearly all major industries have reduced discharges of conventional pollutants into navigable waters to practical minimums.

European petrochemical industry looks for upturn.

Eu-rope’s petrochemical industry should improve compared to 1981 growth numbers. Yet, many structural problems continue for this industry. Lack of integration continues to plague the European market, especially in taxation, safety standards, and environment and health protection. European petrochemical producers are at a disadvantage when compared to US and Japanese producers. Europe’s present economic systems do not support investment. In addition, studies show that bulk-chemical production now exceeds local demand. For example, Europe’s plastic industry suffers from 40% over-capacity pro-duction. National expansions have collectively overshot re-gional demand. The European chemical industry needs struc-tural reorganization to eliminate overcapacity and investment to further develop high-value specialty products.

To see more headlines from 1972 to

1923, visit HydrocarbonProcessing.com.

Side view of the new superheaters constructed at the Neches Butane Products’ Port Neches, Texas facility. Petroleum Refiner 1958. The North Rincon Gasoline plant raises a 97-ft absorption oil still

column. The facility has a design capacity of 35 Mcfd. The new facility is part of the Shell Oil Co. and Cities Services Oil Co. project.

(12)

YOU CAN DO THAT

Eliminate uncertainty, reduce your risk with DeltaV SIS.

Emerson’s smart safety instrumented system provides an integrated, intuitive set of engineering tools and software that enables your team to handle configuration, alarms and device health monitoring–while maintaining the systems separation required by IEC 61511 and 61508 standards. The DeltaV SIS system reduces your training and lifecycle costs by eliminating complex data-mapping and multiple databases while helping to ensure that you’re meeting safety compliance. Learn more about safety processes and best practices by downloading the Safety Lifecycle Workbook at: www.DeltaVSIS.com/workbook

Our safety experts talk safety.

Our operators talk control. But when it

comes to keeping our people and plant safe,

we all need to speak the same language.

(13)

For more information, visit www.uop.com/uniﬂex.

refinement redefined

clean fuel, turning “bottom of the barrel” into “top of the line.”

of other residue-upgrading technologies, turning the “bottom of the barrel” into more

proven technology that processes low-quality residue streams like vacuum residue into

(14)

Impact

BILLY THINNES, TECHNICAL EDITOR / [email protected]

Taking a glance at

mergers and acquisitions

Energy price fluctuations present both near-term challenges and interesting op-portunities for the oil and gas mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market. As De-loitte Consulting points out in a recently released report, current depressed North American natural gas prices (prices far be-low the market rates in other continents) will likely continue to attract both do-mestic and international supermajors that have money to spend on natural gas assets at low prices. Deloitte believes the long-term outlook for US natural gas holds promise, as gas gradually gains domestic market share, and as prospects for LNG exports from the US improve.

The consulting company sees buying interest and E&P activity in liquids-rich shale plays continuing, as well as mid-stream consolidation and infrastructure investment, as that segment restructures and invests to serve the rapidly changing North American energy landscape. Ac-cording to Deloitte, a resurgent North American energy market and the invest-ment needs that accompany that resur-gence should set the stage for sustained M&A activity over the longer term. Downstream M&A. Only nine refining and marketing (R&M) deals took place during the first half of 2012, compared to 12 transactions in the first half of 2011 and 13 during the second half of 2011 (Fig. 1). However, the total value of transactions

picked up during this year’s first half to $10.6 billion, up 36%, when compared to $7.8 billion in the first half of 2011, and several orders of magnitude larger than the $2.6 billion during the second half of 2011.

“We actually saw a good increase in deal value year over year in this segment,” said Roger Ihne, a principal at Deloitte Consulting. “This was primarily driven by two large deals that took place outside the US: one in Asia and one in Europe.”

