Digitalization, properly deployed, has been proven by ABB to cut capital and operational expenditures up to 30 percent by accelerating and optimizing decision-making. By 2025, further savings and performance improvements are expected from people working collaboratively with artificial intelligence. Colin…
ExxonMobil (Irving, Tex.; www.exxonmobil.com) said that it has started detailed engineering work on a potential U.S. Gulf Coast project to expand polypropylene (PP) manufacturing capacity by up to 450,000 tons a year to meet growing demand for high-performance, lightweight durable…
BP plc (London; www.bp.com) announced that Susan Dio has been appointed chairman and president of BP America Inc., BP’s chief representative in the United States, from 1 May 2018. Dio succeeds John Mingé, who will move to chair a study…
Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. (Luxembourg; www.orioncarbons.com), a supplier of specialty and high-performance carbon black, announced that it will expand production capacity at its facility in Ravenna, Italy, with the construction of a new specialty carbon black line. The line will…
Corpus Christi Polymers LLC (CC Polymers) — a newly formed joint venture between Alpek S.A.B. de C.V. (San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico; www.alpek.com), Indorama Ventures Holdings LP (“Indorama”) a subsidiary of Indorama Ventures Public Ltd. (IVL; Bangkok, Thailand; www.indorama.net) and…
Songwon Industrial Ltd. (Ulsan, South Korea; www.songwon.com) has now begun bulk manufacture of functional monomers at its production site in Ulsan, South Korea. These monomers provide resins and polymers with special functions, one of the most important being improvement of…
The Board of Directors of TPC Group Inc. (Houston; www.tpcgrp.com) has approved a plan to expand the company's Crude C4 processing capacity. There was unanimous support for the company's 2018 capital program as part of the long-range plan to support…
Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany; www.wacker.com) announced that its subsidiary in India, Wacker Metroark Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., is expanding its existing silicone production at its Amtala site near Kolkata with a new hydrosilylation plant for manufacturing functional silicone fluids. The…
Lloyd’s Register (London; www.lr.org) has acquired cybersecurity specialist Nettitude. Founded in 2003, Nettitude is an award-winning provider of cybersecurity, compliance, infrastructure and managed security services to organizations worldwide and employs 140 cybersecurity specialists globally. The acquisition strengthens LR’s existing broad…
The preliminary value for the January 2018 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; most recent available) increased compared to the previous month’s value. The Equipment, Buildings, and Engineering & Supervision subindices were all higher for January, pushing the overall monthly CEPCI…