March 2016 - Pump Insights 63

High performance materials options for pumps and seals will be discussed in a unique networking format at Pump Summit to be held in Houston, TX on June 13 and 14. The exhibitors include pump suppliers such as Flowserve, Wangen and Magma. They also include suppliers of coatings and seals.

There are improved coatings, castings and fabrications as well as metallic and nonmetallic materials to reduce the total cost of ownership for pumps, seals and couplings. The exhibitors, presenters and steering committee for the Pump Summit on June 13, 14 in Houston have unique and extensive insights relative to this subject. There is the opportunity to gain the insights you seek from one or more of the participants.

Some of the applications with ongoing challenges are oil and gas shale fracturing, boiler feedwater pumping for combined cycle power plants with frequent cycling, boiler feedwater for high pressure applications with ultra supercritical coal-fired power plants, subsea applications and desalination.

In the next issue of Stainless Steel World, McIlvaine is writing a feature article on the use of stainless in the pump industry. Here are some excerpts:

Thousands of pump companies around the world utilize stainless steel and alloys. Some have their own foundries, coating and fabrication facilities and some utilize sub-contractors.

Flowserve will be a large exhibitor at the Pump Summit where they will be displaying both pumps and seals. We interviewed Ken Lavelle, president of Flowserve Seals. He has been involved with managing pump, valve and seals operations for several decades and also has broad experience in the applications throughout the world.

Question: Will the pump industry of the future increase its use of metal alloys or are other materials going to take market share?

Ken: Pump materials need to balance cost and reliability across a wide range of wear, corrosion and temperature conditions. As processes continue to get more difficult, and demands for better life and mean time between repairs increase, the need for more specialized metal alloys will grow. Non-metallic materials have not had much of an impact on the industrial and process markets, but this could be seen in the future. One area to note for the future is pump bearings, traditional lubricated by oil or oil mist in current high duty applications, but air bearings made of carbon graphite and composite materials could have a strong place in the future providing high reliability and eliminating oil lubrication systems.

Question: What are some alloys which you think have the greatest growth potential?

Ken: We continue to see more demand for specialized nickel based alloys, duplex steels, and some titanium, due to the combination of properties for corrosion and wear resistance in challenging applications. Since these materials are often castings, they must be able to be cast reliably with the right combination of properties, minimal porosity, and machinability. Some higher alloys have been difficult to cast, but casting techniques are now much more reliable as knowledge in this area has continued to develop.

Question: How much of the growth will be in shafts, impellers, casings, or seals?

Ken: With proper design pump shafts in most pumps can be well protected from the process conditions, so alloys needed are normally selected for mechanical properties. Impellers and casing are directly exposed to process conditions, and often the material selection is critical to life, and cost effective operation. By moving to a higher alloy in challenging pumping conditions, life can often be significantly increased. Seal metallic materials are normally produced from bar or wrought forms and machined, as such a wide range of materials are available that can be produced fairly easily.

Question: Where are the biggest technology opportunities for alloy providers? Would it be sub-sea, shale, ultra supercritical coal, desalination or some other market?

Ken: All these processes represent a range of challenging new conditions that provide opportunity for alloy suppliers. New material challenges will also be seen in chemical processing, and could develop in clean coal technology if it proceeds in the future.

Ken: Coatings could be both an opportunity and a threat, but will continue to grow as industry drives for the best cost and life solutions. Coating technology today is highly reliable, and in more demanding applications is used to extend life by coating an alloy already suitable for process conditions to extend wear and corrosion performance as users constantly look for improved life. Some coating technologies today are limited for some pump parts as the application method can requires ‘line of sight’ access, or higher temperatures and subsequent machining after coating to hold precision tolerances. I’m confident the industry will continue to develop new technology and processes to overcome these limitations in the future.

Stainless steel suppliers such as Industeel and ATI are focused on this market. Thyssen Krupp supplies alloys for pumps used in the oil and gas industry. The most often selected alloys are • Alloy 718 (API & AMS) • Alloy 625 • Alloy 925 • Alloy 825.

Grundfos offers one of the market’s most comprehensive ranges of stainless steel pumps in a variety of industries, including: • Food and beverage • Pharmaceutical • Biotechnology • Water treatment systems • Semi-conductor manufacturing • Oil and gas/offshore • Mining.

Alloy materials are also used in pump seals. Viseseal and Flowserve will both be exhibitors at the Pump Summit. Seals use a variety of alloys. Michael Huebner of Flowserve will be both the moderator and a speaker at the Pump Summit in a work shop entitled “Mechanical Seals Standards and Applications. He informed us that metals are used throughout most mechanical seals but cautioned that even though a component has the same source the manufacturing method may be a significant factor. He used AISI 316 as an example. In a wrought form it provides excellent chemical resistance. In a cast material such as CF-8M it is more susceptible to corrosion.

Alloys are also used in coatings. To obtain some insights on trends we asked Jake Brunsberg of Plasma Coatings some questions

Question: What alloys are used in the coatings and which alloys are gaining in popularity?

Jake: Engineered carbide coatings are gaining popularity and have had large advancements in technology in the recent years. Better raw material manufacturing processes and higher levels of controls in process parameters and quality during the coating application process yield increased erosion and corrosion resistance properties.

Question: Will the market share for alloys increase or decrease relative to ceramics and organic materials?

Jake: We are still uncovering new applications for alloys in a wide range of industries. The usage of alloys will rise not necessarily to the expense of ceramic or organic materials. Alloys are very interesting in that they can be applied with a wide range of processes, to new parts, applied on site, and often even repaired. Demand for alloys and ceramics in coatings will likely grow moving forward as production environments are demanding better materials to meet new challenges and growing markets.

