Enerflex opens new manufacturing facility at Brisbane, Australia
On Thursday 29th July 2010, Enerflex Ltd. held a cocktail reception to launch the Company’s new Brisbane manufacturing facility, located at Trade Coast Central, Eagle Farm, Queensland. The guest of honour for the event was Queensland’s Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy and Minster for Trade, as well as the Labor State Member for Stretton, the Honourable Stephen Robertson MP.
Enerflex is the single-source supplier for natural gas compression, oil and gas processing, refrigeration systems and power generation equipment – plus in-house engineering and mechanical services expertise. Its broad in-house resources give the capability to engineer, design, manufacture, construct, commission and service hydrocarbon handling systems. Enerflex's expertise encompasses field production facilities, compression and natural gas processing plants, CO2 processing plants, refrigeration systems and power generators.
The formalities commenced with General Manager, Chris Lewis welcoming clients, staff, key suppliers and industry professionals to the office opening. Enerflex President and CEO, Blair Goertzen and Managing Director AustralAsia, Steve Dropulich, then reflected on the company’s history and the success that has led to the expansion and development of the new Brisbane office and workshop. The Honourable Stephen Robertson gave a keynote address and congratulated the Company on its success. In particular, he acknowledged Enerflex’s involvement in the development of the Coal Seam Gas (CSG) industry in the East Coast of Australia. To finish up, President, International, Bill Moore and Executive Director, AustralAsia, Kelvin Andrijich presented a range of prizes to the winners of the Enerflex raffle draw for attendees on the day.
The Enerflex facility opening was held in the new custom designed and built 3,650m2 workshop, providing ample space to showcase the various entertainment activities for the event. Attendees enjoyed performances by musical duo Zion and a spectacular display of aerial acrobatics by tissue performers Aerial Angels. Further entertainment included blue screen photography allowing guests to put themselves at an Enerflex project site and a miniature golf putting green. A talking point of the event was the custom-built tunnel entrance, designed and constructed to look like a pipe, indicative of where Enerflex products and
services interface with our client’s infrastructure.
The new facility was designed with the firm intention of becoming Enerflex’s first dedicated re-packaging and reassembly facility outside of North America. The new custom built facility is located on the corner of Schneider Road and Amy Johnson Place in Trade Coast Central. The office is located in close proximity to the Brisbane Central Business Centre, Brisbane Airport, Port of Brisbane and linked to major Brisbane Arterials. On the back of the huge market opportunity driven by the burgeoning Coal Bed Methane fed LNG industry in Queensland, the differing regions of Enerflex collectively and collaboratively designed the facility to suit the expected quantity and specification of the compressor packages to be delivered to our customers.
Furthermore, the size and configuration of the facility allows Enerflex to leverage off this core competency and further supply TEG and process equipment packages, undertake revamps and compressor optimization and execute fabrication and assembly works as part of turnkey and integrated projects.
Date 30th July 2010
CRC-EVANS Announces Acquisition by Stanley Black & Decker
CRC-Evans Pipeline International has announced that CRC-Evans has been acquired by Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK) for $445 million in cash.
Stanley Black & Decker and CRC-Evans are complementary international companies. The acquisition should enhance CRC-Evans' global growth strategy and its services to customers worldwide with best-in-class expertise, expanded infrastructure, equipment and services. R&D and technology leadership will continue to be emphasized, and Stanley Black and Decker's resources should enable CRC-Evans to achieve even higher performance standards.
"Our customers can expect that their relationships with CRC-Evans will not be interrupted," said CRC-Evans CEO Tim Carey. "It's business as usual. Our approach to the business will remain the same, and our operations will continue to be everything they expect - and more."
The acquisition of CRC-Evans is a significant step in Stanley Black & Decker's ongoing strategy to diversify its revenue base and build its Infrastructure Solutions growth platform through acquisitions. CRC-Evans will be an integral part of this platform.
CRC-Evans CEO Tim Carey adds, "Now we - and our customers - can look forward to a new chapter in the CRC-Evans story in concert with Stanley Black & Decker."
