Most of the Middle Eastern countries are looking to expand further into downstream petrochemicals as opposed to exporting the building blocks.
Saudi Aramco CEO Khalid A. Al-Falih and Dow CEO Andrew N. Liveris have formalized their joint venture (JV) for Sadara Chemical Co. by signing the shareholders agreement. Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and chairman of Saudi Aramco, presided over the weekend ceremony.
A joint venture between Qapco1 (63.63%), Total Petrochemicals France (36.36%) and QP (Qatar Petroleum)2 (0.01%) was established in June 2002 to implement the Qatofin project. This project includes participation in one of the world’s largest ethane crackers in Ras Laffan, a linear-low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant in Mesaiseed and the related ethylene pipeline linking both sites.
Future challenges in environment and product specifications involve more sophisticated catalyst systems
Integrating residue hydrocracking operations with advanced fluid catalytic cracking optimizes upgrading of heavy crude oils
Alternatives hold promises to decrease dependence on crude oil, but they also uncover other challenges in distribution and engine use
A searchable database of project activity in the global hydrocarbon processing industry
Engineers and designers are highly skilled individuals. Forcing them to enter design changes using tables, forms and spreadsheets is unproductive and uneconomical, and it increases the likelihood of human error—this is the way that most instrumentation software systems currently work. For too long, software vendors have denied engineers and designers the simple practicality of a graphical visual engineering interface with “drag and drop” capability and inbuilt intelligence, ensuring changes are automatically replicated into all the associated data and databases.
D. GIBSON, AVEVA
Should the US government impose limits on LNG exports in order to maintain low domestic gas prices?
Yes, energy security comes first 38%
Somewhat, but not too restrictive 5%
No, let global market decide 57%