Jake: Plasma Transferred Arc (PTA), Laser Cladding, and High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) methods all offer distinctive benefits depending on application need and cost constraints. Solutions can be tailored via application engineering to meet demands. The advancements made in coating/welding alloys are allowing for cost effective solutions to applications that may not have been feasible prior.

We also queried Peter Hauser of Duralar. He explained that the company provides coatings which have chrome and chrome carbide as an adhesion layer but the major component is a molecular diamond coating that provides an exceptionally durable coating with low coefficients of friction (CoF) and excellent wear resistance. Applications include plungers, pump barrels, weaponry, well head components, and automotive applications.

Desalination is a big growth market for the pump industry. There are two major approaches: thermal and membrane. Both technologies, utilize pump bodies of austenitic and duplex grades of stainless steels, while nickel-aluminum bronze has been selected for some internals. Cast duplex stainless steel (typically CD4MCu) has been used for pump internals for their corrosion-erosion and wear resistance in handling slurries and brines.

Flowserve’s range of pumps includes high pressure feed pumps and energy recovery pumps. Pitting, crevice corrosion and stress corrosion cracking are major concerns in desalination systems. Flowserve addresses these issues with a range of materials including proprietary super austenitic stainless steels, duplex stainless steels, super duplex bronze alloys, nickel alloys and Ni-Resist metals.

March Pump has been manufacturing magnetic pumps for desalination, reverse osmosis and many of the process industries since 1962. We asked Otto Zimmerman, marketing manager, why 316 stainless steel is their materials choice.

Otto: The properties of stainless steel make it an excellent option for magnetic pump construction. The material and chemical make-up give it a greater resistance to chemicals. The addition of molybdenum into the steel during production makes the steel more resistant to corrosion and oxidation. Pumps made with stainless steel hold up against solvents, acids, sea water, brine and more.

Stainless steel also features austenite, an alloy containing chromium and nickel. This combination of metals in the alloy gives the steel strength against high temperatures, pitting, and corrosion resistance. Other benefits from stainless steel:

Mag drive pumps made with stainless steel are highly adaptable to various applications in harsh environments. Stainless steel pumps are often used in industries like chemical production, food production, mining, pharmaceutical development and petroleum production.

The market for pumps for desalination will grow at double digit rates between 2016- 2010. Home to 20 percent of the world’s population but only 7 percent of its fresh water, China has embraced desalination. The central government’s Special Plan for Seawater Utilization calls for producing 3 million tons (807million gallons) a day of purified seawater by 2020—roughly quadrupling the country’s current capacity. Of China’s 668 largest cities, at least 400 already suffer from water scarcity. In 2015 China climbed to fifth in the world in installed desalination capacity; in 2013 it ranked a distant ninth.

The steady growth in the pharmaceutical and food industries demands for alloy pumps will provide some stability to counter the fluctuating demand in the oil and gas industry. The increase demand for use in coal fired power plants in Asia will be complemented by the growth of alloys used in gas turbine combined cycle plants in the U.S. As a result the use of alloys in pumps will increase at a rate higher than the total pump market.

As the U.S. switches from coal to gas a very large after market is developing for intake filters, valves, pumps, turbine and HRSG components. McIlvaine quantifies and tracks all the activity in Gas Turbine and Combined Cycle Supplier Program.

Of the 440 GW of gas turbine-generated power operating in the U.S. as of the end of 2015, 170 GW or over one-third is produced by the top ten producers.

Rank	Power Producer	Gas-Turbine Power Production
Rank	Power Producer	Total Capacity (MW)	Number of Facilities	Total Number of Units
1	Calpine	27,894	63	190
2	Duke Energy	25,061	42	242
3	NextEra Energy	20.735	18	132
4	Southern Co	19,919	30	138
5	NRG Energy	18,946	57	238
6	Dynegy	14,022	23	96
7	TVA	12,201	15	118
8	Berkshire Hathaway	11,812	24	107
9	Engie	10,260	19	57
10	LS Power	9,492	17	70

Most of these producers are large, U.S.-based energy companies. However, Engie (known as GDF Suez until April 2015) is a France-based multinational energy company and one of the largest independent power producers in the world. In 2011 and 2012, Engie doubled its U.S. power generation capacity through acquisitions. Berkshire Hathaway is essentially a holding company with an energy division which includes MidAmerican Energy (acquired in 1999), PacifiCorp (2005) and NV Energy (2013).

Identifying key decision makers has become particularly difficult over the last decade due to electricity restructuring in the U.S. The distinction between regulated and deregulated companies has become blurred. Power plants are bought and sold frequently as companies and utilities seek to make a profit in the new market-oriented environment.

McIlvaine has been tracking ownership changes and reports on them regularly along with identifying every new and existing power plant and project worldwide. For more information on 59EI Gas Turbine and Combined Cycle Supplier Program click on: http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/markets/28-energy/610-59ei

A Complex Multitude of Air Quality Decisions Need to Be Made by the World’s Coal-fired Power Plants

Coal-fired power generators supply more electricity than gas, wind or solar. Expenditures for new power plants continue at a rate in developing countries sufficient to ensure that the net world coal-fired generating capacity will continue to increase. Both existing power plant operators and new power plant developers have a large number of complex decisions to make about achieving air quality.

Power Plant Air Quality Decisions is a combination of alerts and decision systems, which helps the power plants make the best decisions and helps suppliers understand the issues and options.

