Page 46 - Plastics News July 2017

BUSINESS NEWS

Aramco seeksto invest in India Yokogawa partners with

Sinopec
ndia’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has sadi that
IAramco was requesting exclusivity in negotiations okogawa Electric Corporation's subsidiary, Yokogawa
on taking a stake in the YChina, has signed a partnership agreement with
estimated US$40 billion Sinopec Engineering (Group) Co., Ltd. (SEG). Based on
refinery and petrochemicals this agreement, the two companies will strive to build
project planned in the a long-term collaborative relationship.
western Maharashtra state.
SEG is an engineering company of the Sinopec Group,
The Saudi firm’s involvement one of the world's largest oil refining and petrochemical
had been discussed for some enterprises. The company designs and builds oil
time but the impetus was refineries and petrochemical plants both inside and
increased by the signature outside the People's Republic of China. By working
on the same day of the joint together on projects in the Middle East and Southeast
venture (JV) agreement between the three state firms Asia, SEG and Yokogawa have established a strong
behind the landmark project – which would create the relationship based on trust. SEG's decision to sign
world’s largest greenfield refinery with capacity of 1.2 this partnership agreement comes in recognition that
million bpd. India Oil Corp. (IOC) will initially hold a 50% Yokogawa is a reliable partner with the engineering,
stake, with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and project execution, and other capabilities needed to
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) owning 25% expand its business. Based on this agreement, which
apiece. “Saudi Aramco is interested to be a partner with shall remain in effect for three years, Yokogawa will
the mega-refinery from the early stages of conception to provide on a priority basis its production control
implementation,” Pradhan was quoted as saying in the
local press.

The project is scheduled for completion by 2022 and is
envisaged encompassing a naphtha cracker and aromatics
and polymers units. Aramco has unsurprisingly named the
Asian powerhouse as among the key target geographies
in the company’s plan to increase worldwide refining
capacity from 5.4 million bpd to 8-10 million bpd by
the middle of next decade. The incentive to invest
downstream has been intensified by recent conditions of
world oversupply of crude and bearish forecasts of long-
term future demand. The state firm has also discussed
involvement in the expansion of BPCL’s Bina refinery
in the central Madhya Pradesh state from 120,000 bpd systems, safety instrumented systems, field devices
to 310,000 bpd and in a 1.9 million tpy petrochemicals such as transmitters and analyzers, SCADA software,
complex planned in Gujarat in the north-west by state- advanced process control packages, and other solutions
owned ONGC. Pradhan pointed noted during the JV signing for SEG's oil refining and petrochemical projects.
ceremony India is the world’s third largest crude consumer, Under the terms of this agreement, and based on its
while the potential for demand growth is evident in per- corporate brand slogan of Co-innovating tomorrow®,
capita energy consumption of only around 25% of the global Yokogawa will expand its business by working together
average. According to the BP survey, oil consumption with SEG to create value.
surged by 7.8% to 4.5 million bpd in 2016.

Plastics News | July 2017 46