One refinery acquisition during this period was notable not for its size but for the industry affiliation of the buyer. A ma-jor international airline announced in the second quarter of 2012 that it would buy a Trainer, Pennsylvania, refinery for $180 million. The company intends to upgrade the refinery’s capabilities so that it can produce a much higher proportion of jet fuel, giving the airline a source of fuel in a region of the US that has very little jet fuel production, as well as exchanges to allow jet fuel to be supplied throughout other geographic areas.

“This is certainly a unique situation that has everyone intrigued both within and outside the industry,” said Mr. Ihne. From integrated to independent. Ownership within the R&M segment of the energy industry has been transformed over the past decade as large integrated companies have “high-graded” their portfolios, selling or spinning off their downstream assets to focus on higher-per-forming upstream operations. Now, over two-thirds of US R&M operations are in

the hands of independent rather than in-tegrated companies. Many of these inde-pendent operators have benefited over the past two years from rising profits in the US due to advantage-priced crude supplies from Canada and the developing tight oil plays in America, but long-term prospects are more uncertain.

“Gasoline demand in the US is down 5% compared to last year,” said Mr. Ihne. “Long-term demand for refined products in the US is still uncertain due to stricter corporate average fuel economy and re-newable fuel standards, as well as future competition from natural gas-based trans-portation fuels.”

However, reduced domestic consump-tion of gasoline and distillate fuels has largely been offset by exports of refined products from US Gulf Coast refiners to Mexico, South America and Northern Eu-rope. Fig. 2 provides an overview of the net exports of US petroleum products from January 2010 to May 2012.

“Without export demand, US refin-ers would likely be challenged to operate near the 85%-plus capacity they reached this year, and could instead be facing in-creased rationalization of exiting capac-ity,” said Mr. Ihne.

The cloudy regulatory and competitive landscape creates an uncertain environ-ment for many of the newly independent players in this segment.

“Refiners now have varying degrees of balance sheet strength,” said Trevear Thomas, another Deloitte Consulting ana-lyst. “The question is whether that is

sus-Total deal count Corporate value Asset value 01 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2Q12 1Q12 4Q11 3Q11 2Q11 1Q11

Asset and corporate value, $ billions

Total deal count

FIG. 1. Refining and marketing M&A deals by value and count.

–,500 –500 –1,000 1,000 500 0 1,500

Mar-11 May-11 Jul-11 Sept-11 Nov-11 Jan-12 Mar-12 May-12

Jan-11 Nov-10 Sept-10 Jul-10 May-10 Mar-10 Jan-10 Exports, thousand bpd

(15)

Impact

14

tainable long-term, or whether that situa-tion will lead to consolidasitua-tion.”

A crucial issue for refiners located along the Gulf Coast is whether the Key-stone pipeline project will be allowed to move forward. Many of the refineries in this region are designed to process heavy, high-sulfur crude oil.

“Refining assets in the Gulf are some of the most sophisticated in the world,” said Mr. Ihne. “They can process heavy crude

from Canada and the new tight oil supplied from various US plays, but unless refiners gain access to that oil, we will have assets in the US that have a comparative economic advantage to the rest of the world—but, nonetheless will have to rely on higher cost imported crude from elsewhere.”

Compliance in emerging

risk areas

Ernst & Young recently held a seminar

on risk compliance for today’s global oil and gas companies. One session in particu-lar during the seminar focused on emerg-ing risk areas in the energy market, which include antitrust, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and financial state-ment fraud. To avoid such potentially dam-aging missteps, many energy companies are upping their investment in compliance. The addition of chief compliance officers and the hiring of compliance profession-als to work in key business regions enable companies to better implement formalized risk assessments and audits on a regular basis. Communication between the com-pliance, internal audit and legal functions occurs on a daily basis, and many compa-nies have a structure process to identify, rank and mitigate emerging risks.

Regardless of size and scope, however, all compliance programs need the support of senior managers and the board of direc-tors, session panelists said.

“Compliance must be taken seriously, and senior management must set the proper expectations,” said Jeff Johnston, a partner at Vinson and Elkins. “Companies must be willing to walk away from busi-ness if there is something unethical about the project. You cannot send employees into high-risk countries without signifi-cant amounts of training and a structured plan for how they are to operate.”