Option A	Option B	Option C
Mercury Reduction
Activated Carbon	Chemicals in Fuel	Absorber Module
Mercury CEMS	Sorbent Traps	Both
DeNOx
SCR	SNCR	Catalytic Filter
SO₂
Wet Scrubbers	Dry Scrubbers	Direct Injection
Lime/Limestone	Sodium	Ammonia
Particulate
Precipitator	Fabric Filter	Hybrid
Opacity monitor	Mass Monitor with Physical Capture	Mass Monitor with Electronic Measurement/ Conversion
Discrete Particles	Condensibles	Total particulate
Hourly limits	Daily limits	Yearly Limits
Selenium Capture
Activated Carbon	Scrubber	Not Captured
HCl Capture
Chloride Salts in Dry Mix	Chloride Salts Washed from Gypsum	30% Grade Hydrochloric Acid

There are a number of other decisions which influence the above choices. If there is a market for flyash, it will impact the choice of mercury and SO₂ capture technologies. If the expected plant life is long, then the particulate and SO₂ technology selections will be different than if the remaining life is short.

There are many new developments which are likely to change future decision making. The catalytic filter with direct sorbent injection combines three devices into one. More importantly, it provides clean hot gas at 850°F and facilitates maximum heat recovery and energy efficiency.

The use of gasified waste as a “reburn” fuel reduces operating costs and reduces the CO₂ footprint. The use of treated municipal wastewater plus zero liquid discharge (ZLD) technology makes the plant a positive contributor to improved water quality in the region.

The extraction of rare earths and valuable metals from the ash promise to make coal-fired power an important resource.

A number of factors are causing major shifts in power plant valve purchases. These changes are being continually evaluated in N028 Industrial Valves: World Market.

· Regulations which impact the valve expenditures per unit of electricity capacity

Developing countries are moving ahead with coal-fired power plants. The U.S. is building a number of gas turbine-fired power plants while Europe is relying on growth in renewable energy. So the result of this activity is a regional shift in valve markets.

Regulations are impacting valve expenditures. Limits on water discharges are generating markets for zero liquid discharge (ZLD) systems. Concentrated wastewater is processed in evaporators. Steam is regenerated with compressors, so a number of high performance valves are needed.

Limits on SO₂emissions are creating large markets for knife gate valves used with lime and gypsum slurry transport.

The long term market outlook is most impacted by the trend toward generation technologies which needed lower investments in valves. Nuclear power plants need a greater valve investment than any alternative. They require as much ultrapure water for steam generation as do coal-fired power plants. They outstrip alternatives relative to combustion valve requirements due to highly critical control of the nuclear reaction process. Substantial investment in valves is also required for water intakes, cooling water and wastewater treatment. The fact that nuclear power is being phased out in some countries reduces the valve potential in those countries.

The valve investment per MW has been compared for each power generation technology and for each type of fluid being controlled. This ranges from lubrication valves where flows are measured in fractions of a liter per hour to large valves in scrubber recycle systems in coal-fired power plants where the individual valve must handle 50,000 gpm and where one system may need eight of these valves.

Selection of valves for water intakes and cooling is essentially the same regardless of the generation type. However, the nuclear sites need special safety protection.

Similar valves are used in the steam cycles of coal, nuclear, CCGT and biomass power plants. The difference is that gas turbine power plants generate only 40 percent of the power with steam.

Depending on the generator selection, the valve expenditure can vary by 400 to 1. With the trend toward renewables in Europe the power plant valve market in this region will shrink. On the other hand, the Asian predilection for coal will result in good growth in this region over the next decade. For more information on N028 Industrial Valves: World Market, click on: http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/markets/2-uncategorised/115-n028

The Flow Control Future Belongs to International Companies with Holistic and Proactive Development, Supply and Sales Programs

The $350 billion flow control and treatment market is undergoing a steady change caused by:

There have been many acquisitions in recent years as international companies seek to adjust to these changes. However, acquisitions are only part of the adaptation process. Some international companies are very successful in their expansion efforts. Others are not doing as well. The differences can be attributed to six factors.

1a	Holistic product development	1b	Proactive product development
2a	Holistic supply	2b	Proactive supply
3a	Holistic sales	3b	Proactive sales

Product development is much more important in flow control and treatment than in some other industries where the pace of change is slow. A holistic program takes into account the range of opportunities whereas a myopic program is the victim of an existing culture e.g., IBM and personal computers. W.L. Gore has developed unique products in retail clothing as well as flow control and treatment where it supplies pump packings, liquid filtration bags, gas turbine filters, dust collector bags, NO_x and VOC removal technologies and most recently a novel device for mercury removal. The company shows the holistic strength by the breadth of industries and products. It has demonstrated its proactive strength by unique approaches which take an industry in a different direction.

Companies without strong product development programs complain that the Chinese are stealing their designs. Thermo Fisher, with a strong development program, has built its main air pollution research center in China.

Supply includes manufacturing, purchasing, engineering and service. International flow control companies have been investing in manufacturing facilities in Asia. Filtration media companies have been generally successful in setting up plants in China. The biggest opportunity lies in a holistic approach which combines manufacturing with service. Pentair, for example, has worked on a repair business based on expensive valves which can be repaired rather than replaced. This initiative combines the holistic manufacturing/repair combination plus the proactive concept to take the industry in a new direction.

The potential for remote monitoring, service and then maintenance support can be realized with holistic and proactive approaches. This potential is highest in developing countries moving to high tech production e.g., pharmaceuticals in India, semiconductors in China and ultrasupercritical coal-fired power plants in Vietnam.

Most international companies are failing to take the proper holistic approach to sales. Divisions are not sharing intelligence or collaborating. Management has initiated top down approaches to take advantage of synergies but efforts have often been unsuccessful. There is considerable potential for multi-company initiatives. Various governments are helping. The Italian government has a strong initiative to promote industrial valve exports. The Industrial Valve Summit held last year in Bergamo, Italy was an effective promotional aid to the Italian valve manufacturing industry.

