Latest News: Business
Statoil appoints new chief operating officer
Statoil (Trondheim, Norway; www.statoil.com) has appointed Anders Opedal as as chief operating officer (COO) in the corporate executive committee (CEC), effective 1 April. Opedal will be responsible the corporate improvement programs and for driving operational efficiency across Statoils business areas.…
LyondellBasell to expand tri-ethylene glycol capacity in Texas
LyondellBasell (Rotterdam, The Netherlands; www.lyondellbasell.com) announced plans to expand tri-ethylene glycol (TEG) production capacity at the company's existing ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol plant in Pasadena, Tex. The additional capacity of 50 million pounds per year would more than double…
Fluor awarded engineering contract for new Chinese polysilicon plant
Fluor Corporation (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) was awarded a contract by Shaanxi Non-Ferrous Tian Hong REC Silicon Materials Co., (TianREC; Shanghai, China) to provide detailed design services and technical support for its new polysilicon plant to be located in Yulin, Shaanxi…
Orpic awards Amec Foster Wheeler three-year contract in Oman
Amec Foster Wheeler (London, U.K.; www.amecfw.com) has announced the award of a technical-services agreement contract by Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company SAOC (Orpic) for the Mina Al Fahal Refinery and Sohar Refinery, Aromatics and Polypropylene plants in Oman.…
3M to construct technical center in Chengdu
3M (St. Paul, Minn.; www.3m.com) has set its sights on expanding in the West Region of China. Inge Thulin, 3M’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, debuted plans last week for the new West Region Technical Center in Chengdu, one…
Cepsa’s Canadian PTA business acquired by Indorama
Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. (IVL; Bangkok, Thailand; www.indorama.net) has signed an agreement to acquire 100% shareholding of the Montreal-based purified terephthalic acid (PTA) business of Cepsa Química SA, Cepsa Chimie Montréal s.e.c. Cepsa's plant is the only PTA facility…
Evonik expands specialty silicones production in Germany and China
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) has announced plans to invest in the gradual increase in global production volume of specialty silicones. In Essen, the company is currently putting the expansion of a plant for the production of these special…
Rentschler commissions new 2,000-L single-use bioreactor
Rentschler Biotechnologie GmbH (Laupheim, Germany; www.rentschler.de), a leading contract manufacturing and development organization (CDMO) for biopharmaceuticals, announced today that its new 2,000-L single-use bioreactor has been put into operation. The new bioreactor, built and commissioned in only six months,…
MHI Mechatronics Systems receives orders for advanced wastewater-treatment technology
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Mechatronics Systems, Ltd. (MHI-MS), a group company of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI; Tokyo, Japan; www.mhi-global.com), has received an order for wastewater treatment facilities employing its proprietary "two-phase activated sludge system," an advanced wastewater treatment technology, for…
Specialty chemical market volumes drop in February, ACC report says
U.S. specialty chemical market volumes fell 0.6% in February after a 1.0 decline in January, continuing the soft start to 2015, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). “The…