Assiut Oil Refining Company (ASORC), a subsidiary of Egyptian General Petroleum (EGPC), has selected Bechtel for the process design of a delayed coking unit at the Assiut refinery in Egypt.
As part of the license agreement, Bechtel will implement ThruPlus delayed coking technology for the $1.5bn refinery modernization program.
The new delayed coking unit is intended to upgrade heavy oil into high-value, light hydrocarbon liquids while increasing the efficiency of the refinery.
ASORC chairman Nagi Abd El-Ghaffar Kassab said: "The addition of a modern delayed coking unit was determined to be the most economical option to allow the refinery to increase complexity and eliminate heavy fuel oil product."
The Assiut Refinery upgrade program is aimed at increasing the production of petroleum products to meet Upper Egypt's growing demands while maintaining environmental standards.
Bechtel subsidiary Bechtel Hydrocarbon Technology Solutions president Dan Olsen said: "Implementation of Bechtel's ThruPlus technology combined with our delayed coking expertise and extensive experience of our people will increase the efficiency of the Assiut refinery.
"The use of ThruPlus technology at the Assiut refinery will also enhance efficiency of EGPC operations as they already use the technology at a refinery in Alexandria operated by another subsidiary, Middle East Oil Refining Co."
In 2015, Technip signed a joint agreement with EGPC and ASORC for the modernization of the Assiut refinery.
The modernization program is intended to maximize diesel production using modern refinery technologies in order to meet the rising petroleum products demand.
In addition to ensuring project financing, Technip will be responsible for the engineering procurement and construction (EPC) phase of the project.
SOUTH KOREAN builder Daewoo Engineering and Construction announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iranian energy company Bahman Geno to build an oil refinery in Iran.
The tentative US$10bn deal will see the companies promise to cooperate to build a 300,000 bbl/d capacity refinery in Bandar Jask, southern Iran. Fellow builder Hyundai Engineering and Construction is also seeking to join the project.
According to reports from Business Korea, Bahman Geno issued a letter of intent to Daewoo E&C and Hyundai E&C in April for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC). It also reported an additional US$1.5bn has been awarded to Daewoo E&C for road infrastructure to the plant.
The Chemical Engineer contacted Daewoo E&C for starting and completion dates for the project, but did not receive a reply.
Italian renewable energy firm Enertronica has acquired a US$7.98 million 6MW PV plant in Namibia, under a 25-year PPA with NamPower, at an initial value of 1.37 Namibian dollars per kWh (US$0.090 per kWh).
The project was carried out through Enertronica acquiring 70% of Sertum Energy Namibia, a special-purposes company in possession of the authorisation securities and the incentive tariff signed with NamPower.
Enertronica itself is responsible for providing, in EPC modality, the plant with an investment that will be financed by local banks, according to the company. The US$7.96 million investment (€7 million) should be achieved by the end of this year. The EPC of the plant will be taken care of by Enertronica’s South African subsidiary, who is currently building two PV plants in South Africa with a combined capacity of around 177MW. The balance of systems, including mono-axial tracking systems, will be provided by the EMS Pty company, an offshoot of the Enertronica Group.
Vito Nardi, Enertronnica CEO said in a statement: “By achieving this operation, Enertronica starts a new business line. Being understood that the group will always focus on the realization on behalf of third parties, in EPC modality, of large photovoltaic power plants, Enertronica, through this acquisition, starts building its own plants that will later be placed on a secondary market. The construction of these plants will have a synergistic effect on all the companies of the group and will allow an increase in the margins associated to the construction phase. Moreover, important gains will be expected during a potential assets sale. Focusing on this subject, it is highly likely that similar opportunities will be seized by Enertronica and by the other Group companies in 2016.”
Zenit Enerji is offering a financing package for rooftop solar as the first Turkish company. BayWa r.e. also plans to enter the Turkish market. A new wind licensing round will start in June.
With an expected growth of 600 MW for 2016 the photovoltaic market is also gaining speed. At the moment around 370 MW are installed. The main focus so far are ground mounted installations and larger rooftop installations. But the residential market and smaller commercial rooftops are also seeing greater customer interest, according to Yonca Kilic, speaker of Zenit Enerji. Under the new daughter company Sunroof Energy the Izmir based system integrator just introduced a financing and full service package for residential and commercial rooftop installations from 2 kW up to 200 kW. The payback period is up to five years and installations are provided by local contractors. "We also widened the range of the systems we are offering", Murat Veyisoglu, Business Development Manager said. Among them are SMA, Huawei, TBEA, Schneider Electric, Canadian Solar, Solar Word, Talesun, Yingli Solar and First Solar.
BayWa r.e. also wants to enter the growing Turkish solar market. "We came here to ICCI to negotiate with potential local distribution partners", Managing Director Friedhelm Enslin said. According to Giovanni Capussela, General Director of Italian based Greenercom investment conditions in Turkey improved over the last months, due to a new regulation, that enforces project developers to finish their projects before selling. "Turkey is by far the most interesting country in Europe for solar investments", Capussela said. Ioannis Lysaridis, Country Manager of tracker manufacturer Mecasolar expressed a similar estimation. The Spanish based tracker manufacturer just finished a 5 MW project with its local EPC partner Seiso.
Another trend this year`s ICCI saw was the increasing number of Iranian solar companies and officials looking for international and Turkish investment partners. "The Iranian wind and solar market is ready to start", Roberto Cognetti, Chairman of the Board of Tehran based HG Engineering & Investments said.
Around 14.000 professionals and 279 exhibitors joined this year`s ICCI. This was a little lesser than expected due to the cancellation of several exhibitors especially from China for expected safety problems in Turkey. ICCI 2017 will take place from May 3-5 2017.