“The tone at the top is the most impor-tant element,” said John Freeman, general counsel for Technip USA. “There has to be more than a formal code of conduct; senior management must talk about com-pliance in a way that shows commitment to following the law.”

In recent years, the FCPA has become a focal point for international energy com-panies. Most companies have some level of compliance program in place to train employees on the FCPA as well as audit-ing behavior in the field.

Yet antitrust issues continue to grow in importance as the energy industry relies more heavily on joint ventures and part-nerships that require sharing of informa-tion and cooperainforma-tion among competitors. “The government certainly has not re-duced its antitrust efforts,” Mr. Johnston said. “Last year there were a record num-ber of antitrust cases and a record numnum-ber of fines. Regulators are very focused on the energy industry. They are on the look-out for collusion, and they aren’t afraid to move in if they suspect anything.”

(16)

After 50 years of operation, the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands is now, and also for the coming de-cades, able to continue supplying its clients. The facili-ties have been fully modernized. One key success factor was the long-term relationship of the operating com-pany NAM and its contractors. Siemens has updated the

www.siemens.com/oilandgas

Solutions for the oil and gas industry

compression and variable-speed drive technologies to ensure the adaptation of the gas supply to fluctuating demand, to slash maintenance requirements, and to maximize environmental performance. Highest availabil-ity and low power consumption of all units are the best basis for an eco-friendly and successful operation.

Nothing can stop

a real performer.

Eco-friendly compressor technology boosts production

E50001-E440-F140-V1-4A00

3569_Groningen_205x275_eng.indd 1 19.06.12 09:35

(17)

Impact

16

Antitrust issues can also arise during the acquisition process. “We are very concerned about “gun-jumping,”” Mr. Freeman said. “There are still a lot of people who don’t understand that you can’t act as one company prior to the closure of an acquisition. While you can do integration planning, you can’t share competitive information.”

To increase awareness of antitrust reg-ulations, companies should implement

mandatory training for all employees who have any contact with competitors/part-ners. Because many antitrust violations occur informally, follow-up monitoring and auditing are difficult and the bulk of a company’s efforts must be up front.

“Most violations of this nature don’t have a paper trail,” Mr. Freeman said. “They happen when people are talking to one another at dinner or after a meeting, and information is shared inadvertently.”

Future bright

for molybdenum

Roskill recently released a market out-look on molybdenum. The company ex-pects that molybdenum growth rates will exceed global GDP rates to 2016.

Global demand for molybdenum bounced back from the impact of the global economic downturn, growing by just over 11% in 2010 and a further 9% in 2011, according to the report. China now accounts for around 31% of global mo-lybdenum demand and its growth rates continue to outpace those in other coun-tries. While global demand for molybde-num is forecast to grow at an average of 4.6% per year to 2016, Chinese demand is forecast to increase by 7.5% per year. The principal engines of growth will be increased use of stainless and other steels containing molybdenum in process, power and desalination plants, in oil and gas production and distribution and in motor vehicle components. The greater use of molybdenum steels and high per-formance alloys and catalysts, combined with robust growth in the economies of the BRIC countries and other countries in Asia and South America, will ensure growing future demand for molybdenum. Mine capacity sufficient to meet demand until 2015. Primary molybde-num mines were the first to respond to the recovery in demand in 2010, but, in 2011, growth in output of byproduct molybde-num from copper mines outpaced growth from primary mines. In 2012, mine ca-pacity is sufficient to meet demand and supply is likely to show a surplus over the next three years. Roskill lists some 60 new projects and expansions that could poten-tially produce molybdenum, yielding an additional 240 ktpy, indicating that long-term mine supply is assured. Around 33% of new projects identified in 2012 are lo-cated in North America, 28% in Central and South America and 10% in China. In the next two years, byproduct output is likely to grow at a higher rate, but, from 2014 on, new Chinese molybdenum-only projects will redress the balance. In the past, insufficient roasting capacity has re-sulted in a bottleneck, but additional ca-pacity has been installed and further ad-ditions are under construction in Chile, China and the US by Codelco, Molymet, China Molybdenum and JDC.

