Industry: Refining & fuels

Despite increasing ethanol blending, the value of octane has significantly risen from 2010 to 2015. This unexpected trend is attributed to various factors affecting the refining industry.

Chemical industry summary  As witnessed by record inventory, the global oversupply of crude oil continues to weigh on expectations for a price recovery in the near term. This is both a supply and a demand-driven problem with consensus expectations indicating that 2016 is highly unlikely to show significant improvement in energy pricing. Companies in the […]

Modularization and standardization, though separate, improve oil and gas capital project efficiency.

Chemical industry summary  Heading into Q2 earnings season, chemical margins generally look positive for most chemical sectors with olefins/polyolefins leading and the chlor-alkali chain less profitable.  Macroeconomics and geopolitics The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports Q1 global GDP growth at 2.2%, 0.8% below the April forecast. The year 2015 now looks to be at 3.3% […]

AMERICAS  Hexpol to boost synthetic rubber compounding capacity in Mexico  Hexpol plans to expand synthetic rubber compounding capacity in Mexico. The expansion will add a new advanced 135 L rubber compounding line into its Querétaro facility, Mexico, which will increase overall capacity to 70 KTA. Comments: Sweden-headquartered Hexpol A.B. supplies advanced rubber and plastic compounding […]

 AMERICAS  Sekisui Plastics USA introduces a new grade of Piocelan®foam resin  Sekisui Plastics USA has launched a new grade of moldable Piocelan®foam resin, Piocelan T. The new material is a hybrid of polystyrene and polyolefins using Sekisui Plastics’ proprietary hybrid foam technology. Compared to previous grades that lack sufficient heat resistance for some automotive applications, […]

AMERICAS Total launches new HDPE grade Total has introduced a new HDPE grade, XSene XRT70. This grade which combines excellent processability and raised temperature resistance is designed for water and gas pressure pipe application. High extrusion speed at low extrusion temperature without sacrificing the finished surface can be achieved, which has been confirmed by converters […]

We shared thoughts on improving the execution of oil and gas capital projects at a recent conference.

CNG offers the advantages of lower cost and a more established fueling infrastructure in the US. Conversely, LNG provides higher energy density and greater portability due to its independence from pipelines, allowing access to remote areas.

AMERICAS Ethylene XXI nearing completion Braskem SA and Grupo Idesa’s JV plant is nearing completion and is expected to come on-stream by July 2015. The USD 4.5 billion complexes will include an ethane cracker with a capacity of 1,050 KTA, two 750 KTA HDPE plants, and one 300 KTA LDPE plant. Comments: The new ethylene […]

AMERICAS  Ineos-Sasol break ground on HDPE plant  Ineos and Sasol have broken ground on a new HDPE production plant at Ineos’ La Porte manufacturing plant. The USD 500 million projects would have a production capacity of 470 KTA and are expected to begin operations in 2016. Comments: This project is among at least 8PE projects […]

AMERICAS Dow Chemical expansion projects on track Construction of Dow Chemical’s US Gulf Coast and Latin America expansion projects are on-track and on a plan for a start-up. In Freeport, TX construction for the on-purpose propylene PDH project is over 50% complete; the project is expected to start in mid-2015. The construction for Dow’s ethylene […]