India has approved a Hindustan Petroleum Corp. joint venture project to build a 98 billion rupee, 9 million tonne/year grassroots refinery in Punjab state. Petroleum Minister Ram Naik told the upper house of the Indian Parliament that all environmental clearances for the refinery�to be called Guru Govind Singh Oil Refinery�have been received. Necessary land for the project has been acquired, and a detailed pipeline route survey of a proposed crude oil pipeline from Gujarat to Bhatinda has been completed.
Enterprise Products Partners LP, Houston, said Baton Rouge Propylene Concentrator LLC, a joint venture of affiliates of ExxonMobil Chemical Co. and Enterprise, has begun commercial operations at its propylene concentration unit in Port Allen, La., across the Mississippi River from ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge refinery and chemical plant. The unit upgrades refinery-grade propylene produced by ExxonMobil Chemical and others to chemical-grade propylene. The facility has the capacity to produce 1.5 billion lb/year of chemical-grade propylene. ExxonMobil and Enterprise own, respectively, a 70% and 30% interest in Baton Rouge Propylene Concentrator. Enterprise managed the design and construction of the facility and serves as operator.
Nigeria LNG Ltd. selected Michael Baker Corp. unit Baker Energy, together with its Nigerian subsidiary company, Overseas Technical Service (OTS) Nigeria Ltd., to provide maintenance services on its new liquefaction plant at Bonny Island in Rivers State. The contract is for 2 years and has an estimated value of $10 million. The Bonny Island plant is a two-train facility with a combined normal capacity of 5.8 million tonnes/year of LNG produced into storage. Nigeria LNG has four shareholders: Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., Shell Gas BV, Cleag Ltd., and Agip International BV.