Oil and gas company announcements: 1 July 2014

Cheniere

Cheniere Energy, Inc. has announced that its subsidiary, Corpus Christi Liquefaction, LLC has entered into an LNG sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Woodside Energy Trading Singapore Pte Ltd under which Woodside has agreed to purchase approximately 0.85 million tpy of LNG upon the commencement of operations of Train 2 of the LNG export facility being developed near Corpus Christi, Texas. The project is being designed and permitted for up to three trains, with aggregate design production capacity of 13.5 million tpy of LNG.

Under the SPA, Woodside will purchase LNG on a free on board basis for a purchase price indexed to the monthly Henry Hub price plus a fixed component. LNG will be loaded onto Woodside’s vessels. The SPA has a term of 20 years commencing upon the date of first commercial delivery of the second train of the Corpus Christi Liquefaction Project, with an extension option of up to 10 years. Deliveries from Train 2 are expected to occur in 2019.

Chevron Phillips

Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP has received a Board of Directors approval and obtained the necessary environmental permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to expand normal alpha olefins (NAO) production capacity at its Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas. This investment will provide an additional 100 00 tpy of capacity.

Construction completion is anticipated in July 2015. Houston based S&B Engineers and Constructors Ltd. will execute the engineering, procurement and construction, and exports to support up to 600 jobs during the construction phase. The project will utilise Chevron Phillips Chemical’s proprietary NAO technology.

Grace

W.R. Grace & Co. has announced the appointment of Albert F. Beninati Jr., as President of its US$ 1.1 billion Grace Catalysts Technologies segment, which develops and manufacturers catalysts and related products/technologies used in energy and refining, polyolefins and plastics, as well as other manufacturing applications. These include fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts, hydroprocessing catalysts, polyolefin catalysts and catalyst supports, and gas phase propylene process technology.

Beninati comes to Grace after 24 years in the chemical industry, most recently as Vice President, Municipal Water treatment at Univar. Previously, he was with Nalco Chemical Company for 22 years. After successful roles throughout Nalco’s commercial organisation, Beninati held leadership roles for several divisions including Food & Beverage North America as well as units in Chemicals/Power and Environmental Hygiene/Institutional segments.

INEOS

INEOS will acquire BASF’s 50% share in Styrolution, a joint venture between the companies. The purchase price to be paid by INEOS amounts to 1.1 billion Euros. A call option in favour of INEOS to buy BASF’s share in Styrolution was already included in the shareholder’s agreement signed in 2011.

The transaction is subject to approval by the appropriate antitrust authorities. Styrolution will continue to operate as an independent company until the completion of the deal, which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2014. Styrolution was founded in October 2011 as a 50/50 joint venture between the companies.

OMV

OMV has closed the sale of its 45% stake in the German Bayernoil refinery network as planned on 30 June. Gerhard Roiss, CEO, OMV said, ‘with the closing of this transaction, OMV has once again proven its ability to implement the newly focused business strategy announced in 2011.’ Since then, OMV has sold, among others, the filling station networks in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia as well as the lubricants business. All transactions have significantly improved the cash position of the company.

OMV continues to operate three refineries with an annual capacity of approximately 17.4 million t. The facilities in Schwechat, Austria and Burghausen, Germany, feature integrated petrochemical production, while the refinery in Petrobrazi, Romania, is completely dedicated to processing Romanian crude oil and is 100% integrated with the upstream sector.

Edited from various sources by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/01072014/oil_gas_company_announcements_1_july_14/