Plant Watch ExxonMobil to construct butyl rubber and hydrocarbon resin plants in Singapore March 6, 2014 — ExxonMobil Chemical Co. (Houston; www.exxonmobilchemical.com) plans to build facilities to manufacture halobutyl rubber and hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin at its petrochemical complex in Singapore.…
The annual 2013 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI) is available, and stands at 3.0% lower than the 2012 annual average value. However, the initial numbers for 2014 (January 2014 preliminary) generally increased from the final December index values from…
The piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) is often considered to be the gold standard for the proper design, operation and maintenance of plants in the chemical process industries (CPI), including chemical, oil-and-gas facilities, mining operations, food-processing plants, and water- and…
Brenntag AG (Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany; www.brenntag.com) has acquired Gafor Distribuidora Ltd, a distributor of specialty solvents in Latin America, which is part of Grupo Gafor headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The largest industries being served by Gafor are…
PPG Industries, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.ppg.com) has announced the successful completion of the previously announced sale to Essilor International of its 51% ownership interest in its Transitions Optical joint venture (JV) and PPG’s wholly-owned sun-lens business. Essilor International had held…
Samsung Engineering Co., (Seoul, South Korea; www.samsungengineering.com) has officially announced that it was awarded the North (Hammar Mishrif) New Degassing Station Facilities contract for the ENI Zubair Oil Field Development project in Iraq, worth $840 million. The development of the…
Celanese Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.celanese.com) has announced its intent to explore plans to construct a methanol production unit at the company’s Bishop, Tex., facility. Celanese is preparing to apply for the necessary environmental construction permits for a methanol unit…
The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) has announced that its joint venture membrane chlor-alkali facility with Mitsui & Co., Ltd (Tokyo; www.mitsui.com) has successfully initiated full-scale, commercial production. Dow’s share of the chlorine produced at the Dow-Mitsui Chlor-Alkali Freeport,…
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has been awarded a contract valued in excess of $40 million by Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Co. (Orpic) to provide ethylene technology and front end engineering and design (FEED) services for the Liwa…
Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LLC (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cpchem.com) has announces that its wholly-owned affiliate, Chevron Phillips Chemicals International N.V. is expanding its Tessenderlo, Belgium facility. The expansion includes an on-purpose hydrogen sulfide (H2S) unit and additional sulfur-based products capacity.…