MARKET PROSPECTS

4Pump Industry Analyst July 2013

The expansion project will increase the plant’s seawater desalination capacity by 30 million imperial gallons per day (MiGD). This additional output will be produced using reverse osmosis technology.

The 30 MiGD water output from the expansion will be sold to the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Co (ADWEC) under a 20-year water purchase agreement, signed in January this year. This is in addition to the existing 22-year power and water purchase agreement with ADWEC for the plant’s current water and electricity output.

The Fujairah 1 IWPP is one of the world’s largest operating hybrid desalination plants.

Sembcorp president and CEO Tang Kin Fei said: “The expansion of our seawater desalination capacity will play an important role in meeting the increasing water demand in the UAE. Our plant, strategically located in Fujairah, will enable us to produce desalinated water more economically for our customer. The expansion project also enables the use of uncontracted surplus power from the existing plant, hence allowing excess generation capacity to be gainfully utilised to produce the additional water at a competitive cost and enhance our income at the same time.”

CHEMICALS

BASF expands phenolic resin production in Ludwigshafen

BASF is expanding and modernizing its production

facility for its Koresin branded phenolic resin at its Ludwigshafen Verbund site in Germany.

A second production line is being built which will increase capacity by 50%. The new line is scheduled to start operations in 2014.

BASF is also building a new Ultramid polymerization plant with a capacity of 100 000 metric tons per year in Shanghai, China. The new plant is planned to start up in 2015. The BASF wholly-owned plant will be built at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Caojing which is also home to a world scale facility for integrated isocyanates, operated by BASF and its partners.

“As part of our long-term strategy, we aim to locate production close to our customers in the Asia Pacific region, so that we can better support their growth, operate more efficiently and collaborate more closely.

BASF intends to grow two percentage points above the market in Asia Pacific and maintain our commitment to environmental protection as well as ensuring a positive contribution to society for a sustainable future,” said Dr Albert Heuser, BASF’s president and chairman Greater China and Functions Asia Pacific.

PETROCHEMICALS

KBR secures FEED contract for US HDPE plant

KBR has been awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED)

contract by INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA for one of the largest grassroots high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plants to be built in the Americas.

The facility, which is expected to be located in the US Gulf coast area, will produce 470 kilotons per annum of bimodal HDPE.

KBR’s work will include the FEED for the inside and outside battery limit facilities, development of an appropriation grade cost estimate, and order of long lead equipment for the project.

Services will be provided by KBR’s Houston headquarters and by the Monterrey, Mexico High Value Engineering Center.

Full sanction for the project is expected in the first half of 2014. Steady state of operation for this facility is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2015.

FW wins EPCm contract for Dow’s Louisiana plant upgrade

A subsidiary of Foster Wheeler AG’s Global Engineering and

Construction (E&C) Group is to provide detailed engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) services for the LA-3 Crack More Ethane (CME) Project at the Dow Chemical Co’s Plaquemine petrochemical facility in Louisiana, USA.

The project is designed to improve the plant ethane flexibility to take advantage of low-cost

feedstock. FW’s scope will include brownfield additions and retrofit modifications to the plant. This project is part of Dow’s US Gulf Coast investment strategy.

project management and consultancy (PMC) services contract by Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC for its Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical (NSRP) Complex which will be built in the Nghi Son Economic Zone, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam.

The NSRP Complex will consist of an integrated refinery, processing 200 000 barrels of crude oil per stream day, and petrochemical complex, with associated infrastructure, utilities and offsite facilities. The refinery is designed to process Kuwait Export crude. The plant will have the facilities for full conversion, with an integrated aromatics complex and polypropylene production.

FW will manage and administer, in an integrated team with the client, the engineering, procurement and construction contractor consortium through to the completion of performance testing. The NSRP complex is expected to start commercial operation in 2017.

FW successfully completed the front-end engineering design for the NSRP complex, and then went on to provide project management services during the tendering phase for the main EPC contract.

OIL & GAS

Baker Hughes Rig Count: June 2013

Baker Hughes Inc’s worldwide rig count for June 2013 was 3277, up

99 on the 3178 counted in May 2013, and down 207 on the 3484 reported in June 2012.

The average US rig count for June 2013 was 1761, down 6 from May 2013’s 1767 and down 211 from June 2012. The average Canadian rig count for June 2013 was 183, up 55 from the 128 counted in May 2013, and down 44 from June 2012.

June 2013’s international rig count for June 2013 increased 50 to 1333, compared with the 1283 counted in May 2013. 1285 international rigs were counted in June 2012.

The international offshore rig count for June 2013 was 337, up 10 on May 2013, and up 32 on June 2012.