WorleyParsons is a leader in designing solutions to meet clean fuels regulations that now face reﬁners around the world, including government mandates on sulphur, aromatic, and oxygen content of fuels. We have extensive experience with the two major types of clean fuels projects: reformulated gasoline and ultra low sulphur diesel (ULSD), and our reﬁnery services are backed by over 60 years of global experience in grass roots, revamp, and expansion projects.

www.worleyparsons.com

To meet the requirements of today’s dynamic and competitive business environment, we supply innovative, cost-effective, and safe solutions for our customers.

Clean Fuels

reﬁ[email protected]

(18)

The world’s largest hydrogen

pipeline network delivers...

The world’s most reliable

hydrogen supply.

It’s the kind of massive project only a global leader would undertake. Anticipating that hydrogen needs along the Gulf Coast of North America will increase in the years ahead, Air Products expanded its hydrogen supply network. By building a 180-mile (290-km)-long pipeline that connects our existing Texas and Louisiana systems, we’ve united 22 hydrogen plants and 600 miles (965 km) of pipeline, with a total system capacity of over one billion SCFD (1.3 million Nm3_{/hr). So if an event disrupts operations on one side of}

the Gulf, hydrogen can keep ﬂowing from the other, giving our reﬁnery and petrochemical customers the reliable, uninterrupted supply they need. With this record-breaking network, Air Products continues to break new ground in hydrogen supply. For videos and detailed information, visit our website.

tell me more

airproducts.com/H2pipeline

(19)

Are you looking to step up plant performance?

Topsøe’s next generation BRIM™ catalysts offer refiners the opportunity to increase

performance through an increase in catalyst activity.

Using the original BRIM™ technology Topsøe has developed several new catalysts, resulting

in higher activity at lower ﬁlling densities.

The next generation BRIM™ catalysts display

-

high dispersion

-

high porosity

-

high activity

We look forward to stepping up your performance!

W W W. T O P S O E . C O M

Stepping up performance

– next generation BRIM™

technology

(20)

Construction

HELEN MECHE, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

[email protected]

North America

CB&I has a contract from Enter-prise Products Partners L.P. for the

li-cense and basic engineering of a propane dehydrogenation unit on the Texas Gulf Coast. The unit will use the CATOFIN propane dehydrogenation process from

Lummus Technology that uses Süd-Chemie’s latest CATOFIN catalyst to

produce 1.65 billion lb/yr (approxi-mately 750,000 metric tpy) of polymer-grade propylene.

The Carlyle Group L.P. and Sunoco,

Inc., have agreed to form Philadelphia Energy Solutions, a joint venture ( JV)

that will enable the historic Philadelphia refinery to continue operating. The re-finery, reportedly the oldest continu-ously operating one on the East Coast, processes 330,000 bpd of oil into various refined products and was scheduled for shutdown in August 2012.

Under agreement terms, Sunoco will contribute its Philadelphia refinery as-sets to the JV in exchange for a non-operating minority interest. The Carlyle Group’s investment will flow directly to the refinery’s balance sheet to fund fu-ture capital projects, facility upgrades and enhance the refinery’s working capi-tal. Carlyle will hold the majority inter-est, and oversee day-to-day operations of the JV and the refinery.

Philadelphia Energy Solutions, with economic support from The

Common-wealth of Pennsylvania, will invest in

several capital intensive projects that are critical to the long-term economic viabil-ity of the facilviabil-ity. Planned improvements will help the environment through re-duced waste and emissions, and will also reduce reliance on foreign oil supplies.