The McIlvaine Company is focused on helping international companies with all six of the important factors for international success. In addition, McIlvaine is creating unique tools which can be shared by suppliers and end users around the world. They include:

· Cross pollination among industries: McIlvaine conducted a cross industry pollination webinar on mercury removal for sewage sludge incinerators, coal-fired boilers, cement plants, waste-to-energy plants and natural gas pipelines. New developments applied to natural gas pipelines may be applicable to the other industries. Decision guides on NO_x, hot gas filtration and acid gas removal in multiple industries will be discussed in a series of webinars in March and April.

· White papers and analyses on products focused on the total cost of ownership.

· Identification of all supplier and end user parent companies by a corporate identification number with spelling in Chinese and English.

Utility E-Alert Tracks Billions of Dollars of New Coal-fired Power Plants on a Weekly Basis

· Bhel commissions 700 MW Unit at Bellary Coal-fired Power Plant in Karnataka, India

· HEP Proizvodnia proposes New 500 MW Unit to replace Plomin Power Station 1

· Existing Zabrze, Poland 98 MW Power Plant to be replaced with New 220 MW Co-fired Power Plant

· Two additional 300 MW Units proposed for Kakanj Thermal Power Plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina

· B&W awarded $80 Million Contract to supply Boiler to Philippines Power Plant

The 41F Utility E-Alert is issued weekly and covers the coal-fired projects, regulations and other information important to the suppliers. It is $950/yr. but is included in the $3020 42EI Utility Tracking System which has data on every plant and project plus networking directories and many other features.

This alert is being issued twice per month for suppliers in flow control and treatment who are coordinating market research with targeted pursuit of the larger and longer term orders.

The following projects each will result in millions of dollars of orders for flow control and treatment products. Each project has been rated. The opportunity size is rated from 1-10 with 1 being small and 10 being very large. The timing for flow and treatment orders has been provided by year, e.g. T 16 = timing of order is 2016.

Technip Awarded Fabrication, Installation Contracts by Statoil for Johan Sverdrup and Oseberg Vestflanken (T17)

Technip was awarded by Statoil ASA two lump sum contracts for infield pipeline construction for the Johan Sverdrup Development and the Oseberg Vestflanken 2 projects. The Johan Sverdrup field is one of the largest oil fields in the North Sea and was discovered late 2011. The first development phase is targeted to be on-stream in 2019. The Oseberg Vestflanken 2 project is a development of the oil and gas structures Alfa, Gamma and Kappa, approximately located at 8 kilometers northwest of the Oseberg field center. The contracts awarded to Technip cover: - fabrication and installation of 29 kilometers of plastic lined 16” water injection flowlines for Johan Sverdrup, - fabrication and installation of 7.5 kilometers of 14” production pipeline and 9 kilometers of 10” gas injection pipeline for Oseberg Vestflanken 2. While both projects will be executed by Technip’s operating center in Lysaker, Norway, the Group will leverage its unique subsea integrated approach from fabrication to installation: - the flowlines will be welded and fabricated at the Technip spoolbase in Orkanger, Norway, - installation will be carried out by Technip’s state-of-the-art reel-lay vessel Deep Energy, during the second half of 2017. Facts Oseberg Vestflanken 2: •Oseberg Vestflanken 2 is the first of three planned phases for developing the remaining reserves in the Oseberg area. •The licensees are: Statoil (operator) (49.3%), Petoro (33.6%), Total (14.7%) and ConocoPhillips (2.4%). •Location: In the North Sea, around 8 kilometers northwest of the Oseberg Field Centre. •Water depth: Around 110 meters. •Estimated life: Until 2040. •Development: Unmanned and remote-controlled wellhead platform. Two subsea wells to be drilled from existing subsea templates will be included in the project. All wells will be drilled by a jackup Cat-J drilling rig. Facts Johan Sverdrup •Located on the Utsira Height in the North Sea, 155 kilometers west of Stavanger. •The licensees are: Statoil (operator) (40,0267%), Lundin Norway (22,6%), Petoro (17,36%), Det norske oljeelskap (11,5733%) and Maersk Oil (8,44%). •The field will be developed in phases. Production start-up is scheduled for end 2019. •The first phase involves the establishment of a field center consisting of four platforms. •Oil from the field will be piped to the Mongstad terminal in Hordaland, the gas will be transported to Kårstø in Rogaland via Statpipe. •Peak production will be equivalent to 25% of all Norwegian petroleum production. •Water depth is 110 – 120 meters. •The field will be operated by electrical power generated onshore.

A number of recently completed and upcoming natural gas infrastructure projects are expected to increase the reach of natural gas produced in the Marcellus and Utica regions of the Northeastern United States. These projects are intended to transport natural gas from production centers to consuming markets or export terminals.

A climate test Canada has added to resource project reviews is being seen as one more obstacle holding back the nation’s fledgling liquefied natural gas industry, including a C$36 billion ($26 billion) project led by Petroliam Nasional Bhd.

State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) plans to start a new liquefied natural gas floating import terminal (FSRU) in the second half of this year, three LNG industry sources said. The floating import terminal is being supplied by U.S. gas shipping company Excelerate Energy, the sources said. Both ADNOC and Excelerate Energy did not respond to requests for comment. One of the sources said the terminal's import capacity will be about 1 million tonnes per annum. The UAE already imports LNG via a floating terminal supplied by Excelerate Energy off the coast of Dubai.

UK gas power plants are set to benefit from rising profitability as oversupply pushes input costs down, although more closures are predicted in the coal sector as emissions costs soar.

India has invited investments from the United Arab Emirates in a slew of oil projects as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's drive to attract greater foreign participation in upgrading and expanding the South Asian nation's stretched infrastructure.

Canada is committed to fast-tracking infrastructure investments in the province of Alberta that is reeling from the global slump in energy prices

Investment vehicles that funneled more than $100 billion into U.S. pipelines, storage and other facilities during the shale boom now face an existential crisis after oil tumbled so low that it upended assumptions about risks and returns they offer.

