Ethylene Project
Sinopec has completed the construction of its Zhenhai, China ethylene project. The project involved a $3.4 billion investment and includes 10 sets of equipment and supportive facilities, resulting in a production capacity of 23 million tons of refining and 1 million tons of ethylene.
Contracts
The Linde Group has won several key contracts for plant engineering and gas supply projects in Russia. Under the terms of the unrelated deals with a combined value of more than EUR 530 million, Linde will build two olefin plants and an air separation unit. A polypropylene plant with an annual capacity of 500,000 tons will be constructed in Tobolsk for Tobolsk-Polymer LLC for EUR 450 million. The plant is expected to go on stream in mid-2012. Linde will also plan and oversee the construction of a gas separation and ethylene plant in Novy Urengoy for Novy Urengoy Gas and Chemical Complex for EUR 47 million. The ethane cracker will have an annual capacity of around 420,000 tons of ethylene/year. Construction is already underway. Linde will supply ZAO with an on-site air separation unit for EUR 37 million. The facility will have a production capacity of 9,000 Nm3/h of gaseous oxygen and additional capacities for the production of liquefied gases.
Hydrogen Supply
Shanghai Chemical Industry Park Industrial Gases Company (SCIPIG), a 50/50 joint venture between Praxair Inc. and Air Liquide, was recently awarded a 15-year industrial gases pipeline supply contract from Bayer Polyurethanes Co., Ltd. Under the contract, SCIPIG will further develop its existing industrial gas network and build a new hydrogen and carbon monoxide plant, including a steam methane reforming unit and a carbon monoxide unit. The plant will have a total capacity of about 130,000 tons/year and is expected to start up at the beginning of 2012.
New Facility
Sika has signed a lease agreement with TechnoPark to construct a manufacturing and technical facility on a 30,000-square meter land area during the next year to develop, supply and support product sales in the Gulf region. The site will also house a Regional Technical Center for the entire Middle East, India and Africa region.
Customer Technical Center
3M will open its Customer Technical Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates later in 2010. The center will act as an innovative base for customers to test 3M’s products and solutions that are new to the Middle East market. It will also provide 3M with an expanded facility in the Middle East to better support customer needs across the region. This will be the company’s 23rd center.
Nuclear Plants
The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) has selected a team led by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) to design, build and help operate civil nuclear power plants for the United Arab Emirates’ peaceful nuclear energy program. The contract calls for the KEPCO team to design, build and help operate four 1,400 megawatt civil nuclear power units. The value of the contract for the construction, commissioning and fuel loads for four units is approximately $20 billion. The first of the four units is scheduled to begin providing electricity to the grid in 2017, with the three later units completed by 2020.
