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Praxair adds to Texas gasification plant
June 1999
Filtration Industry Analyst
HYUNDAI CHOOSES CONOCO INDONESIA Conoco Indonesia is to construct and install gas production facilities in Block B, offshore West Natuna Sea for a two-company consortium that includes Hyundai Heavy Industries of Korea. The contract, part of the West Natuna Project that will deliver Indonesian natural gas to Singapore, was awarded following approval by Pertamina, the state oil company of Indonesia. Valued at approximately US$130 million, the contract includes engineering, procurement, onshore fabrication and offshore installation of a moveable gas production unit (MOgPU) in the West Natuna Sea, as well as modifications to the existing platforms in the Belida Field.
ESSO EXPANDS IN CHINA Exxon Corporation’s China affiliate, Esso (Zhejiang) Company Limited, has officially opened its 250 000 barrels per year lube oil blending plant. The US$25 million plant, strategically located at Ningbo Economic Development Zone, Yanggongshan, will produce lubricants to serve the large demand centres in central and southern China.
MOBIL EXTENDS NORTH SEA ACTIVITIES The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has offered Mobil Exploration Norway Inc four exploration licenses in the annual North Sea licensing round. MEN1 president and managing director Maury Devine
said they were very pleased with the licenses offered to Mobil. “This acreage adds to ,our strong position in the Northern North Sea area, where we have interests in ,existing infrastructure, such as Ithe Statfjord and Oseberg fields, as well as in future infrastructure like the Fram field.”
HYDRO BIDS FOR SAGA PETROLEUM Norsk Hydro, the Norwegian energy group, has made an offer for Saga Petroleum. The goal is to integrate the two companies’ oil and gas operations. Hydro claims that the deal will produce annual cost reductions of approximately US$I 30 million. An integrated Hydro and Saga would have had a combined oil and gas production of 450 000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 1998. Saga and Hydro already have a number of joint ownership interests in fields on continental the Norwegian shelf.
DOW’S STADE SITE EXPANDS FURTHER The Dow Chemical Company has successfully started up a second train for the production of CALIBRE polycarhonate resins at the company’s Stade, Germany site. The Stade facility now has the capability to produce 105 000 metric tons of polycarbonate per year. Additionally, Dow will also add Optical Media capabilities to this facility in the coming months. Dow is one of the leading suppliers of polycarbonate resins globally, with an annual global capacity of more than 225 000 metric tons.
US CHEMICAL PRODUCTION RISES IN MARCH Latin Despite emerging American problems, US production of chemicals and allied products rose 0.4 per cent to 114.3 per cent of its 1992 level during March, according to figures from the Manufacturers Chemical Association. In February, production increased a revised 0.9 per cent, following a January production decline of 1.0 per cent. Overall production of chemicals and allied products in March was off 2.0 per cent from the same period a year With continuing earlier. advances in capacity, the operating rate for all chemicals and allied products rose slightly to 76.0 per cent in March. Industrial chemicals production was down 3.3 per cent. During the past six months, production has started to turn upward, with slight increases posted in industrial chemicals, alkalies and chlorine, plastics and man-made fibers. Six-month declines in production were posted in inorganic pigments and organic chemicals.
BASF STARTS ALKYLENE CARBONATE PLANT A new 10 000 metric tons per carbonates year alkylene (ethylene and propylene carbonate) plant has come onstream at BASF’s Ludwigshafen, Germany facility. The alkylene carbonates are produced in a continuous process using distillation. The specialty chemicals are used as solvents in many and organic compounds salts and are inorganic also used as foundry sand binders and in the manufacture of lube oil additives,
resins, polyurethanes pharmaceuticals.
and
SOLUTIA, FMC IN PHOSPHORUS CHEMICALS JV In order to compete more successfully in the consolidating global phosphorus chemicals industry, Solutia Inc and FMC Corporation are to form a SO/SOjoint venture to and market manufacture phosphorus chemicals. The new company will have 12 manufacturing locations and over US$600 million in annual sales. Over the next 12-I 8 months, the partners will work to achieve major synergistic cost reductions from production optimisation, plant rationalisation, improved raw material supply, as well as reduced administrative and overhead costs. Solutia and FMC both practice purified wet phosphoric acid (PPA) technology; Solutia at its joint venture in Brazil, and FMC at its Foret business in Spain.
