20.07.2010Triple Bottom Line - With environmental concerns now firmly at the top of the corporate agenda, adopting sustainable production practices is a must for all organizations in the biotech and pharma sectors. In addition to protecting valuable natural resources, its inherent efficiencies can also help to reduce costs and increase profitability. Kieran O'Daly reports.
more01.09.2009Samsung Engineering said that it had secured a $300 million plant order from Saudi Arabia's National Industrial Gases, a subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries. Located in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia, the air separation plant would produce gaseous oxygen, nitrogen and argon from 2011, Samsung Engineering said in a statement. The order was the fourth overseas project awarded to Samsung Engineering in July, with deals for the month totalling $4.5 billion, 70 % of its target for the year of 7 trillion won ($5.63 billion).
more01.09.2009Sabic said it has signed a letter of intent with Japan's Mitsubishi Rayon to set up a joint venture with an estimated cost of $1 billion. The plant would produce 250,000 tons per year of methyl methacrylate monomers and is expected to start production in 2013, Sabic said in a statement.
more01.09.2009Sabic and Exxonmobil Chemical are looking to drum up interest from bidders for a new petrochemical project. Building petrochemical capacity is part of the kingdom's plan to diversify its economy away from oil exports. Sabic and Exxonmobil's chemical unit signed a preliminary agreement in November to establish the multi-billion dollar synthetic rubber joint venture at their plants in Jubail and Yanbu. The two companies would issue bid packages for the Jubail plant by the end of the year, Saudi-based contracting sources said.
more01.06.2009Fareast Rosneft, Russia's largest oil producer, is considering plans to build a large petrochemical refinery on the country's Pacific coast that would be fed by crude from East Siberia, the company said. State-controlled Rosneft would seek approval for the project from its board within the next six to 12 months, should studies now under way prove the project to be viable, CFO Peter O'Brien said.
more01.06.2009South Korea's LG Chem may take part in building a petrochemical plant in oil-rich Kazakhstan and Korean banks may lend up to $1.5 billion to finance the project, a Kazakh official said. Aidan Karibzhanov, managing director of Kazakh state welfare fund Samruk-Kazyna which controls key state assets, said active talks with LG Chem were under way. "Several Korean financial institutions, including Korea's Eximbank, have expressed interest in financing the project for up to $1.5 billion," he said.
more01.06.2009BASF said it was reconsidering the timing of a new major chemical plant in south western China, as the ongoing global economic crisis limited demand. In 2006, the world's largest chemical company said it planned to erect a 400,000-tonne-per-year MDI plant in the municipality of Chongqoing, with start-up slated for 2010. MDI is used to make polymers that are used by the automotive and construction industries. The project has a price tag of $4.5 billion according to sources. "Regarding the economics ... we're assessing the current MDI market situation.
more01.06.2009Abu Dhabi petrochemical company Chemaweyaat has awarded the front-end engineering contract for an integrated chemical production facility to Neste Jacobs, the state news agency WAM said. The Finnish engineering company, is a subsidiary of Neste Oil. Abu Dhabi Investment Council holds 40 % in the Chemaweyaat, while the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) holds 20 %. The joint-venture company is launching the chemical facility at the Khalifa Port Industrial Zone in Taweelah, the state agency said. The production capacity of this integrated complex was put at 10 million tons.
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