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Statoil to invest $210 million to enter Australian shale gas

Acrylic acid Definition Acrylic acid is an unsaturated carboxylic acid extracted from propylene Acryclic acid is a colorless pungent and corrosive liquid in polymerized form. The formal name for acrylic acid is propenoic acid. Acrylic acid is miscible with water, alcohols and esters. Comments Acrylic acid is produced from propylene as an ethylene by-product of ethane or naphtha steam cracking. As carbonated acid, the acrylic acid reacts with alcohols to produce esters. The acrylic acid esters are called acrylates. In that respect, acrylic acid is the first ring of a long chemical value chain of derivatives under the form of these esters, used as building blocks for homo- and co-polymers such as: - Butyl acrylate - Ethyl acrylate - 2-Ethyl-hexyl acrylate - Methyl acrylate Acrylic acid may also be combined with its own esters or acrylates to polyacrylic acid and other monomers such as acrylonitrile, vinyl, styrene, or butadiene. These acrylic acid derivatives are then used in many applications such as: - Paints and coating - Adhesives - Resins - Synthetic rubber - Fibers and textiles - Detergents and cleaners - Superabsorbents polymers (SAP) for personal care and hygiene - Leather and clothings - Plastics - Construction materials The polyacrylics, issued from the combination of acrylic acid with its own esters, form a group of thermoplastics offering high level of transparency well recognized for decorative applications and packaging. These polyacrylics are also called acrylic plastics. On commercial version, the most well known polyacrylics are the famous Plexiglass and Lucite. As thermoplastics, the polyacrylics are easy to shape at a certain temperature in keeping this shape while cooling down.

Air Separation Definition: Air Separation is a process to produce industrial gases from the air Air separation plants produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon from atmospheric air, normally by one of three processes: - Non-cryogenic plants produce oxygen or nitrogen gas product from compressed air at near ambient temperature by physical adsorption. - Cryogenic plants can produce either high production rates of gas and/or liquid products (oxygen, nitrogen and argon) at high purity levels. - Membrane technology is economical for the production of nitrogen and oxygen-enriched air (up to about 40% oxygen) at small scale Comments: Nitrogen, oxygen, and argon are the primary constituents of air for separation. Small quantities of neon, helium, krypton, and xenon are present at constant concentrations and can be separated as products. Varying quantities of water, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and trace environmental impurities (sulfur and nitrogen oxides, chlorine) are present depending upon location and climate. Non-cryogenic plants can be a cost effective alternative where a single gas only product (either oxygen or nitrogen) is required, the production is relatively low and high purity is not required. Cryogenic plants liquefy and distill ambient air to separate it into its components. Standard purity levels are 99.6% pure oxygen product, 2 PPM maximum oxygen in nitrogen product, 99.999% pure argon product. Higher purity levels are available in certain process configurations. The cryogenic process can generate oxygen or nitrogen at flows of 2500 tons/day from a single plant and make the full range of products. Air separation is a major industry. Nitrogen and oxygen rank second and third in the scale of production of commodity chemicals; and air is the primary source of argon, neon, krypton, and xenon. Oxygen is used for steel, chemicals manufacture, and waste processing. Important uses are in integrated gasification combined cycle production of electricity, waste water treatment, and oxygen-enriched combustion. Nitrogen provides inert atmospheres for fuel, steel, and chemical processing and for the production of semiconductors.

Aromatics Definition: The Aromatics are so called because of their specific perfumed smell. The most well known Aromatics are the Benzene, the Toluene, the Xylene. For that reasons the Aromatics are also named as BTX. Comment: The Aromatics are produced from mainly from oil and a few from coal by distillation and then through a steam cracker in the refinery. At the end, the Aromatics are then converted into familiar products such as: healthcare products such as the aspirin, medical equipment, plastics, soaps and detergents, synthetic fibres for clothes and furniture, such as nylon, rubbers, paints, insulating materials...

