Chemicals

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has issued a notice of violation to Shell Chemicals Appalachia LLC for exceeding its air pollutant limits after operations began at its ethane cracker near Pittsburgh. Shell started operations at the massive complex in November. DEP said emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) exceeded the limits of its…

Fueled by abundant and low-priced Lower 48 natural gas and oil, Sasol Ltd. is in sight of completing a massive ethane cracker complex in Lake Charles, LA, by the end of the year. After facing budget overruns and a delay of the world-scale Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), the complex would triple the South African…

Kansas state regulators have proposed a set of rules requiring oil and natural gas drilling companies to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking). A public hearing by the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) will he held Aug. 15 to review the draft rules as part of a 60-day public comment period now under way.

New Brunswick could see C$13 million in development for every shale gas well drilled in the province, opening up opportunities for the province to prosper, according to an analysis by Deloitte. However, a recent poll found that critics of development are gaining support.

LyondellBasell has contracted with TexStar MidStream Services LP for TexStar to install two natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation units next to affiliate Equistar Chemicals LP’s Corpus Christi, TX, plant. The units will process NGLs from the Eagle Ford Shale.

Privately-held Marcellus GTL LLC plans to build a natural gas-to-liquids (GTL) processing plant in Blair County, PA, in the heart of the Marcellus Shale.

Differentiated chemicals manufacturer Huntsman Corp. said it will increase capacity at its Geismar, LA, worldscale methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) facilities. Capacity will be increased by 50,000 tons to 500,000 tons using improved process technology developed by Huntsman and will enable the company to support growth of its key customers and leverage the advantages of the Geismar site and its access to U.S. shale gas, strong logistics base and excellent integration, Huntsman said. “The benefits of U.S. shale gas have significantly improved the economics of investing in U.S. facilities, and Huntsman has a number of other investments planned which will take advantage of lower-cost natural gas,” said Anthony Hankins, president of Huntsman polyurethanes. The new capacity is expected to come on-stream in 2014 and will further consolidate Huntsman’s position as the leading MDI producer in the Americas region, the company said. Huntsman also said it will upgrade its downstream specialties production capability at its Rotterdam, the Netherlands site. The cost of the two projects is $135 million.

Apache Corp. is taking no prisoners in the Permian Basin nor in the Midcontinent after building output from the combined regions by almost 24% in 2012 from 2011. The Permian and Central operations in 4Q2012 by themselves represented 25% of Apache’s total global production at 197,000 boe/d.

Cheniere Energy Partners LP unit Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC and Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals Inc. have entered into a lump sum turnkey contract for the engineering, procurement and construction of the third and fourth liquefaction trains to be constructed adjacent to the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Cameron Parish, LA. The contract price is about $3.8 billion. Total expected costs for the third and fourth trains before financing are estimated to be between $4.5 billion and $5 billion.Sabine Liquefaction intends to give Bechtel a notice to proceed upon achieving financing and a final investment decision. Construction for the third and fourth trains is expected to begin in the first half of 2013. Sabine Liquefaction commenced full construction for the first two liquefaction trains in August. Sabine Liquefaction recently announced that it is developing a fifth and sixth liquefaction train at the project and has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Total Gas & Power North America Inc. (see Daily GPI, Dec. 18).