Oil and gas industry announcements: 19 December 2014

Chevron Phillips

Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP is pleased to announce plans to build a state of the art polyethylene pilot plant at its research and technology facility in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The new pilot plant will incorporate Chevron Phillips Chemical’s proprietary MarTECH loop slurry process for polyethylene production and MarTECH ADL technology, a proprietary dual loop process enabling production of bimodal polyethylene resins for advanced applications. The premier testing site will provide leading edge polyethylene research, including new catalyst and polymer development, as well as polymer performance enhancements. Construction is scheduled to begin next year.

Energtek Inc

Energteck Inc., has completed two further significant steps on the road to its goal of supplying natural gas to US consumers. Tim Nulty, CEO, Energtek North Country Inc., said “we have just received the Act 250 Land Use Permit from the Natural Resources Board in Vermont, which is the last piece in the regulatory puzzle for establishing our first filling station. With this long awaited permit, we are able to move forwards with the implementation of our plans.”

InterOil

InterOil Corporation has appointed former Australasian BP oil and gas executive Katherin Hirschfeld to its board. Hirschfeld,54, is a chemical engineer whose career has included 20 years with BP in leadership and executive roles in oil refining, logistics, exploration and production in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Turkey.

Intertek

Intertek has been awarded ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accreditation by the National Accreditation Organisation of Colombia (ONAC) for a state of the art jet fuel laboratory in Bogota. Intertek is the first independent laboratory to be awarded ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accreditation in the oil and gas sector in Colombia. Jet fuel is tested by Intertek worldwide to check for quality and compliance to industry specifications.

Carlos Velasco, Intertek West Coast South America Manager said, “we are proud to obtain 17025 accreditation for our jet fuel testing laboratory in Colombia. This recognition of our laboratory’s expertise enables Intertek to help our clients cultivate new markets globally by adding value to their products and processes. We also save them costs by reducing or eliminating the need to test jet fuel in other countries.”

Piedmont

Piedmont Natural Gas and The Spinx Company have announced an agreement to add a Piedmont CNG refuelling station at a Spinx convenience store location. Piedmont will lease space at an existing Spinx store located at the Corner of Pearman Dairy Road and West Whitner Street in Anderson, South Carolina in order to install the necessary CNG refuelling equipment and compressors. Piedmont will own and maintain the site’s CNG facilities which will be open to the public for use by commercial fleets and individual vehicles. The new station will be Piedmont’s eleventh public CNG refuelling station in the Carolinas and in Tennessee, and its third public CNG station in South Carolina.

Sunoco

Sunoco LP has completed the previously announced acquisition of Honolulu, Hawaii based Aloha Petroleum Ltd. Aloha Petroleum is the largest independent gasoline marketer and one of the largest convenience store operators in Hawaii, with an extensive wholesale fuel distribution network and six storage terminals on the islands. Aloha currently markets through approximately 100 Shell, Aloha and Mahalo branded fuel stations throughout the state, about half of which are completely operated. The Aloha acquisition extends Sunoco LP’s business into one of the fastest growing markets in the US and expands its capabilities into refined products terminals.

Total purchase price was approximately US$240 million, subject to a post closing earn out, certain closing adjustments and before transaction costs and expenses.

Edited from press releases by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/19122014/oil-gas-announcements-18-dec/