Date 2nd August 2010
Emerson opens $30 million global innovation center in Marshalltown, Iowa
Emerson Process Management, a global business of Emerson (NYSE: EMR), today announced the opening of the state-of-the-art Emerson Innovation Center – Fisher® Technology in Marshalltown, Iowa. This $30 million investment is designed to help customers tackle the toughest engineering challenges facing today’s process manufacturing and energy industries.
The world’s appetite for energy is driving the development of next-generation nuclear plants, mega-train liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, and large oil and gas refineries, which require larger capacities and highly engineered control valves and instrumentation. The 136,000-square-foot Emerson Innovation Center is designed to help companies deliver record volumes of natural gas and other forms of energy and consume less in the process, reducing costs and making plants run quieter and with reduced greenhouse emissions.
The center is home to the world’s largest “flow lab” that, for the first time, enables large valves to be tested in real-world plant conditions to ensure production reliability, efficiency, environmental compliance, and safety before being installed at a customer site.
“No other facility in the world can do what our Marshalltown Emerson Innovation Center can do – from seismically qualifying a 35,000-pound control valve to testing a two-story-tall valve that controls the flow of feedstocks for a petrochemical plant,” said Steve Sonnenberg, president of Emerson Process Management. “This $30 million investment in innovation directly reflects Emerson’s commitment to helping our customers run smarter plants that improve production quality, lower operations and maintenance costs, and enhance environmental performance and worker safety.”
Emerson, whose Fisher valves are installed in more than 90 percent of the world’s nuclear facilities, is able to provide seismic qualification of its valves at the new Innovation Center, which is critically important to making nuclear plants safe and reliable during earthquakes. Emerson was recently awarded contracts to provide its Fisher control valves for Westinghouse Electric Company’s newest generation of nuclear power plants.
“We are very pleased to be working with Emerson Process Management for control valves on our AP1000™ nuclear power plant,” said William Rice, Westinghouse director of engineering. “We plan to take advantage of this new facility to prove out critical operating characteristics, under actual passive heat-removal system service conditions, for one of Fisher’s unique large control valves designed to meet our requirements.”
The center’s flow lab has enough capacity to fill an Olympic-sized pool in just over eight minutes, or a Goodyear blimp in about 12 seconds. Control valves can be tested at pressures up to 3,500 psi (pounds per square inch), the equivalent of providing enough force to support a sport utility vehicle on a postage stamp. Meanwhile, the center also is home to a 26,000-square-foot sound chamber in which Emerson can develop and verify noise levels of new devices before a customer’s plant is built.
Located in Marshalltown, Iowa, home to Fisher, which was acquired by Emerson in 1992, the center required almost 2 million pounds of process piping, more than 1,600 feet of 30-inch and 36-inch pipe, seven underground air storage tanks each more than 150 feet long, and more than 4,500 cubic yards of concrete.
Date 25th May 2010
SABIC and SINOPEC mark start-up of commercial production at new petrochemical complex in Tianjin, China
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC) announced today the start-up of commercial production at the newly constructed petrochemical complex at Tianjin, China.
The two companies formed SINOPEC SABIC Tianjin Petrochemical Company (SSTPC) in November 2009, as a 50/50 joint venture to build and operate the new 3 million tons per year petrochemical complex. Pre-production operations at the plant began in January of this year.
A special celebration of the new production coming onstream at the complex was held in the presence of HH Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Thenayan Al Saud, Chairman of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu and Chairman of SABIC. The event was also attended by HE Yahya bin Abdul-Kareem Al-Zaid, Saudi Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, and senior Chinese government officials and SINOPEC executives.
Prince Saud praised the ever-growing economic relations between Saudi Arabia and China, and said that both countries were experiencing high growth rates and had proven their ability to withstand the global financial crisis. He also noted that these achievements were possible because of the rational policies adopted by the government of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn ‘Abd Al-‘Aziz Al Saud, and the long-term economic reforms pursued by the Chinese government.
