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Middle East

Iraq invites foreign companies to develop Nassiriya oilfield, refinery project

The contract would come in a package that would include the construction of a refinery and will have more favorable terms than the previous service contracts that Iraq signed with international oil companies, a domestic oil industry official said, without giving further details.

Saudi Aramco chooses engineering contractors for Jazan refinery project

The Jazan refinery and terminal project is a 400,000 bpd refinery with associated terminal facilities on the Red Sea near Jazan. Scheduled for completion in late 2016, the refinery will process Arabian Heavy and Arabian Medium crude oils, and produce gasoline, ultra-low sulfur diesel, benzene and paraxylene.

Air Products forms Saudi industrial gases venture

Air Products says the new industrial gases venture complements the company's existing presence in Saudi Arabia, noting that it also has nearby offices in Doha, Qatar, and Dubai and works closely with the Middle East region's petrochemical, gasification and refining industries.

Foster Wheeler to build packaging center for Saudi chemical complex of Sadara

The packaging center, expected to be completed in the second half of 2014, will serve as a logistics handling hub. The facility will handle packaging, storage and loading of chemical products and performance plastics for road and rail transport within Saudi Arabia and for export to overseas markets.

Citgo reports fire at Corpus Christi refinery in Texas

The fire started earlier this week but resulted in no injuries, a Citgo official said. An investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing, the official said. The Corpus refinery has a capacity of 163,000 bpd.

OPEC lowers global oil demand forecasts for 2012

Economic growth is mostly set to come from emerging markets, but these countries are reliant on exports to developed economies, which have performed sluggishly this year. Moreover, improvements in the global economy are dependent on the success of government and central-bank action.

Dow Chemical agrees to market, sell products from Saudi Sadara venture

Products covered under the new agreement include polyethylene (PE), propylene oxide, polyether polyols, methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) and toluene diisocyanate (TDI) aromatic isocyanates, propylene glycol, butyl glycol ethers, amines and polyolefin elastomers.

Saudi Aramco investigates Tyco valve contracts after bribery charges

Saudi Aramco has suspended further dealings with Tyco Valves & Controls Middle East while it looks into contracts it signed with the firm between 2003 and 2006, according to a source. Tyco pleaded guilty last week in a US court to paying bribes to officials employed by Aramco.

HP Construction: Middle East

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Meche, Helen

KAR Group has announced the third expansion of its Kalak refinery to 185,000 bpd. Process units and utilities are being provided by Ventech Engineers LLC of Pasadena, Texas. Ventech has provided modul..

HP Reliability: Equipment life extension involves upgrades

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Every plant wants to get more service life from site machinery. Since about 1990, quite a number of start-up consulting companies have formed to advise clients on equipment life extension. These compa..