Pump Industry Analyst
owned 60 per cent by ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) and 40 per cent by Borealis, which is the largest producer of polyolefin plastics in Europe and the fifth largest worldwide.
THAILAND’S HOPES DASHED Thailand’s ambitions to develop a strong presence in the petrochemical field have been hit by the cancellation of three plans to build ethylene plants in the coming decade. The National Petrochemical Corporation, the Thai Petrochemical Industry and a group controlled by the Bangkok Bank have all had to abandon their plans because of the current weakness of the Thai economy.
ETHYLENE EXPANSION FOR CHEVRON Brown & Root has been awarded a US$93 million contract to provide construction services for an expansion at Chevron’s ethylene plant at Port Arthur, Texas, USA. The expansion will increase the facility’s ethylene capacity from 1.1 billion lb/year to 1.7 billion lb/year. The project is scheduled for completion at the end of 1997.
KAZAKSTAN OIL PRODUCTION CAPACITY TO GROW Tengizchevroil, a joint venture between Chevron and Kazakstan, has announced the award of a US$250 million contract to BechtelEnka to increase production capacity at the Tengiz Field.
July 1997
This is the third major expansion of the field since the joint venture was formed in 1993. Tengiz currently produces about 160 000 b/d which is already planned to increase to 187 000 b/d. The new contract will increase capacity to about 240 000 b/d by the end of 1999, with the construction of a new oil and gas processing plant. The long-term goal is to reach a peak capacity of 700 000 b/d by 2010. The Tengiz processing complex separates crude oil from natural gas and removes hydrogen sulphide, which is converted to sulphur. Oil is shipped to global markets via pipeline, barge and rail. The latest contract is for a fifth processing plant which will include an oil and gas separation unit, an acid gas removal unit, a gas sweetening unit, as well as a power generation and distribution system.
CHINA TO PUT HOLD ON REFINING CAPACITY China will not build any new major oil refineries before the year 2000, according to the China News Service. Instead, the focus will be on technical renovation of existing installations to cope with the large quantities of sulphurbearing petroleum imported from the Middle East. China currently has 116 refineries with a total capacity of 207 million tpa. When current construction projects are completed this capacity will be 290 million tpa, which is anticipated to be sufficient for the country’s needs in the year 2000. Analysts predict that China will increasingly rely on imported oil, particularly from the Middle East, in the future and will need to adapt existing installations to accommodate the higher sulphur content.
HIBERNIA PLATFORM TOUCHES DOWN The Hibemia platform has been successfully towed to its position nearly 200 miles off the coast of St John’s, Newfoundland. The gravity based structure will now be grouted to the sea bed, before 400 000 tons of iron ore are added as ballast. The Hibemia field contains approximately 3 billion barrels of oil, of which 615 million are expected to be recoverable. Production is expected to peak at 135 000 b/d in the year 2000.
SUBSEA WELL DEPTH RECORD SET FMC Wellhead Equipment Division and Shell Deepwater Development have successfully installed a subsea tree at a world record water depth of 5300 feet as part of the Mensa project in the Gulf of Mexico. This extends the deepwater frontier almost 2000 ft past the previous depth limit. FMC is supplying three fully integrated subsea trees and a 250ton cluster well manifold. All the equipment has been specially designed to withstand the extreme pressures encountered at such an ocean depth.
CHINA NEWSPRINT VOLUME TO GROW Technical renovation of China’s major paper producers during the ninth Five Year Plan will significantly increase the volume of newsprint, according to the China National Light Industry Council.
In the next five years, obsolete machinery capable of producing only 150 000 to 200 000 tpa will be phased out. New equipment will increase the capacity to 600 000 tpa. It is estimated that by 2000, China’s annual demand for newsprint will be between 1.1 and 1.3 million tons.
BOILER FOR CZECH PAPER MILL Foster Wheeler has been awarded a US$30 million contract to supply a 176 MWth circulating fluidisedbed boiler (CFB) for the Sepap as Steti pulp and paper mill in the Czech Republic. The existing pulverised coalfired boiler will be converted to a CFB, in order to reduce theNOx and SO2 emissions of the power plant, which produces electricity, process steam and heat for the mill. After conversion, the CFB will also be able to burn biofuels such as bark and sludge, both of which are currently generated in the Sepap Steti mill. The project will be completed by Foster Wheeler Energia Oy, Finland, in November 1998.
FRENCH NEWSPRINT FACILITY GETS GO-AHEAD Norwegian forestry group Norske Skog ASA has been given approval by local authorities for a new newsprint plant at Golbey, France. The new unit is part of a NKr2.8 billion investment at the Golbey site. The project will be completed in time for the plant to go on stream in the first quarter of 1999.