26th November: Downstream update

China
Operations at China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.’s Qingdao plant has been disrupted due to a pipeline leak and explosion that resulted in the deaths of at least 52 people. A total of 136 people were injured and 11 are still missing after an explosion that started with an oil pipeline leak and affected the municipal rainwater network.

The Board of Guangxi LiuGong Machniery Co., Ltd. has announced that Mr. YU Chuanfen will succeed Mr ZengGuang’an as the President of the company. Yu has been with the company since he got his bachelor’s degree in welding technology and equipment from Wuhan Huazhong University of science and technology in 1994.

India
IG Petrochemicals has shut down one of its phthalic anhydride plants in Taloja, Maharashtra. The plant has been taken offline for planned maintenance and is expected to be out of action for approximately four weeks.

Oman
Petrofac Limited’s equal joint venture with Daelim Industrial of Korea has been awarded a refinery improvement contract in Oman. The contract is worth US$ 2.1 billion was granted by Oman Oil Refineries & Petroleum Industries Co. and is expected to last 36 months. The plant is located near the Sohar Industrial area.

Syria
Over the weekend armed Syrian rebels fired mortar shells at a refinery in the central Homs province. As a result of the attack, a fire broke out at one of the plant’s fuel tanks which injured one refinery worker. The Homs Refinery Company has been in operation since 1959 and has a processing capacity of 1 million tpy.

USA
Technip has been awarded by Sasol the front end engineering design (FEED) contract for a gas to liquids (GTL) plant to be built in Louisiana. The GTL facility will have a capacity of more than 96 000 bpd. As the reference and main execution centre within the Group for GTL, Technip’s operating centre in Rome, Italy, will execute the FEED phase of the project. This contract falls within the existing Front End Loading Alliance between Technip and Sasol in the GTL domain.

As a result of the CITGO Lemont refinery ‘give your share to show your care’ fund raising drive, the company has made a donation to the United Way of Will County. The employees raised US$ 201 765.60 which will help community programs across Will County, Illinois.

Edited from various sources by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/26112013/26th_nov_news_downstream/