Associated gas Definition: Associated gas refers to the natural gas found in association with oil within the reservoir. There are also reservoirs that contain only natural gas and no oil, this gas is termed non-associated gas. Comments Raw natural gas comes from three types of wells: oil wells, gas wells, and condensate wells. natural gas that comes from oil wells is typically termed associated gas. In the reservoir this associated gas may be dissolved in the oil or as a cap of gas above the oil. When dissolved in the crude oil , the associated gas is also called dissolved gas. When the associated gas can exist separate from oil in the formation it is called free gas. In opposite way the natural gas coming from gas and condensate wells, in which there is little or no crude oil, is named non-associated gas. Gas wells typically produce raw natural gas by itself, while condensate wells produce free natural gas along with a semi-liquid hydrocarbon condensate Whatever the source of the natural gas, once separated from crude oil (if present) it commonly exists in mixtures with other hydrocarbons; principally ethane, propane, butane, and pentanes. In addition, raw natural gas contains water vapor, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbon dioxide, helium, nitrogen, and other compounds. The associated gas is in other terms raw natural gas which then requires to be processed, most commonly by fractionation to separate all the ingredients (gas liquids, water, sulfur, carbon dioxide, helium, nitrogen and others). In the past most of the associated gas was flared as it was costing more to treat it and transport it to market places than its potential trading value. Flaring million tons per day of associated gas has and is still contributing to a major source of carbon dioxide emission. The environmental constraints, new technologies such as LNG or GTL and a more dynamic trading market for natural gas and condensate are contributing to reduce or eliminate flaring such as Shell investing $17 billion capital expenditure in a program to capture, treat and monetize the associated gas actually flared in the Southern of Iraq.

ASU Definition: ASU is the acronym of Air Separation Unit and refers to the Air separation plant to produce industrial gases Air separation plants produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon from atmospheric air, normally by one of three processes: - Non-cryogenic plants produce oxygen or nitrogen gas product from compressed air at near ambient temperature by physical adsorption. - Cryogenic plants can produce either high production rates of gas and/or liquid products (oxygen, nitrogen and argon) at high purity levels. - Membrane technology is economical for the production of nitrogen and oxygen-enriched air (up to about 40% oxygen) at small scale Comments: Nitrogen, oxygen, and argon are the primary constituents of air for separation. Small quantities of neon, helium, krypton, and xenon are present at constant concentrations and can be separated as products. Varying quantities of water, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and trace environmental impurities (sulfur and nitrogen oxides, chlorine) are present depending upon location and climate. Non-cryogenic plants can be a cost effective alternative where a single gas only product (either oxygen or nitrogen) is required, the production is relatively low and high purity is not required. Cryogenic plants liquefy and distill ambient air to separate it into its components. Standard purity levels are 99.6% pure oxygen product, 2 PPM maximum oxygen in nitrogen product, 99.999% pure argon product. Higher purity levels are available in certain process configurations. The cryogenic process can generate oxygen or nitrogen at flows of 2500 tons/day from a single plant and make the full range of products. Air separation is a major industry. Nitrogen and oxygen rank second and third in the scale of production of commodity chemicals; and air is the primary source of argon, neon, krypton, and xenon. Oxygen is used for steel, chemicals manufacture, and waste processing. Important uses are in integrated gasification combined cycle production of electricity, waste water treatment, and oxygen-enriched combustion. Nitrogen provides inert atmospheres for fuel, steel, and chemical processing and for the production of semiconductors.

Statoil and PetroFrontier signed deal on Southern Georgina Basin Statoil ASA (Statoil) from Norway and PetroFrontier Corp. (PetroFrontier) from Canada have signed a binding “Farm-in Agreement” to farm into shale gas PetroFrontier’s four exploration permits (EPs) and two exploration permit applications (EPAs) in the Southern Georgina Basin, Northern Territory, Australia. In this Farm-in-Agreement, Statoil will be the Farmor …

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