Projects include upgrade of the refin-ery’s catalytic cracker and the building of a mild hydrocracker and hydrogen plant, as well as the construction of a high-speed train unloading facility at the refinery. The JV is also exploring other significant capital projects, including the

creation of new businesses based on the availability and abundant levels of natural gas from the Marcellus shale.

KBR will provide front-end

engineer-ing, detailed engineering and procure-ment services to DuPont’s Industrial

Biosciences Group for what is said to be

a first-of-a-kind plant to be constructed in the Midwest US. The facility—which will reportedly be DuPont’s first cellu-losic ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa— will process 1,300 tpd of corn stover and produce 27.5 million gpy of ethanol.

Used as a blending component in gas-oline, the ethanol produced will enable fuel manufacturers to meet the US Envi-ronmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) mandated requirements for ethanol de-rived from cellulosic sources.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for the second half of 2012, with a 12-month to 18-month construction period.

Braskem has selected Jacobs Engi-neering Group Inc. to provide

profes-sional technical services for portions of the Marcus Hook refinery near Phila-delphia, Pennsylvania. The 781-acre refinery’s propylene splitter assets were acquired by Braskem in late June 2012.

Jacobs’ initial scope of work includes retrofitting the new acquisitions so Braskem can more efficiently process propylene for use in its adjacent polypro-pylene plant. Jacobs’ operations in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, and Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, are expected to execute the work.

South America

Honeywell has been selected to

up-grade the safety and control system at

Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname’s

re-finery to Honeywell’s Integrated Control and Safety System (ICSS) solution. The upgrade, which is being designed and implemented within the context of the Suriname Refinery Expansion Project, will double the refinery’s capacity and expand its range of products and fuels.

The project is being managed by Saipem as the main contractor responsible for en-gineering, procurement, module prefab-rication and construction management.

Developed on the strengths of Hon-eywell’s Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS) architecture, ICSS offers simplified operations, integrated process control and safety controllers. The solu-tion will equip Staatsolie with best-in-class compliance, reliability and safety for its refinery production units.

The upgrade includes the expansion of Honeywell’s Alarm Management Sys-tem, Operational Insight Software and OPC Desktop Historian solutions cur-rently installed at the site.

CH-IV International’s president,

Jef-frey P. Beale, has congratulated

EcoEléc-trica L.P. for the safe construction,

commissioning and commencement of service of an expansion to its existing liq-uefied natural gas (LNG) terminal locat-ed in Peñuelas, Puerto Rico. The termi-nal expansion doubles the EcoEléctrica facility’s regasification capacity, allowing it to send natural gas to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority for use in its ex-isting power-generating facilities.

CH-IV International provided owner engineering services to EcoEléctrica. This included preparing the front-end

TREND ANALYSIS FORECASTING

Hydrocarbon Processing maintains an extensive

database of historical HPI project information. The Construction Boxscore Database is a 45-year compilation of projects by type, operating company, licensor, engineering/constructor, location, etc. Many companies use the historical data for trending or sales forecasting. The historical information is available in comma-delimited or Excel®_{and can be custom sorted}

to suit your needs. The cost depends on the size and complexity of the sort requested. You can focus on a narrow request, such as the history of a particular type of project, or you can obtain the entire 45-year Boxscore database or portions thereof. Simply send a clear description of the data needed and receive a prompt cost quotation. Contact Lee Nichols at 713-525-4626 or [email protected]

(21)

Construction

engineering and design (FEED) used to permit the expansion project; regulatory support during the project’s permitting and construction; negotiation of an engi-neering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract; and oversight during the project’s construction, commission-ing and startup.

A subsidiary of Foster Wheeler AG’s Global Engineering and Construction Group has a contract to provide engi-neering, procurement services and con-struction management (EPCm) for

PD-VSA Petróleo S.A.’s El Palito refinery

expansion project in Venezuela. Foster Wheeler will execute the project in con-sortium with Toyo Engineering Corp. and Y & V Ingeniería y Construcción.

