Processing news briefs, Feb. 7

Feb. 7, 2002
BASF ... Basell ... PDVSA ... Otepi-Inelectra-Sadaven ... TOYO ... Sinopec Beijing Yanhua Petrochemical ... Shell Deer Park Refining ... Emerson Process Management ... Enterprise Products Partners ... Valero ... Koch Industries ... Frontier Oil ... PACE

BASF AG and Basell, a 50:50 joint venture of BASF and the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, shut down their 410,000 tonnes/year styrene plant at Wesseling at the end of 2001 because of a worldwide drop in demand for styrene and styrenic polymers.

Petroleos de Venezuela SA awarded a contract for the engineering, procurement, and construction of facilities to increase the production of gasoline and other refined products at its 126,900 b/d El Palito refinery in Cabobo state, Venezuela, to the Otepi-Inelectra-Sadaven Venezuelan consortium and the Japanese engineering group TOYO. The project aims to increase fluid catalytic cracker load to 70,000 b/d from 54,000 b/d and increase alkylation load to 26,000 b/d from 20,000 b/d.

Sinopec Beijing Yanhua Petrochemical Co. Ltd. completed expansion of its ethylene plant to 660,000 tonnes/year from 450,000 tonnes.

Shell Deer Park Refining Co. awarded Emerson Process Management a $12 million reinstrumentation contract for its 333,800 b/d refinery. Engineering is already under way, with initial startup of the new instrumentation and automation system scheduled to begin in October.

Enterprise Products Partners LP acquired a propylene fractionation business from three joint ventures of Valero Energy Corp. and Koch Industries Inc. for $231 million in cash. The deal includes a 66.66% equity interest in a 45,000 b/d polymer-grade propylene fractionation facility in Mont Belvieu, Tex.; a 50% equity interest in a polymer-grade propylene export terminal located on the Houston Ship Channel; and equity interests in four pipelines that distribute product to customers and to the export terminal.

Frontier Oil Corp. and the local membership of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers International Union at its 104,500 b/d El Dorado, Kan., refinery ratified a 4-year contract, effective until Jan. 31, 2006.