Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announces that its main subsidiaries Tecnimont S.p.A. and KT-Kinetics Technology S.p.A. have signed with the Client SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic) Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refineryan EPC contract (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) as an important part of the execution of the Modernization and Reconstruction works for the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery, in Azerbaijan.
Overall contract value equals to approximately $800 million.
The scope of the project entails the installation of several new grass root process units, the relevant utilities and storage with the final aim to upgrade the refinery facilities to be capable of processing 7.5 MMTPA of crude oil, while meeting quantity and quality requirements of products both to feed Azerikimya revamped petrochemical plant and to produce Euro V quality automotive transportation fuels. Among the new process units in the scope it is worth mentioning a Naphtha Splitter, a Diesel Hydrotreater Unit, an Isomerization Unit, a Hydrogen Production Unit, two PSA Units, a C4 Hydrogenation Unit, a MTBE Unit, a Sour Water Stripper Unit with Sulphur Recovery Unit.
Process technologies involved are coming from the major refining Licensors including KT-Kinetics Technology, part of Maire Tecnimont Group.
The project is expected to be completed within 41 months from the signing date.
The project is a major milestone for Maire Tecnimont Group’s Oil & Gas business since it represents a flagship award in downstream refining. Moreover, it confirms the orientation of the Group to leverage its distinctive competencies, technological know-how and synergies between its EPC contractors.
CAIRO – Egypt's president again accused unknown parties of being responsible for the 2016 murder of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni, alleging a failed plot to sabotage bilateral relations during a Wednesday ceremony inaugurating a massive gas project with Italian energy firm Eni.
The offshore Zohr field, discovered by Eni in 2015 and touted as the largest ever in the Mediterranean, began production last month after being brought online in record time despite the temporary cutting of diplomatic ties over the Regeni affair. It contains enough gas to eventually allow Egypt to cover its own needs and export the fuel.
Speaking at the ceremony in Port Said, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi thanked Eni and the Italian government for persevering. Italy had withdrawn its ambassador in April 2016, saying Egypt was not cooperating in the Regeni investigation. An ambassador returned last September.
"We will not forget Italy's standing alongside us despite the Regeni case," el-Sissi said, addressing Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi by his first name. "Do you now know why they wanted to undermine relations between Egypt and Italy? So we don't get to be here," he added.
El-Sissi also repeated his pledge that Egypt would help bring the killers of the 28-year-old researcher to justice, and that his family in Italy should know that "we will not forget this incident, until we find the culprits and bring them to account."
Regeni was a Cambridge University doctoral student researching labor movements in Egypt when he was abducted in Cairo in 2016. His body was found along a road several days later bearing marks of extensive torture, of the kind that activists and rights groups say is widespread within Egyptian detention facilities.
Egypt's security services have denied any involvement in his abduction or death.
In a letter published on Jan. 25, the second anniversary of Regeni's disappearance, Rome prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone said the motive behind the killing was "the research activity Giulio conducted in the months of his stay in Cairo," and that he had been under police surveillance until his disappearance.
Regeni had been researching labor movements in Egypt, a sensitive subject that would have drawn scrutiny from security agencies. He went missing in central Cairo when police were out in force to prevent protests on the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising. His main contact in the unofficial street vendors' union later said he had told police Regeni was a spy.
Egypt has been waging a fierce crackdown on dissent since the military overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013. Thousands of people have been jailed, mainly Islamists but also several prominent secular activists. Pro-government media routinely portray Egypt as the target of foreign conspiracies aimed at destabilizing the country.
Russia’s energy monopoly Gazprom has welcomed Germany’s approval of a multibillion-dollar gas pipeline to Europe that is viewed with suspicion by Moscow’s geopolitical rivals.
The Nord Stream 2 project announced Wednesday that it received a construction and operation permit from a northern German regional mining authority for a 55-km section of the gas 1,200-km pipeline off the Baltic Sea coast.
“This key decision opens the possibility of starting construction of the new Nord Stream-2 offshore gas pipeline’s most important section in German territorial waters,” Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller was cited as saying by Interfax on Wednesday.
The Stralsund Mining Authority issued the permit less than a week after top diplomats from the United States and Poland expressed strong opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
“We see it as undermining Europe’s overall energy security and stability and providing Russia yet another tool to politicize energy as a political tool,” U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson said at the time.
OMV announced on January 29, 2018, that it has started the largest Austrian seismic campaign in the company’s history.The requisite indicators for a discovery and the subsequent testing for economic feasibility should ensure the sustainable security of supply of natural gas well into the future.
The latest seismic survey will explore the geological subsurface at depths of 4,000 to 6,000 meters and will provide information on the layers of the earth that potentially contain gas.In the winter months of 2018 a total of around 600 square kilometers will be measured on an area stretching from the north-east of Vienna via the majority of the Marchfeld through to north-east of Schönkirchen.
Following the successful preparatory work, the actual survey has already started with up to 4 fleets, each with 3 impulse generator vehicles. These special vehicles generate impulses that are reflected by the geological layers in the subsurface and recorded by geophones.Once the seismic survey is complete, the data will be processed and a 3-dimensional image of the subsurface produced. This image will be evaluated and supports the OMV geologists to discover possible accumulations of natural gas.At present OMV produces around 10% of Austria’s natural gas consumption. Annually Austria requires around 8 bn cubic meters of natural gas for manufacturing, power stations, heating plants, traffic, transport and services.
Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said on January 28, 2018, that Russia's gas major Gazprom is interested in developing 4 gas fields in Iran.
The official said: «Iran has signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Gazprom for carrying out studies on development projects of Farzad A, Farzad B, North Pars and Kish gas fields and Gazprom has signaled keenness to develop the fields.»He said Iran has recently signed an MoU with Gazprom for Iran LNG project. The Russian company is expected to submit the result of its studies by late March 2018, said Zangeneh.
Iran needs $200 billion of investments for upstream and downstream projects by 2021. The country, the 3rd largest producer in the OPEC, hopes its new Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) will attract foreign companies and boost oil and gas production after years of underinvestment.
The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, witnessed signing two urea selling and supplying contracts for Suez for Methanol Derivatives project, as well as two supply commercial propane supply contracts for Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (Sidpec)’s Polypropylene new project, Egypt Oil & gas reports.
The methanol derivatives contract was signed by Head of Suez Petroleum Services Company (SUPSC), Gawdat Al Sadeq, Head of Abu Qir Fertilizers Company, Saad Abu El Maaty, and Head of Misr Fertilizers Production Company (MOPCO), Mohamed Abady.“The project is seen as a new leap in the Egyptian petrochemical industry as it is the first of a kind to produce methanol products used in making fertilizers, ready mix concrete, and adhensives,” El Molla pointed out. The project represents an example of integration between the oil and gas sector’s companies.
The project’s investments reach around $50 million and aim at producing 18,000 tons of urea-formaldehyde concentrate (UFC), 85, 43,000 tons of UFC 65, and 26,000 tons of sulphonated naphthalene formaldehyde per annum.Meanwhile, Sidpec’s project was signed by Mohamed Abady, Head of Sidpec, Hesham Radwanm, Head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Company (Gasco), and Abdel Megeed Hegazy, Head of the Egyptian Ethylene and Derivatives Company (ETHYDCO).
The project comes as a part of the national petrochemical strategy, with designed capacity of around 450,000 tons of polypropylene and investments exceeding $1 billion. Polypropylene derivates are used in several economic industries.Sidpec’s project shows the integration between the sector’s firms as it receives propane from Gasco and electricity from ETHYDCO.