Foster Wheeler and its consortium partners have previously completed the project’s front-end engineering and de-sign (FEED).

The expansion will include a 140,000-bpsd crude/vacuum distillation unit, a 24,500-bpsd naphtha hydrotreating/ continuous catalytic-reformer complex, a 58,000-bpsd vacuum gasoil hydrotreater, a 45,000-bpsd diesel hydrotreater, an 80-mil-lion-scfd hydrogen-production unit, a 250-tpd sulfur-recovery/tail-gas treatment unit, a new flare system, amine regeneration and sour-water stripper facilities, along with relevant utilities, interconnecting units and offsites. These include marine facilities and a new product storage tank farm.

The expansion is intended to double the refinery’s capacity to 280,000 bpsd, processing heavy and extra-heavy crudes from the Orinoco Belt, and increasing production of clean fuels. The project is expected to be completed during 2016.

Europe

INEOS Technologies has licensed its

Innovene G, Innovene S and Innovene

PP processes to ZAO Vostochnaya

Neft-echemicheskaya Co. (ZAO VNHK),

a subsidiary of OJSC NK Rosneft, for VNHK’s new petrochemical complex in Nakhodka, Russian Federation. All VN-HK’s units will incorporate INEOS’ latest polymer technology advances and will ensure a competitive advantage for pet-rochemical complex customers in both domestic and global markets. Engineer-ing work is now underway.

Royal Vopak, Greenergy and Shell UK Ltd. have reached an agreement with

the joint administrators of Petroplus

Re-fining & Marketing Ltd., to purchase

as-sets of the former Coryton refinery, UK. The three companies plan to develop and invest in a state-of-the-art import and distribution terminal to be managed by Vopak. The initial storage capacity will

be around 500,000 m3_{, with potential to}

expand up to 1 million m3_{in later stages.}

The Valero Port Arthur Refinery was commissioned in 1901 and has had many process additions and im-provements throughout its history (see pg. 38). In 2001, nearly $850 mil-lion was invested in a delayed coker and hydrocracker to enable the plant to run heavy, sour crude as shown

on the September 2012 cover of HP. Other investments include the recent expansion of the coker to 95,000 bpd from 85,000 bpd. The most recent expansion of the crude and vacuum units has increased the refinery’s abil-ity to process lower-cost, heavy sour crude oil and increased throughput capacity to 310,000 bpd. The refinery is strategically located on the Texas Gulf Coast, approximately 90 miles east of Houston. The refinery’s loca-tion accommodates its extensive lo-gistics system, which includes access to Gulf Coast water-borne crude oil via the refinery docks or through the Nederland, Texas, terminals of Sun or Oil Tanking. The milestones of this refinery are:

• Commissioned in 1901, with many upgrades since then

• One of four refineries acquired in the purchase of Premcor in 2005

• Total throughput capacity of 310,000 bpd

• Has ability to process 100% sour crude oil, of which up to 80% can be heavy sour crude oil

• Production includes

convention-al, premium and reformulated gasoline before oxygenate blending, as well as diesel, jet fuel, petrochemicals, petro-leum coke and sulfur

• Strategically located on 4,000 acres on the Port Arthur Ship Channel

• Crude oil received from the Vale-ro dock or by pipeline

• The Port Neches dock’s crude oil receipts transferred by the Valero-owned Lucas pump station, located about 13 miles from the refinery

• Refinery production distributed into the Colonial Pipeline, Explorer Pipeline and Teppco Pipeline or across the refinery docks into ships or barges

• Employs approximately 820 indi-viduals.

Awards and honors. This refinery is one of only two Texas refineries Envi-ronmental Management System certi-fied. It is TCEQ Clean Texas Program Bronze member and has received EPA National Partnership for Environmen-tal Priorities, 2008 Pollution Preven-tion Achievement Award. This refin-ery has attained more than 1 million hours without a lost-time injury.