U.S. oil and gas pipeline companies including Williams Companies Inc and Kinder Morgan Inc have contracts worth billions of dollars that might be at risk as Chesapeake Energy Corp aims to slash its debts amid collapsing energy prices.

Luxembourg-based M&G Chemicals announced January 20 that it will increase the capacity of the facility it is building in Corpus Christi, Texas, to manufacture the packaging material polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and its primary raw material purified terephthalic acid (PTA). Marco Ghisolfi, M&G Chemicals CEO announced in a written statement the increases of PET capacity from 1 million to at least 1.1 million tons per year and PTA capacity from 1.2 million to 1.3 million tons per year. "We decided to increase our investment in order to make it even more efficient. Most of the increased capacity has already been committed to the market. A portion of the capacity will also be used to displace our current imports from Mexico." Given the dramatic decline in crude oil prices, PET has become even more competitive to other packaging materials such as glass and paperboard, Ghisolfi explained. "We believe we will see additional replacement by PET of other materials," he added. The $800 million integrated facility, which M&G announced in 2011 and is building on a 410-acre site in Port Corpus Christi, is scheduled to open during the second half of this year. It will be the world's largest PTA/PET plant, Ghisolfi told DownstreamToday. M&G also produces PET at plants in Suape, Brazil and Altamira, Mexico. The Texas facility will deploy M&G's Easy-Up PET and IntegRex PTA technologies, M&G stated. According to the company, the PET part of the facility is on schedule but two suppliers of critical PTA equipment are indicating some delays that the company is evaluating. M&G said that it is working on back-up plans to ensure a seamless PET start-up.

South Korea's LG Chem said on January 26 it had decided to drop a plan to jointly build a $4.2-billion petrochemical complex in Kazakhstan, citing a prolonged slump in oil prices and a sharp increase in facility investments. In 2011, the chemical company said it would construct the complex near the western Kazakh city of Atyrau as part of a 50-50 joint venture with two Kazakh companies. The plan involved building ethylene and polyethylene plants with annual capacities of 840,000 tonnes and 800,000 tonnes, respectively. LG Chem also said it had cancelled its plan to invest in the polysilicon business, citing difficult prospects for a market turnaround in the short term. In 2011, the company said it would build a 5,000-tonne-per-year plant, at a cost of 491 billion won ($408 million), to manufacture polysilicon, which is used to make solar panels.

Alberta will provide financial incentives for companies willing to invest in petrochemical facilities as the Canadian province attempts to counter an oil industry downturn with the expansion of other sectors.

Gunvor Group has completed its acquisition of the Kuwait Petroleum Europoort refinery in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, from Kuwait Petroleum International, allowing the refinery to continue to operate in line with Gunvor’s integration and optimization strategies. “We are pleased to welcome the Rotterdam facility into the Group,” said Gia Mai, Gunvor’s Chief Investment Officer. “The Rotterdam refinery will enhance Gunvor’s existing refining operations, particularly through synergies with our Antwerp facility, while complementing our global trading activities.” As a part of the transfer, Kuwait Petroleum Europoort will now be named Gunvor Petroleum Rotterdam and will be integrated into Gunvor’s existing European refinery network, which includes refineries in Antwerp, Belgium and Ingolstadt, Germany, both wholly owned by the Group since 2012. Gunvor is one of the world’s leading independent commodities trading houses, and with the acquisition of the Rotterdam facility is now responsible for more than 1,000 refining jobs in Europe and almost 300,000 b/d of installed refining capacity.

Haldor Topsoe A/S has signed contracts with Technip and Duslo s.a. of Slovakia for a new ammonia plant that will be constructed adjacent to an existing fertilizer complex in Šaľa, a town located 65 kilometers from Bratislava, the capital of the Slovak Republic. As part of the project, Haldor Topsoe will supply licensing and basic engineering as well as proprietary catalyst and equipment for the ammonia plant, while Technip has been awarded the contract to develop EPC for the new plant. The plant is expected to go on-stream in early 2018 and will be designed to meet a daily production capacity of 1600 MTPD. Consequently, the new plant is set to become an important part of the local economy of Slovakia by providing economic growth as well as a reliable source to downstream urea and ammonium nitrate that can benefit productivity in the agricultural sector. The new ammonia plant will be designed based on the latest proprietary Haldor Topsoe technology, namely the Haldor Topsoe Exchange Reformer (HTER) technology that ensures an efficient and reliable conversion of the feedstock which improves plant economics significantly and minimizes the environmental impact of the plant. From a technical perspective the HTER consists of a number of catalyst filled tubes installed in a refractory lined shell located in parallel with the main reformer and utilizing the waste heat available from the secondary reformer. In this way the layout not only reduces the size of the main reformer and its natural gas fuel consumption, but also minimizes steam generation from the plant. “The project in Slovakia is unique because it represents the first entirely new ammonia plant to be built in Europe over the last decades. The ammonia industry is highly competitive and even the slightest changes in performance can impact the bottom line significantly. Improvements in production technology such as HTER are paving the way for improved production economics. This applies to new plants, but is also relevant when it comes to revamps of older plant facilities in Europe. In fact a revamp with a HTER can enhance capacity in an existing plant with as much as up to 25%”, says Per Bakkerud, Group Vice President in Topsoe’s Chemical Business Unit.

