Insights

Definition: “Olefin” is the common name given by the “Petrochemical” industry  to the Alkene chemical products. The “Olefins” are classified in two families, the: “Monoolefins“, such as the “Ethylene” and “Propylene“ “Diolefins“, such as the “Butadiene” and the “Isoprene“ Comments: As we can see from the diagram above, the “Olefins” may be produced through a steam”Cracker” […]

Qatar Petroleum International, a QP’s subsidiary, has joined the partners for the Petrochemical complex, to be built in the Long Son Island in Vietnam. In the Joined Venture are also involved PetroVietnam, Vinachem, Siam Cement Group (SGC), Thai Plastic and Chemicals. This project will be located closed to the second refinery and will use a […]

According to an interview of Mr Fu Chengyu, who became chairman of Sinopec‘s parent in April, to Bloomberg, Sinopec is considering to sell its chemical assets in the next five years in order to finance its overseas development. Benchmarking the Majors like ExxonMobil or Shell, Sinopec wants to balance it Upstream activities and Downstream business. With profitability […]

Definition: “Petrochemical” comes from the Ancient Greek language where “Petro” means “rock”  in referring to these rocks, “Petro”, producing “oleum” meaning “oil” to become “petro-oleum”, the “oil of rocks”. Therefore the word “Petrochemical” has been originally given to the chemistry issued from the oil. Comments: From process perspective, the “Petrochemical” industry begins where the “Refining” or […]

Total joins Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) represented by its wholly-owned subsidiaries Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) and Petrochemicals Industries Co. (PIC) in the Joined Venture with Sinopec for this $9 billion “Refinery” and “Petrochemical” complex at Zhanjiang, in China’s southern Guangdong province. In fact Total took the opportunity to substitute Shell which had pulled out of […]

TAQA, the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, UAE, has announced to increase capital expenditures from $1.9 billion in 2011 to $2.2 billion in 2012. These investments will go to expend on going projects in Western Canada, North Sea, Netherlands, Morocco and Ghana.  TAQA’s Oil & Gas operations are located in North America, UK and the […]

Definition: The “Naphtha” or “Naphtha petroleum” is the common name given to the “Aliphatic hydrocarbons“.  Comment: The “Naphtha” results from the distillation of the oil in the refinery. But since there are hundreds of different petroleum crude oil worldwide with its own unique composition, there are as many “Naphtha“. Each refinery produces its own “Naphtha” with their own […]

Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco) awarded the Taiwanese CTCI two EPC contracts for the expansion and up-grade of its ethylene production facility in Mesaieed Industrial City. Phase 1 will include the installation of new furnaces and an ethylene storage tank with the latest technologies to meet the state-of-art of the environmental requirements. The contract for this […]

ExxonMobil and the Turkish local company TPAO are in discussion to explore the shale gas in Turkey. ExxonMobil is investigating the potential development of Trakya field located in the west of Turkey. According to a survey made in April 2011 by Advanced Resources International (ARI) for the American government about the shale gas fields in […]

Definition: A “cracker” breaks down large molecules from oil and natural gas into smaller ones. An ethylene “cracker” produces base petrochemical “building blocks” which are the first stage in the chemicals manufacturing chain. Comments: Natural gas companies have to remove Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) from methane to make it “pipeline quality.” NGLs are made up of ethane, […]