PRAXAIR ADDS TO TEXAS GASIFICATION PLANT Praxair Inc has expanded its Texas City gasification facility by 20 per cent. The plant supplies carbon monoxide, hydrogen and synthesis gas to nearby Sterling Chemicals Inc’s acetic acid and oxo-alcohols units, as well as hydrogen to Praxair’s Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline network. Praxair expects US$4 million annually in additional revenues from the expansion. The expanded facility now produces 40 million cubic feet per day of hydrogen, and 24 million cubic feet per day of carbon monoxide, as well as synthesis gas and steam. Sterling Chemicals recently completed an expansion of its
June 1999
acetic acid facility, which increased capacity by approximately 25 per cent to around 450 000 tonne/year.
PRAXAIR AND BOC DISCUSS MERGER Praxair of the USA and BOC of the UK are rumoured to be in talks about a possible merger. Such a deal would create the world’s largest industrial gases group. Neither Praxair nor BOC would comment on media speculation about a combination.
KEMIRA UPGRADES FINNISH FACILITY Kemira Chemicals is to invest nearly e12 million to develop its Siilinjlrvi site. The improvement covers the plant’s production processes, automation systems and surrounding landscaping. Renewal of the sulphuric acid production became possible through the ensured supply of the pyrites raw material from mine in the Outokumpu Pyhlsalmi up to 2012. Installation will take place in August during the summer shut-down.
ABB W INS EMISSION CONTROL CONTRACT
Filtration Industry Analyst
1884 M W coal-fired power station in Homer City, Pennsylvania. Equipment deliveries are scheduled to start in the fall of 1999, with operations beginning two years later. Under the terms of the contract, ABB will supply and install selective catalytic reduction systems to capture nitrogen oxide emissions, as well as a wet flue-gas desulfurisation system (WFGD) to remove sulfur oxide emissions. The WFGD system is expected to reduce generating costs by allowing the plant flexibility to burn a wider variety of coal types while maintaining emission standards.
TUNISIAN FIRST FOR ALSTOM Alstom has won a 6370 million contract for the engineering procurement and construction (EPC) of a 471 M W combined cycle power plant, Rades II, at Rades near ‘Bmis. The contract was awarded by an American/Japanese consortium comprising PSEG Global, Sithe Energies and Marubeni and is the first independent power production project in Tunisia. Alstom will also supply the gas turbines, steam turbine generator, control system and the balance of plant. The two gas turbines will bum natural gas, or fuel oil as back-up. The power plant is scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2001 and will supply 20-25 per cent of Tunisia’s power. This is the second order awarded to Alstom for a turnkey combined cycle plant in Tunisia. It follows the contract for the 357 M W Sousse power station, which entered service in 1995.
ABB is to supply and construct emission control systems at a large coal-fired power plant in the USA. The US$200 million order was awarded by EME Homer ABB W INS City Generation LP, a unit of US-based Edison IntemationUS$130 M WASTE al’s wholly-owned g1oba’ ’ COAL IPP ORDER power subsidiary, Edison Mission Energy. The system will ABB is to build a 128 M W be installed at the company’s ( coal-fired power plant in
Australia for independent power producer (IPP) Redhank Project Pty Ltd, a consortium of ABB, Babcock & Brown and National Power Australia Holding LP. The total value of the project is US$200 million, of which ABB’s share is approximately US$l30 million. The plant is scheduled for commissioning in 2001. The Redbank power project will use a lowemission combustion technology that burns coal washery tailings, a waste product from a nearby coal mine. The plant will generate electricity for sale into the national electricity market under a long-term power purchase and hedge arrangement with EnergyAustralia, Australia’s largest electricity distributor. The contract covers the design, supply, construction and commissioning of the power plant, which will incorporate two low-emission fluidised bed boilers. high efficiency fabric filters, a turbine generator, electrical equipment, air pollution monitoring and control systems.
generating station in Ireland. In addition to Unit 4, it has two 20 MWe units, which will be retired when the conversion of Unit 4 is completed.