Enersul Receives Equipment Supply Contract from Petrofac International (UAE) (T16)

Enersul Limited Partnership of Calgary, Alberta announced that it has been awarded an equipment supply contract from Petrofac International (UAE) LLC, for the PETRONAS’ Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project in Pengerang, Johor, Malaysia. This contract is for the supply of five (5) Enersul GX™ sulfur granulation units. This project will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2016. The RAPID project consists of a world scale integrated site which includes refining activities and petrochemicals production. The refinery will have a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), while the steam cracker’s combined annual production is anticipated to be more than 3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of ethylene, propylene and C4-C6 olefins products. Products from the refinery and steam cracker will be the feedstock to produce premium differentiated specialty petrochemical products. Enersul is the world’s leading supplier of customized sulphur processing and handling equipment. Enersul also operates sulfur processing and handling facilities in Canada and the Middle East.

U.S. refiner PBF Energy's logistics arm is doubling its nationwide fuel storage capacity with over 4 million barrels of tanks in the Philadelphia area, giving it greater freedom to trade in a key market.

Faced with record low prices for heavy crude, Canadian energy companies are sacrificing other parts of their business to keep higher-cost oil sands production going and safeguard the billions already invested in these multi-decade projects.

Topsoe Part of Consortium to Develop $1 Bln Large-scale Fertilizer Plant in Tanzania (08, T17)

A consortium consisting of Haldor Topsoe A/S, the German company Ferrostaal Industrial Projects GmbH, and the Pakistani industrial enterprise Fauji Fertilizer Company Ltd, is going to develop a large-scale fertilizer complex in Tanzania together with the state-owned Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation. The project is currently the largest investment project in Tanzania with an investment sum of more than US$1 Billion, and the project is being discussed as part of an official state visit to Tanzania from Germany’s President Joachim Gauck. The fertilizer complex is expected to be on-stream in 2019/20, producing 1.3 million tonnes of fertilizer per year for both the local and international market. Agriculture in Tanzania will stand to benefit in particular. The sector makes up approximately one third of Tanzania’s gross domestic product, with more than 75% of the population working in the agricultural sector. It is expected that 5,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created during the construction and operating period. The consortium is providing support through the entire project development, including financing, technology, product-offtake as well as construction, maintenance and operation of the plant. As part of this, Topsoe’s role will be to deliver license, engineering, hardware and catalysts for the fertilizer plant that will be located in the South of Tanzania, in the Mt. Wara area, where there are existing port facilities and connections to a future natural gas grid. The consortium emerged as the winner of a tender carried out by the Tanzanian government in 2013 and is currently in exclusive negotiations with gas suppliers regarding the supply of gas for the fertilizer complex. Furthermore, Tanzanian shareholders and off-takers will also play a significant part in the further development and realization of the project.

Iran holds a stake in a refinery project in Malaysia and is considering taking stakes in projects in five other countries, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company (NIOEC) was quoted as saying.

JGC Awarded EPC Contract for a Gas Processing Plant Project in Bahrain (07, T17)

JGC Corporation announced January 29 that it has received a contract to build the Gas Processing facilities in Bahrain. The Gas Processing Project, located in the Bahrain oil field area south of Awali, near Jebel Al-Dukhan, the Kingdom of Bahrain 20 kilometers south of Manama and operated by the Bahrain National Gas Expansion Company (B.S.C.)., calls for engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for the Gas Processing Plant with a daily throughput capacity of 350 MMSCFD. The project is scheduled for completion in September, 2018. The value of the lump-sum turnkey basis contract is 40 billion yen . This project is intended to construct a plant for recovering high-value-added petroleum constituents (LPG, and naphtha) contained in petroleum-entrained gas which have not been recovered in the past. It is expected that, by exporting recovered petroleum constituents as commercial products, this plant will contribute to the development of the oil and gas industry in Bahrain. For this project, the client adopted a front end engineering design(FEED) Design Competition in which bidders carried out the FEED, and then prepared EPC proposals based on their FEED. This required that the contractor should have a high level of ability to offer technical solutions in all processes ranging from front end engineering to construction. JGC has a history of successfully completing numerous projects in the Middle East, which is their most important market, and Bahrain is planning a number of refinery projects.

Fluor Corporation announced February 8 that the Cutbank Ridge Partnership selected Fluor to execute engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) for Saturn 15-27 Phase 2 Sweet Gas Plant Project near Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada. Fluor booked the undisclosed contract value in the fourth quarter of 2015. The project is part of the Cutbank Ridge Partnership Program to develop natural gas and natural gas liquid (NGL) production, with three similar projects: Sunrise 04-26, Tower 03-07 and Saturn 15-27 Phase 2. Fluor is currently executing the EPCM for all three projects. The new facilities will receive sweet natural gas, remove water and hydrocarbons, chill and compress the gas to meet transmission pipeline requirements and recover NGL from the gas streams. The plants will have the capacity to process a combined additional 800 million cubic feet of gas per day. The Cutbank Ridge Partnership is an agreement between Mitsubishi Corporation and Encana Corporation which involves the long-term development of natural gas resources in Northeast British Columbia. SATURN 15-27 SWEET GAS PLANT Land Use Setting March 31, 2015 Table 5 Project Schedule Project Component Estimated Date Pre-Construction Phase Submission of the Project Description to the EAO March 2015 Anticipated EAO decision regarding section 10(1)(b) July–August 2015 Engineering Design (Front End Engineering Design and Detailed Design) Q4 2014 to Q2 2015 Receipt of OGC Permits and Approvals Q3 2015 Construction Phase Start Construction Q3 2015 Commissioning 2018 Operations Phase Start Operation 2018

Saudi Aramco Gas Operations has successfully deployed a corporate procurement agreement and long-term service agreement with the world’s largest heavy industrial gas turbine supplier, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Ltd. (MHPS). The first-of-its-kind agreement between the two companies will provide field maintenance, monitoring and extensive technical support of gas turbines by domestically sourced maintenance, parts management, parts supply and repair, thereby creating local jobs. The agreement assigns MHPS to expertise the maintenance of their equipment installed at Saudi Aramco facilities, including generators and all auxiliary systems under the partnership of its operating facilities. This includes management of Saudi Aramco’s fleet of MHPS gas turbines and spare parts sharing, covering the gas turbine generator and auxiliaries, including storage, inventory management, and logistics by MHPS. A local repair facility — with 50% Saudization — is established to facilitate all types of gas turbine parts repair, including a training and simulation center to provide in-Kingdom training for Saudi engineers and technicians. To date, Mitsubishi’s local affiliate, MHI Power Systems Co. LLC, has delivered 11 M501F gas turbines to Saudi Aramco, producing almost 2,000 megawatts.