(22)

Construction

21 Vopak, Greenergy and Shell will be

equal shareholders of the new joint ven-ture ( JV), which will acquire and de-velop the assets and the site. After reach-ing final agreement on the future design and operational capabilities, Vopak, on behalf of the JV, will execute the new facility’s development and will operate the terminal when the works have been completed. Greenergy and Shell will sign long-term contracts with the JV.

The conversion will involve opera-tional, technical, safety and environ-mental enhancements to the refinery’s current infrastructure, including modern blending technology.

Linde Engineering, a division of the Linde Group, is set to build a new

Al-pha-SABLIN plant for producing linear alpha olefins (LAOs) in Nizhnekamsk, Russian Federation, which, upon com-pletion, will be operated by OAO

Nizh-nekamskneftekhim (NKNH). NKNH

awarded Linde Engineering contracts for license, basic/detail engineering, and supply of equipment and materials for revamping NKNH’s existing LAO plant.

The plant is expected to come on-stream by mid-2014, supplying NKNH with 37.5-kiloton/yr of LAO, with

maxi-mized production of C₄ and C₆ fractions.

The revamp project will partially make use of the existing equipment of NKNH’s former LAO plant with implementation of Alpha-SABLIN technology.

Alpha-SABLIN is a superior and flex-ible full-range process for producing LAO by selective catalytic oligomerization of polymer-grade ethylene, jointly developed and owned by Linde Engineering and

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC). BASF plans to expand its

vinylfor-mamide (VFA) plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany. In addition, the company in-tends to increase the polymerization ca-pacity in Ludwigshafen, and build a new polymerization line for VFA in China, to further process the feedstock from Lud-wigshafen. This facility will be built at the Zhenjiang site, Jiangsu Province.

The total investment is in the three-digit million euro range and will create about 40 new jobs worldwide. Produc-tion is scheduled by the end of 2014.

Zeeland Refinery N.V., a joint

ven-ture of TOTAL and LUKOIL, has

select-ed Burckhardt Compression to deliver one process gas compressor API 618 for the refinery expansion in Nieuwdorp, The Netherlands. The compressor will be used within the diesel-hydrotreating process as a hydrogen makeup gas com-pressor. The compressor is scheduled to be delivered in mid-2013.

LyondellBasell’s Spheripol process

technology has been selected by

ZapSib-Neftekhim L.L.C, a fully owned

subsid-iary of SIBUR, for a new 500-kiloton/yr single-line polypropylene (PP) plant to be built in Tobolsk, Russian Federation. Startup is projected after 2017.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has

a design and fabrication contract from

INEOS Enterprises Ltd. for two gas-gas

heat exchangers to be installed in a sulfu-ric-acid plant at Runcorn, Cheshire, UK.

We Process Your Energy

_e

_s

_Y

_o

_u

_r

_E

_n

_e

_r

_rr

_r

W

e

ee

e

ee

e

P

PP

P

r

o

c

cc

c

e

_g

gy

_g

_y

Because Oil & Gas projects require highly reliable and cost effective solutions we timely deliver since over 35 years fully guaranteed modular process-equipment packages tailored to meet speciﬁc customer’s requirements; for all kind of Oil & Gas processing applications.

Because each project is unique and highest quality design is paramount to success we offer a unique portfolio of proprietary gas treatment technologies licensed by Prosernat. Backed by our strong investment and partnerships in R&D, with IFP Energies nouvelles and Total, we are proud to bring to the market the most advanced technologies in the following areas: Natural Gas Sweetening, Natural Gas Dehydration, Sulfur Recovery, Hydrocarbon Dewpointing, Separation and CO2 Capture from Flue Gases.

TECHNOLOGIES AND EQUIPMENT FOR OIL & GAS TREATMENT YOUR EFFICIENCY, OUR FLEXIBILTY

y

g

y

POLINTER / Venezuela, Maracaïbo, Modular units for production of butene-1

(23)

Construction

22

INEOS Enterprises selected Jacobs’ proprietary Chemetics radial-flow gas-gas heat-exchanger design over other available designs on the basis that it pro-vides the most appropriate design and technical solution for INEOS Enterpris-es’ plant. The equipment is expected to be fabricated at Jacobs’ facility in Picker-ing, Ontario, Canada.

