10/30/2002
-- Naphtachimie steamcracker upgrade to reduce debottlenecking Naphtachimie plans to invest 250 million euros over a decade to turn its Lavéra site on the French Riviera into a "star site" for further integrated development of refining and petrochemicals.
10/30/2002
-- Citgo's Thompson: New sulfur rules to cost industry $16 billion The US refining industry will have to invest an estimated $16 billion to comply with US EPA's low-sulfur gasoline and ultralow-sulfur diesel rules by 2006, said Jerry Thompson in an address Oct. 24.
10/29/2002
-- NPC lets Technip-Coflexip Iranian polyethylene plant contract Pars Petrochemical has awarded Technip-Coflexip and Nargan a contract for the design and construction of a 300,000 tonne/year low-density polyethylene unit for the ninth Olefins Complex at Asaluyeh.
10/22/2002
-- CPC to build Taiwan naphtha cracking plant Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp. (CPC) has confirmed that it is reviving a plan to build Taiwan's eighth naphtha cracking plant.
10/17/2002
-- Lyondell to build one-step propylene oxide pilot plant Lyondell Chemical Co., Houston, completed lab-scale testing of a one-step, direct oxidation propylene oxide (PO) technology and is ready to pilot the process on a larger scale.
10/16/2002
-- US refiners concerned with potential MTBE ban US refiners' concerns over octane loss dominated the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) question-and-answer session on refining and petrochemical technology in Philadelphia today.
10/16/2002
-- Nova Scotia sees large resource on deepwater slope The resource potential of the Scotian slope on a risked basis doubles the gas potential and triples the oil potential for Nova Scotia's portion of the overall Scotian basin.
10/11/2002
-- EPA's antiterrorism role The US Congress's ambivalent treatment of comprehensive energy reform legislation is an obvious industry distraction.
10/09/2002
-- Irving Oil conducts FCCU turnaround maintenance at St. John plant Irving Oil Ltd., St. John, NB, currently has maintenance turnaround activities under way at its refinery at St. John. The refinery's fluid catalytic cracking unit was taken offline Sept. 27.
10/04/2002
-- Industry assessing damages in wake of Hurricane Lili Oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Gulf Coast areas of Louisiana, Texas, and Alabama were surveying facilities for damage in the wake of Hurricane Lili.
10/02/2002
-- Pakistan's Parco refinery shuts down for 38-day maintenance Pak-Arab Refinery Ltd. (Parco) said it had shut down its 100,000 b/d Parco refinery Tuesday for 38-days' maintenance turnaround. Operations are expected to resume Nov. 7.
10/01/2002
-- Syntroleum may suspend Sweetwater GTL project Syntroleum Corp., Tulsa, said its Sweetwater gas-to-liquids project in western Australia might get suspended although the company is continuing to explore alternatives.
10/01/2002
-- GTL Bolivia taps Jacobs Engineering for Bolivian GTL plant study Santa Cruz-based GTL Bolivia SA (GTLB) has secured funding for a study to determine the feasibility of building a 10,000 b/d gas-to-liquids plant near the Bolivian energy center of Santa Cruz.
09/27/2002
-- US refiners facing tough times for another year US refiners are looking at choppy seas continuing well into next year. When margins look rosy again, there are likely to be fewer of them.
09/25/2002
-- CSO Norge, Subsea 7 to install Ringhorne gas complex connections Esso Norge has awarded a contract valued at 75 million euros to Technip-Coflexip's Norwegian unit Coflexip Stena Offshore Norge for rigid natural gas flow lines, flexible risers, and flexible jumpers.
09/25/2002
-- Kuwait Petroleum Europoort revamping Netherlands refinery Kuwait Petroleum Europoort BV awarded a subsidiary of Foster Wheeler Ltd., Clinton, NJ, a contract for the revamp of a vacuum unit and hydrodesulfurization units at its refinery near Rotterdam.
09/19/2002
-- Dow Chemical picks Seadrift for ethylene plant Union Carbide Corp.'s olefins plant in Seadrift, Tex., is the preferred location for a new 900,000-ton ethylene cracker, said Union Carbide's parent, Dow Chemical Co.
09/18/2002
-- Strike ends at Statoil-operated Mongstad refinery A workers' strike—which had been affecting vessel traffic to and from Statoil ASA's Mongstad refinery as well as reducing that plant's output—was called off late Monday.