Fluor Corporation announced January 11 that ICA Fluor, its industrial engineering and construction joint venture with Empresas ICA, S.A.B. de C.V, was authorized by Pemex Transformación Industrial (Pemex) to proceed with the engineering, procurement and construction (Phase II) of the Madero Clean Diesel project at the Madero Refinery in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Fluor booked its $500 million share of the contract in the fourth quarter of 2015. ICA Fluor will provide detailed engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and start-up services for two 25,000-barrel-per-day diesel hydrodesulfurization trains and associated facilities. The project also includes installation of new hydrogen, sulfur recovery and sour water treatment plants, the revamp of the existing diesel hydrodesulfurization unit, and offsites and utilities to integrate the new production facility with the existing refinery. The project is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2018. The project is part of Pemex’s clean fuels program, its comprehensive development and modernization program, and is designed to increase Mexico’s production of ultra-low sulfur diesel in accordance with applicable environmental standards.

Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announces that, as a result of an international tender, its subsidiaries Tecnimont S.p.A. and KT Kinetics Technology S.p.A have signed an EPC contract with SOCAR POLYMER for the realization of a polyethylene plant on a Lump Sum Turn-Key basis. The plant will be located in the Sumgayit Petrochemical Complex around 30 km North of Baku, Azerbaijan. Total contract value is approximately US$180 million. SOCAR POLYMER is a Company controlled by SOCAR, the national company of Azerbaijan active in the oil, gas, petrochemicals and fertilizer sectors. The Project’s Scope of Work envisages the provision of complete engineering services, equipment and material supply, construction activities up to start up and guarantee test run. The plant will be developed on the basis of the Ineos Innovene S technology and will have a capacity of 120,000 t/y (tons per year). This award follows the contract granted in April 2015 by the same client for the realization of the Sumgayit’s polypropylene plant, thus highlighting the Group’s reliability and competitiveness with a key client such as SOCAR. With this achievement Maire Tecnimont Group consolidates its leadership in the polyolefins field, by further strengthening its presence in the Caspian Area, where the Group can boast a long-lasting and successful track record.

Topsoe, the Danish technology, catalyst and services vendor to the petrochemical and refining industry, will open permanent offices in Tehran. The decision is made based on the company’s deep-rooted knowledge of the sector and long-standing relations with Iranian companies. Simultaneously, the company can celebrate the signing of a contract with Badr-e-Shargh Petrochemical Complex for licenses, engineering, proprietary equipment, materials and catalyst for their new methanol plant in Chabahar, Iran. It will be the first plant in a new industrial zone in the area. Topsoe’s Tehran office will be led by Managing Director Jens Ole Madsen, who has broad management and sales experience from many years with Topsoe and other engineering and cleantech companies. For more information, please visit www.topsoe.com

Technip has been awarded a lump sum contract by Deep Gulf Energy III, LLC (“DGE”) for the development of the South Santa Cruz and Barataria fields. These ultra-deepwater fields are located in Mississippi Canyon, offshore New Orleans, in the Gulf of Mexico, in approximately 2,000 meters of water depth. The contract consists of: - Project management and engineering services, - Fabrication and installation of approximately 23 kilometers of pipe-in-pipe flowline, - Design, fabrication and installation of flowline end terminations, - Fabrication and installation of jumpers, - Pre-commissioning for the flowline. Covering all aspects of the field development from engineering to design, manufacturing and installation, this new award highlights Technip’s unique vertical integration in the subsea business environment. Technip's operating center in Houston, Texas, USA, will manage the overall project. The flowline system will be fabricated at the Group’s spoolbase in Mobile, Alabama, USA. The offshore installation is expected to be performed in the second half of 2016 by Technip’s vessel the Deep Blue, the Group’s flagship vessel for deepwater pipelay.

Subsea 7 S.A. has been awarded a sizeable(1) three-year frame agreement, with four one-year options, for six North Sea clients: Chevron North Sea Limited, Dana Petroleum (E&P) Limited, Hess Denmark APS, Nexen Petroleum U.K. Limited, Talisman Sinopec Energy UK Limited and TAQA Bratani Limited. Under this frame agreement, Subsea 7 will continue to provide Diving Support Vessel (DSV) services on a year-round basis, as well as associated project management and engineering services to over 40 facilities in the North Sea. This award follows on from the original frame agreement awarded in 2009. One of the key advantages of this collaborative approach is that it allows all operators to benefit from lower costs realised through the sharing of resources. The scope of work includes diver and ROV inspection, repair and maintenance, subsea construction and decommissioning services, and dedicated long-term project support. Project management and engineering work will be managed from Subsea 7's Aberdeen office. (1) Contract term: Subsea 7 defines a sizeable contract as being between US$50 million and US$150 million. Frame agreement estimated values are not included in backlog or revenue until call-off contracts are signed

Saipem has been awarded new E&C onshore contracts for a total amount of approximately €360 million. Among the most significant awards was a contract with Ital Gas Storage (IGS) for the development of gas storage facilities in Cornegliano Laudense, located in the north of Italy. Saipem will carry out engineering, procurement and construction work for the gas storage facilities, which will consist of two clusters of well-heads, connected by a gas pipeline, and the corresponding surface storage facilities. The facilities will have a gas injection/withdrawal peak design capacity of 28 million standard cubic meters per day and will be completed by the second half of 2018. The storage facilities will be connected to the Italian gas network, which in turn is connected to the largest Italian and European high pressure gas pipelines.