Prince Saud also commended the close relations between SABIC and SINOPEC and noted that the new joint venture would enhance the competitiveness of both companies in the global market and create the potential for more such projects. The joint venture strengthens SABIC’s presence in the strategic Asian market, he also remarked.
Date 11th May 2010
G4S Technology and CNL form Integration Partnership
G4S Technology, a global market leader in providing fully integrated building security solutions, is pleased to announce it has formed an integration partnership with CNL, a leader in Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) software.
At the heart of the G4S Technology solution is the Symmetry™ Security Management System (SMS). Symmetry SMS offers users the next generation of security solutions, bringing the core aspects of building security to intelligent, unified solutions. The partnership will ensure seamless bidirectional integration between CNL’s IPSecurityCenter™ situation management software and Symmetry SMS.
The CNL integration with G4S Technology will allow customers complete situational management capabilities, process guidance, auditable compliance and the ability to work with technologies such as GIS mapping, GPS tracking, PIDS and analytics, all managed seamlessly.
Dave Ella, Chief Technology Officer, G4S Technology, comments “This partnership is in-line with our view of providing leading technology solutions to manage entire Physical Security operations through a single interface. Extending our ability to work with other technology partners allows us to provide best of breed solutions, ensuring the security and safety of people, property and assets.”
“CNL has long demonstrated its commitment to work with leading suppliers in the Global Security industry. With over 30,000 systems deployed in over 70 countries G4S Technology has shown it has a compelling suite of leading products” comments Matthew Kushner, President, CNL mericas. “Physical Security operations have three core elements, people, systems and processes. If we look at a vast majority of security operations around the globe these elements are working in isolation. By allowing these systems to work in a cohesive and intelligent way, we can significantly harden security, reduce costs and reduce risks.”
Date 27th April 2010
KBC and Hyperion Systems Sign an Exclusive Multi-Year Reseller Agreement
KBC Advanced Technologies plc (KBC) and Hyperion Systems Engineering Ltd (Hyperion) announce the signing of an exclusive multi-year reseller agreement with Hyperion Systems to resell our Petro-SIM™ and KBC SIM™ reactor simulation models within the territory of Russia and the CIS countries.
“This partnership reflects our continued commitment to our customers in Russia and the CIS countries,” commented George Bright, KBC CEO. “Combining our leading simulation software with Hyperion’s proven leadership in supporting software solutions to a broad range of business sectors in the region will help our customers achieve NextGen Performance.”
Symeon Kassianides, Hyperion Chairman and CEO stated, “I am delighted to see our experience and investment in Russia working as a platform for growth, with the addition of KBC’s world class solutions to our portfolio for the regional upstream, midstream and downstream petroleum and gas market”
Hyperion Systems Engineering Ltd (www.hyperion.com.cy) is the world’s leading independent provider of systems engineering solutions and services to the process industries. A privately held company with 16 years’ experience in the Oil and Gas, Petrochemical, Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Food and Beverage, Power, Water and Metals industries, Hyperion has a well-established reputation for groundbreaking innovation, helping clients to drive down costs and dramatically increase operational efficiencies. Hyperion is certified to the ISO 9001:2000 standard, by EuroCert. For more information, visit www.hyperion.com.cy or www.hyperionsystems.ru.
Since 1979, KBC consultants have provided independent advice and expertise to enable leading companies in the global energy business and other processing industries manage risk while maximising the value from their assets.
In times of economic uncertainty and increasing environmental pressure, the KBC proprietary methodologies and innovative tools guide clients’ key strategic decisions, prioritise and implement initiatives that maximise return on investment, and improve operational performance. For more information, visit www.kbcat.com.
Date 9th March 2010
Shell Global Solutions and Merichem form an alliance to offer Merichem’s
technologies for treating hydrocarbon streams
Shell Global Solutions US Inc. and Merichem Company (Merichem) have formed
an alliance to allow Shell Global Solutions to market and license Merichem’s technologies for treating hydrocarbon
streams in combination with its own technologies to customers worldwide. The Merichem technologies are
designed to remove mercaptans, carbonyl sulphide and other contaminants from hydrocarbon streams.