ASIAN POWER CONVERSION PROJECT FOR ABB
I ,
ABB will convert an oil-tired steam power plant in Singapore to a gas-fired combinedcycle plant. The order includes service and maintenance for six years. PowerSenoko Ltd, a subsidiary of Singapore Power Ltd, placed the US$l80 million project, Commercial operation is planned to begin in the first quarter of 2001. The contract includes an option to convert another two identical oil-fired units, The upgrade will triple the power output of the plant from 120 M W to 360 MW. The project involves modernising the existing steam turbine and replacing an oil-fired boiler with ABB’s GT26 advanced gas turbine and a heat recovery steam generator. ABB’s GT26 F W SUPPLIES provides high fuel efficiency with low emissions, a key facBUBBLING-BED tor in Singapore’s deregulated BOILER power market. Service and Foster Wheeler is to provide ~ revamping of power and industhe Irish state utility, ESB, trial infrastructure is one of with a 30 MWe bubbling-bed ABB’~ fastest growing busi. boiler for the Ferbane Gen- nesses and now accounts for erating Station in County about a quarter of the compaOffaly. ny’s total annual revenues. Finnish subsidiary Foster I Wheeler Energia Oy will carry FPL ENERGY ~ out the US$l3 million conPLANS US POWER I tract. Work on the turnkey FACILITY modemisation project, which will refurbish Unit 4 at the Fer- FPL Energy Inc is to build, bane site, is already underway own and operate a 700 and scheduled for completion gas-fired natural MW, in October 2000. The Foster power plant in Bellingham, Wheeler bubbling-bed boiler is Massachusetts. expected to prolong the operatConstruction of the ading life of the Ferbane Gener- vanced combined-cycle plant ating Station by 15 years. is expected to begin late this The Ferbane power sta- year or early in 2000. After tion opened in 1957 and was achieving commercial operathe first milled-peat-fueled tion, the plant’s output will be
Filtration Industry Analyst
HYUNDAI CHOOSES CONOCO INDONESIA Conoco Indonesia is to construct and install gas production facilities in Block B, offshore West Natuna Sea for a two-company consortium that includes Hyundai Heavy Industries of Korea. The contract, part of the West Natuna Project that will deliver Indonesian natural gas to Singapore, was awarded following approval by Pertamina, the state oil company of Indonesia. Valued at approximately US$130 million, the contract includes engineering, procurement, onshore fabrication and offshore installation of a moveable gas production unit (MOgPU) in the West Natuna Sea, as well as modifications to the existing platforms in the Belida Field.
ESSO EXPANDS IN CHINA Exxon Corporation’s China affiliate, Esso (Zhejiang) Company Limited, has officially opened its 250 000 barrels per year lube oil blending plant. The US$25 million plant, strategically located at Ningbo Economic Development Zone, Yanggongshan, will produce lubricants to serve the large demand centres in central and southern China.
MOBIL EXTENDS NORTH SEA ACTIVITIES The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has offered Mobil Exploration Norway Inc four exploration licenses in the annual North Sea licensing round. MEN1 president and managing director Maury Devine
said they were very pleased with the licenses offered to Mobil. “This acreage adds to ,our strong position in the Northern North Sea area, where we have interests in ,existing infrastructure, such as Ithe Statfjord and Oseberg fields, as well as in future infrastructure like the Fram field.”
HYDRO BIDS FOR SAGA PETROLEUM Norsk Hydro, the Norwegian energy group, has made an offer for Saga Petroleum. The goal is to integrate the two companies’ oil and gas operations. Hydro claims that the deal will produce annual cost reductions of approximately US$I 30 million. An integrated Hydro and Saga would have had a combined oil and gas production of 450 000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 1998. Saga and Hydro already have a number of joint ownership interests in fields on continental the Norwegian shelf.
