Page 15 - DMEA Week 36

DMEA
neWs in Brief
DMEA
has selected honeywell UOP’s C3 Ole ex technology to produce 565,000 mt per year of polymer-grade propylene for a proposed plant in Arzew, Algeria.
In addition to technology licensing, honeywell is providing the basic engineering design, services, equipment, catalysts and adsorbents for the plant. When completed, it will represent UOP’s second C3 Ole ex unit in North Africa, following an earlier award in Egypt.
“ e Ole ex technology will enable STEP to convert domestically produced propane into propylene, a primary component in
a wide variety of plastic products rapidly growing in demand in the region,” said Bryan Glover, vice-president and general manager of honeywell UOP’s Petrochemicals &Re ning Technologies business. “STEP will further convert the propylene into polypropylene plastic to supply customers in Algeria, along the Mediterranean, and in other markets like Europe.”
honeywell UOP’s C3 Ole ex technology uses catalytic dehydrogenation to convert propane to propylene and is designed to
have a lower cash cost of production and a higher return on investment compared to competing for dehydrogenation technologies. Its low-energy consumption, low-emissions and fully recyclable, platinum-alumina-based catalyst system helps minimise its impact on the environment. e independent reactor and regeneration design of the Ole ex technology helps maximize operating exibility and onstream reliability. Ole ex technology has been selected for 63 out of 84 dehydrogenation projects globally since 2011, including propane (C3), isobutane (iC4) and mixed C3/ iC4 service.
In 2018, honeywell announced that Sonatrach will use technologies from honeywell UOP to produce cleaner-burning transportation fuels at its Skikda Re nery on the eastern Mediterranean coast of Algeria. Sonatrach will use UOP technologies, including C4 Ole ex, at its Arzew facility to produce 200,000 mt per year of methyl tert-
butyl ether (MTBE), a high-octane gasoline additive that reduces emissions in automobile exhaust.
Sonatrach Total Entreprise Polymères (STEP) is a joint venture between Algeria’s State Oil Company Sonatrach S.p.A. (51 per cent) and France’s Total S.A. (49 per cent). e STEP joint venture was created in 2018 to carry out the joint petrochemical project in Arzew.
honeyWell
PiPelines
TPDC clarifies the East
Africa crude oil pipeline
snag
e Tanzania Petroleum development Corporation (TPdC) yesterday assured the public that challenges facing the Uganda- Tanzania crude oil pipeline were normal
- and that the project would be implemented according to plan.
e TPdC managing director, dr James Mataragio, made the assurance on Monday in a public notice, which was in response to reports that the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project was moving at a snails pace.
he clari ed that EACOP partners has so far spent a long time negotiating nancial matters before striking a deal.
“ e EACOP project partners are still discussing the challenges and hopefully they will soon strike a deal to implementing the ambitious crude oil pipeline project,” reads the public notice in part.
“TPdC on behalf of the United Republic of Tanzania would like to assure the public that these are normal challenges in the implementation of strategic projects.”
According to him,the project partners still have intention to cooperate with Tanzania and Uganda in implementing the project.
erefore, he called on the public to remain patient as the project partners and the two governments conclude negotiations.
e TPdC boss was referring to a decision made in the last two weeks by the French
oil giant, Total E&P, the lead developer on EACOP, to “decommission” both activities and sta on the project.
e rm cited “uncertain business” environment in Uganda following a collapse last week of a deal for Tullow Oil Company
to sell its stakes to Total and China National O shore Oil Company (CNOOC), technically referred to as a farm-down.
Total E&P, which rooted for the Tanzanian route as choice for the pipeline, established Total East Africa Midstream B.V as the interim developer for the crude oil export pipeline from hoima in mid-western
Uganda to Tanga Port at the Indian Ocean in Tanzania.
e decommissioning of activities and
sta on the oil pipeline project is a result of the ongoing stando between the Ugandan government and the joint venture partners/oil companies; Total E&P, Tullow Oil, and Cnooc, over a list of demands and objections by both sides.
e stalemate climaxed with the collapse of Tullow Oil rm’s deal to sell 21.5 per cent of its stake in Uganda to Total E&P and Cnooc, a er the Sale and Purchase Agreements of the transaction expired on the same day.
Chief among the objections is the tax
bill of $185 million, which President Yoweri Museveni, riding on advice tendered by technocrats in Uganda Revenue Authority and Petroleum Authority of Uganda, has insisted the oil companies must pay.
is is besides the Capital Gains Tax of $167m assessed on an earlier Tullow sales transaction.
e back-to-back developments, including collapse of the farm-down deal and suspension of activities on the pipeline, is a major setback to Uganda’s revised 2023 oil production time line.
e news is also a heart break to service providers, who over the years mobilised nancing, logistical capacity and trained sta ers as they prepared to cash in on chain business in the nascent sector.
TPdC is the government entity that was chosen to coordinate the supervision of the project’s activities on behalf of the Tanzania government.
the CitiZen
Week 36 12•September•2019
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