EUROPE INDUSTRIAL BRIEFS

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Researched by Industrial Info (Sugar Land, Texas).

Alternative Fuels

Wartsila to Build Six Biomass Power Plants in Germany

Finnish energy company Wartsila will use its Biograte high combustion efficiency and low emissions technology in a $134 million contract for Germany’s Bayernfonds BestEnergy to build six turnkey 5.6 MW biomass plants. The plants will burn wood residues from local forests and the electricity generated will be fed into the main grid. The commercial viability of them plants is being supported by the German EEG law that promotes investments in renewable energy. Depending on permitting, construction should start in July and be completed by the end of 2008.

Areva Expands Nuclear Fuel Cycle Production Capacities

Aiming to maintain its No.1 global position in conversion of uranium ore into hexafluoride in the nuclear fuel cycle, French company Areva has launched Comurhex 11 to build new $820 million conversion facilities at its Malvesi site in Narbonne and Tricastin. Construction will start this year and first industrial production in 2012 at 15,000 tons per annum (tpa) which may be upped to 21,000 tpa to meet market requirements. Areva is also scaling up enrichment capacity and modernizing fuel fabrication facilities.

Power

Foster Wheeler Expands IGCC Plant in Sicily

Foster Wheeler’s (FW) Italian subsidiary has a contract from ERG Raffinerie Mediterranee for the engineering, procurement and construction management services for the expansion of integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) complex at the Priolo refinery in Sicily. Included is a third gasifier using GE/Texaco technology. Facilities will be added to the existing gasifiers and membrane packages will be installed to produce 20,000 nominal cubic meters per hour of hydrogen. The new third train capacity will be 146.5 tons per hour. FW built the original 550MW plant in a joint venture in 2000.

Community Power and Heat from Fortum’s CHPP Plant

A $295 million combined heat and power plant (CHPP) will be built by Finnish company Fortum next to the Soumenjoa power plant in Espoo, Finland. The 234 MW project will be completed by the end of 2009 and will use natural gas as a fuel and will have a district heating capacity of 214 MW, enough to electrically heat 100,000 one family houses and the district heating (steam) production to heat 85,000 houses. There will be a 10% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to traditional energy generation.

Terminals

CB&I Work on $500 Million UK Contract in LNG Terminal Expansion

The regasification capacity at the UK’s Isle of Grain LNG terminal will be increased for the third time by another 50% to 14.8 million tons per annum (mtpa) by 2010-2011. Currently the terminal, with a capacity of 3.3 mtpa, is undergoing a second expansion to 9.8 mtpa to operate in 2008. National Grid will invest $612 million on capacity increases so that the terminal can import 20% of UK gas demand by 2010. Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CB&I) have a $500 million contract will construct a jetty to handle LNG vessels up to 265,000 cubic meters and will build a 190,000 cubic meter full containment LNG storage tanks and gas processing infrastructure.

Petrochemicals

Ineos Adds Norsk Hydro PVC to Growing European Capacity

Ineos Capital will buy Norsk Hydro’s polymers business (Kerling ASA) for $898 million which is subject to approvals. The UK group will add Kerling to Ineos Vinyl’s assets (previously EVC) to create a major PVC group with Assets across Europe with an estimated annual PVC capacity of 1.5 million tons. The $36 billion privately held group is planning g to build a new cracker at its largest PVC plant at Wilhelmshafen in Germany.

Petroleum Refining

$1 billion Promised to Upgrade Serbian Refineries

Rompetrol (Romania) will invest up to $1 billion over three years to modernize the capacities of the Serbian Naftna Industrija Srbija (NIS) utility if they win the bid for NIS’s privatization. The Serbian company owns refineries in Pancevo, Novi Sad and Belgrade. Until the finalization of the modernization process, NIS products not complying with European standards will be processed in the Romanian company’s Petromedia.

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