DOW’S STADE SITE EXPANDS FURTHER The Dow Chemical Company has successfully started up a second train for the production of CALIBRE polycarhonate resins at the company’s Stade, Germany site. The Stade facility now has the capability to produce 105 000 metric tons of polycarbonate per year. Additionally, Dow will also add Optical Media capabilities to this facility in the coming months. Dow is one of the leading suppliers of polycarbonate resins globally, with an annual global capacity of more than 225 000 metric tons.
US CHEMICAL PRODUCTION RISES IN MARCH Latin Despite emerging American problems, US production of chemicals and allied products rose 0.4 per cent to 114.3 per cent of its 1992 level during March, according to figures from the Manufacturers Chemical Association. In February, production increased a revised 0.9 per cent, following a January production decline of 1.0 per cent. Overall production of chemicals and allied products in March was off 2.0 per cent from the same period a year With continuing earlier. advances in capacity, the operating rate for all chemicals and allied products rose slightly to 76.0 per cent in March. Industrial chemicals production was down 3.3 per cent. During the past six months, production has started to turn upward, with slight increases posted in industrial chemicals, alkalies and chlorine, plastics and man-made fibers. Six-month declines in production were posted in inorganic pigments and organic chemicals.
BASF STARTS ALKYLENE CARBONATE PLANT A new 10 000 metric tons per carbonates year alkylene (ethylene and propylene carbonate) plant has come onstream at BASF’s Ludwigshafen, Germany facility. The alkylene carbonates are produced in a continuous process using distillation. The specialty chemicals are used as solvents in many and organic compounds salts and are inorganic also used as foundry sand binders and in the manufacture of lube oil additives,
resins, polyurethanes pharmaceuticals.
and
SOLUTIA, FMC IN PHOSPHORUS CHEMICALS JV In order to compete more successfully in the consolidating global phosphorus chemicals industry, Solutia Inc and FMC Corporation are to form a SO/SOjoint venture to and market manufacture phosphorus chemicals. The new company will have 12 manufacturing locations and over US$600 million in annual sales. Over the next 12-I 8 months, the partners will work to achieve major synergistic cost reductions from production optimisation, plant rationalisation, improved raw material supply, as well as reduced administrative and overhead costs. Solutia and FMC both practice purified wet phosphoric acid (PPA) technology; Solutia at its joint venture in Brazil, and FMC at its Foret business in Spain.
PRAXAIR ADDS TO TEXAS GASIFICATION PLANT Praxair Inc has expanded its Texas City gasification facility by 20 per cent. The plant supplies carbon monoxide, hydrogen and synthesis gas to nearby Sterling Chemicals Inc’s acetic acid and oxo-alcohols units, as well as hydrogen to Praxair’s Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline network. Praxair expects US$4 million annually in additional revenues from the expansion. The expanded facility now produces 40 million cubic feet per day of hydrogen, and 24 million cubic feet per day of carbon monoxide, as well as synthesis gas and steam. Sterling Chemicals recently completed an expansion of its
June 1999
acetic acid facility, which increased capacity by approximately 25 per cent to around 450 000 tonne/year.
PRAXAIR AND BOC DISCUSS MERGER Praxair of the USA and BOC of the UK are rumoured to be in talks about a possible merger. Such a deal would create the world’s largest industrial gases group. Neither Praxair nor BOC would comment on media speculation about a combination.
KEMIRA UPGRADES FINNISH FACILITY Kemira Chemicals is to invest nearly e12 million to develop its Siilinjlrvi site. The improvement covers the plant’s production processes, automation systems and surrounding landscaping. Renewal of the sulphuric acid production became possible through the ensured supply of the pyrites raw material from mine in the Outokumpu Pyhlsalmi up to 2012. Installation will take place in August during the summer shut-down.
ABB W INS EMISSION CONTROL CONTRACT
Filtration Industry Analyst
1884 M W coal-fired power station in Homer City, Pennsylvania. Equipment deliveries are scheduled to start in the fall of 1999, with operations beginning two years later. Under the terms of the contract, ABB will supply and install selective catalytic reduction systems to capture nitrogen oxide emissions, as well as a wet flue-gas desulfurisation system (WFGD) to remove sulfur oxide emissions. The WFGD system is expected to reduce generating costs by allowing the plant flexibility to burn a wider variety of coal types while maintaining emission standards.