BASF plans to build a

butadiene-extraction plant at its Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium. The plant will have a production capacity of 155,000 metric tpy and is scheduled to start up during 2014. The investment amount will be in the high double-digit million euro range.

Energy Bio-Chemicals has selected

the technology of UOP Ltd., a Honeywell company, to boost yields at Romania’s larg-est synthetic-rubber production facility. The Romanian company will use Honey-well’s UOP KLP process to purify butadi-ene, a monomer used to produce synthetic rubber, at its CAROM Onesti styrene-bu-tadiene-rubber facility. The project is part

of the company’s modernization invest-ment program to upgrade its butadiene installation and increase production.

The KLP process increases the yield of butadiene, while also eliminating acety-lene, a difficult-to-handle and unwanted byproduct, from the process. UOP will also provide a proprietary caustic Merox unit to

remove sulfur from the crude C₄feedstock.

The contract includes licensing, engineer-ing, technical support and catalysts.

Africa

Shell Petroleum Development Co.

has awarded Saipem with an engineer-ing, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Otumara-Sa-ghara-Escravos Pipeline Project, which will be developed approximately 65 km northwest of Warri, Nigeria.

The contract encompasses the engi-neering, procurement, fabrication and commissioning of a network of pipelines, ranging in diameter from 12 in. to 4 in., for a total length of 40 km, in a swamp area, to connect the client’s flowstations in the Otumara, Saghara and Escravos fields.

The project, scheduled to be com-pleted in 18 months, is strategic for Shell to comply with Nigerian environmental regulation, which targets zero flaring in the country.

Fluor Corp. has started work on a

new project for Sasol Technology Pty.

Ltd.’s Tar Separator Project in South

Africa. The new contract is for engi-neering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) services for the replacement of 24 duplex stainless-steel separator tanks.

The gas-liquor separation units sepa-rate various gaseous, liquid and solid components from the gas-liquor streams that originate in the gasification, gas cool-ing, Rectisol and phenosolvan units. En-gineering is underway, with construction to begin in the fourth quarter of 2012. The 24 separation units weigh between 80 tons and 100 tons each.

Construction will begin using shifts working 24 hours per day, seven days per week to shorten the construction schedule, and to enable ongoing production while the project is underway. Construction is expected to be complete by mid-2015.

Middle East

Saipem has signed a lump-sum

en-gineering, procurement and construc-tion (EPC) contract with Saudi

Ar-amco and Sumitomo Chemical for the

naphtha and aromatics package of the PETRORabigh II Project, expanding the integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia.

The scope of work includes the EPC of two processing units: a naphtha re-former unit and an aromatics complex. The project will be completed by the fourth quarter of 2015.

Once the expansion is complete, the

PETRORabigh complex, whose original

production was more than 20 million tpy of petroleum and petrochemical products, will process an additional 30 million scfd of ethane and 3 million tpy of naphtha.

Samsung Engineering has an award

from Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Co. (TAKREER) to provide a carbon-black unit and a delayed-coker unit. At a value of $2.48 billion, it is the eighth order re-ceived in five years from ADNOC, the national oil company of UAE and the par-ent company of TAKREER.

Advanced Integrated Solutions for the Process

Industry:

ƒ FTIS™ (Furnace Tube Inspection System)

furnace heater coil inspection for the

convection and radiant sections

ƒHYDRA™ process piping inspection

ƒ LOTIS

®

_{and MANTIS™ steam reformer tube}

inspection

ƒLifeQuest™ remaining life assessment

ƒStorage tank engineering assessment

www.QuestIntegrity.com/hp

[email protected] +1 888 893-7030

A TEAM Industrial Services Company