Summit Midstream Partners, LP announced February 9 that it has commenced operations of the Stampede Lateral crude oil transmission pipeline in North Dakota and is currently in the final stages of completing the nearby Little Muddy crude oil transmission pipeline, which includes an interconnect with Enbridge's North Dakota Pipeline System.

- First-of-its-kind service agreement is a new model for offshore drilling industry - Diamond Offshore's Pressure Control by the Hour™ model includes performance incentives to reduce downtime and improve system reliability for Diamond Offshore and its customers - Under the arrangement, GE Oil & Gas will provide "engageDrilling™ Services" for Blowout-preventer (BOP) systems on Diamond Offshore's four 6th-Generation drillships, including management of maintenance, certification and reliability - BOP systems included in the arrangement will be owned by GE

Venture Global LNG, Inc. has announced that its subsidiary, Venture Global Calcasieu Pass, LLC, has entered into a sales and purchase agreement ("SPA") with Shell NA LNG LLC ("Shell"), under which Shell has agreed to purchase one million tonnes per annum ("MTPA") of liquefied natural gas from Venture Global Calcasieu Pass's LNG export facility under development in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

Petrofac, a leading service provider to the international oil & gas industry, awarded a contract to Bertin Technologies, a subsidiary of CNIM group, to supply, install and commission a pioneering gas leak tracking system, Second Sight®, at the Saudi Aramco owned Jazan refinery 1.

Initial Testing Shows Significant Increase in Production for Stripper Wells While Reducing Hydrogen Sulfide, Iron Sulfide Scales and Bacterial Deposits

Honeywell's UOP technology and modular equipment, combined with process controls, double refinery output of high-quality gasoline to help meet growing domestic demand

Medallion Pipeline Company, LLC, a subsidiary of Medallion Midstream LLC, announced on February 9 a binding Open Season which solicits long-term commitments from shippers for firm transportation capacity on the third major expansion of Medallion’s existing crude oil pipeline system. The current project proposed by the Open Season will further extend and expand the geographic scope of the existing 320-mile system: •The “Howard Lateral” is a proposed 45,000 barrel per day bi-directional crude oil pipeline which will extend from multiple origin points in Howard County, Texas approximately 49 miles to the southeast to a new point of interconnection on Medallion’s Wolfcamp Connector mainline system in Glasscock County, Texas. •An integral part of the overall project is a proposed 30,000 barrel per day expansion of Medallion’s existing Wolfcamp Connector mainline system which originates at the Garden City Station in Glasscock County and extends approximately 60 miles north to the Colorado City hub in Scurry County, Texas. Medallion is conducting the binding Open Season to obtain long-term volume commitments for firm transportation capacity on the Howard Lateral and the Wolfcamp Connector expansion (referred to as the “Expansion Project”). The Open Season provides an opportunity for interested shippers to acquire long-term firm capacity, under minimum 10-year term Transportation Service Agreements and other eligibility requirements, as a Committed Firm Shipper on the Expansion Project. The Expansion Project is expected to commence full commercial operations in the second quarter of 2016, although certain segments of the Expansion Project may commence service on an interim basis on an earlier date. Open Season Process The Open Season began on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 and ends on Friday, February 26, 2016. All bids must be submitted to the Medallion representative listed below by 5:00 pm Central Standard Time on or before February 26, 2016. Bona fide prospective Shippers may obtain copies of the Transportation Service Agreement, as well as the proposed Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Texas Railroad Commission Tariffs (the “Confidential Open Season Documents”), by contacting the Medallion representative listed below. Medallion requires a prospective shipper to execute a Confidentiality Agreement prior to delivery of these documents. More information concerning the Expansion Project, and the binding Open Season is available on the Medallion website www.medallionmidstream.com or by contacting the Medallion representative listed below. Medallion Pipeline Company, LLC 222 West Las Colinas Blvd., Suite 1140E Irving, Texas 75039 Attention: Paige Snider Phone: 972-746-4401 Email: info@medallionmidstream.com

Florida Southeast Connection, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Inc. on February 3 announced that it has received a Certificate of Public Need and Necessity from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct and operate a proposed underground pipeline to transport natural gas to southern Florida. The pipeline facilities will help ensure Florida maintains access to clean, affordable U.S.-produced natural gas needed to meet the state's growing electricity needs. The approval provides the company with authorization, subject to certain conditions, to prepare for construction, which is expected to begin this spring. The estimated $550 million Florida Southeast Connection pipeline would interconnect with the two existing systems in Central Florida and a new interstate pipeline expected to be built and operated by Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC. The Sabal Trail pipeline would originate in Alabama to access the abundant natural gas reserves in various regions of the U.S. It would terminate at a new Central Florida Hub south of Orlando, Fla. Sabal Trail is a joint venture of Spectra Energy Partners, LP, NextEra Energy and Duke Energy. The Florida Southeast Connection pipeline route originates in Osceola County and runs 126 miles south and east, terminating at the FPL Martin Clean Energy Center in Indiantown, Fla. The company expects FERC to issue a Notice to Proceed with Construction this spring. Construction of the underground pipeline and associated facilities is expected to take approximately one year. It is scheduled to enter service in 2017. More than 60 percent of the electricity used by Floridians is generated by natural gas, making it the leading fuel for energy generation in the state. Florida is currently served by only two major pipeline systems, and both are nearing full capacity.

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