TUNISIAN FIRST FOR ALSTOM Alstom has won a 6370 million contract for the engineering procurement and construction (EPC) of a 471 M W combined cycle power plant, Rades II, at Rades near ‘Bmis. The contract was awarded by an American/Japanese consortium comprising PSEG Global, Sithe Energies and Marubeni and is the first independent power production project in Tunisia. Alstom will also supply the gas turbines, steam turbine generator, control system and the balance of plant. The two gas turbines will bum natural gas, or fuel oil as back-up. The power plant is scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2001 and will supply 20-25 per cent of Tunisia’s power. This is the second order awarded to Alstom for a turnkey combined cycle plant in Tunisia. It follows the contract for the 357 M W Sousse power station, which entered service in 1995.
ABB is to supply and construct emission control systems at a large coal-fired power plant in the USA. The US$200 million order was awarded by EME Homer ABB W INS City Generation LP, a unit of US-based Edison IntemationUS$130 M WASTE al’s wholly-owned g1oba’ ’ COAL IPP ORDER power subsidiary, Edison Mission Energy. The system will ABB is to build a 128 M W be installed at the company’s ( coal-fired power plant in
Australia for independent power producer (IPP) Redhank Project Pty Ltd, a consortium of ABB, Babcock & Brown and National Power Australia Holding LP. The total value of the project is US$200 million, of which ABB’s share is approximately US$l30 million. The plant is scheduled for commissioning in 2001. The Redbank power project will use a lowemission combustion technology that burns coal washery tailings, a waste product from a nearby coal mine. The plant will generate electricity for sale into the national electricity market under a long-term power purchase and hedge arrangement with EnergyAustralia, Australia’s largest electricity distributor. The contract covers the design, supply, construction and commissioning of the power plant, which will incorporate two low-emission fluidised bed boilers. high efficiency fabric filters, a turbine generator, electrical equipment, air pollution monitoring and control systems.
generating station in Ireland. In addition to Unit 4, it has two 20 MWe units, which will be retired when the conversion of Unit 4 is completed.
ASIAN POWER CONVERSION PROJECT FOR ABB
I ,
ABB will convert an oil-tired steam power plant in Singapore to a gas-fired combinedcycle plant. The order includes service and maintenance for six years. PowerSenoko Ltd, a subsidiary of Singapore Power Ltd, placed the US$l80 million project, Commercial operation is planned to begin in the first quarter of 2001. The contract includes an option to convert another two identical oil-fired units, The upgrade will triple the power output of the plant from 120 M W to 360 MW. The project involves modernising the existing steam turbine and replacing an oil-fired boiler with ABB’s GT26 advanced gas turbine and a heat recovery steam generator. ABB’s GT26 F W SUPPLIES provides high fuel efficiency with low emissions, a key facBUBBLING-BED tor in Singapore’s deregulated BOILER power market. Service and Foster Wheeler is to provide ~ revamping of power and industhe Irish state utility, ESB, trial infrastructure is one of with a 30 MWe bubbling-bed ABB’~ fastest growing busi. boiler for the Ferbane Gen- nesses and now accounts for erating Station in County about a quarter of the compaOffaly. ny’s total annual revenues. Finnish subsidiary Foster I Wheeler Energia Oy will carry FPL ENERGY ~ out the US$l3 million conPLANS US POWER I tract. Work on the turnkey FACILITY modemisation project, which will refurbish Unit 4 at the Fer- FPL Energy Inc is to build, bane site, is already underway own and operate a 700 and scheduled for completion gas-fired natural MW, in October 2000. The Foster power plant in Bellingham, Wheeler bubbling-bed boiler is Massachusetts. expected to prolong the operatConstruction of the ading life of the Ferbane Gener- vanced combined-cycle plant ating Station by 15 years. is expected to begin late this The Ferbane power sta- year or early in 2000. After tion opened in 1957 and was achieving commercial operathe first milled-peat-fueled tion, the plant’s output will be