Refineries will now be able to benefit from a one stop shop to utilise these liquid hydrocarbon treating
technologies. This alliance enhances the bundled offering opportunities for Merichem and Shell Global Solutions
to offer:
THIOLEX™ • REGEN® • REGEN® ULS • MERICAT™ • MERICAT II™ • NAPFINING™ • EXOMER™ •
AQUAFINING™ •MERICON™ • CHLOREX™
Merichem, through its wholly owned subsidiary Merichem Chemicals & Refinery Services LLC (MCRS), provides
the management of caustic streams ranging from technology for on-site treatment to the purchase and beneficial
reuse of the caustic streams; development, engineering, fabrication and licensing of innovative technologies for
the removal of hydrogen sulphide, mercaptans and other impurities from hydrocarbon streams; and the production
of catalysts for treating processes and naphthenic chemicals for a variety of industries.
Tom Varadi, MCRS’s Vice President and General Manager, said: “We are pleased to align with Shell Global
Solutions, as Merichem’s liquid hydrocarbon treating technologies combine well to create complete solutions
reinforced by Shell’s customer service coverage.”
Pervaiz Nasir, Shell Global Solutions’ Manager for Gas and Liquid Treating Technologies in the Americas, said:
“Merichem has an innovative technology mix that complements our own technology portfolio. The combination
of Merichem’s technologies with those already offered by Shell Global Solutions strengthens the credibility of this
alliance and ensures our customers receive best in class solutions.”
Date 11th November 2009
Kongsberg Maritime DP Simulator becomes first to achieve Class A DNV
Approval
Latest round of simulator approvals includes DP and Ice Navigation
Kongsberg Maritime is proud to announce that its Polaris Dynamic
Positioning simulator is the first to achieve DNV approval to the
stringent Class A standard. The leading simulator developer has also
achieved DNV approval to Class A standards for its Bridge Operation
simulator including class notification of DP, Ice Navigation, High Speed
Craft and Tug simulation.
The new DNV certification for the Kongsberg Maritime Polaris Dynamic
Positioning simulator and Polaris Ships Bridge simulator is according to
new standards laid out in DNV Class A - Standard for Certification of
Maritime Simulators No. 2.14 October 2007, which is based on the
requirements of STCW Convention, Regulation I/12. The purpose of the DNV
Class A approval is to ensure that the simulations provided by the
simulators include an appropriate level of physical and behavioural
realism in accordance with recognised training and assessment objectives.
"The Class A standard was developed as the pinnacle in simulation realism
and quality," explains Capt. Aksel D. Nordholm, Manager - Simulator
Certification, DNV SeaSkillT. "Kongsberg Maritime is a key participant in
the scheme as the company recognises the importance of providing its
customers and indeed the shipping and offshore industry with the best
possible training tools. The new Class A approvals reflect the high levels
of simulator realism and pedagogical value in the Polaris DP and the
Polaris Ship's Bridge Simulator."
The latest approvals, which were awarded on 8th October 2009, come in
addition to existing DNV Class A approvals for the Polaris Ship Simulator
and the large portfolio of cutting edge Kongsberg Maritime engine room
simulators, which became the first to achieve DNV approval to Class A
standard, in January 2008.
"The Polaris Dynamic Positioning Simulator plays an important role in the
recognised and certified DP training programs used by training institutes
and offshore companies around the world. Whilst our Polaris Ship's Bridge
Simulator, now with DNV classification for ice navigation, is used by many
to train on navigation in extreme conditions such as the Artic waters,"
comments Terje Heierstad, Product and Technology Manager, Simulation,
Kongsberg Maritime. "For that reason we are constantly improving our
simulators to harness the latest technology, in order to add training
opportunities and value by providing the most realistic simulation
possible."
Date 20th October 2009
