Dow Chemical News

Crowley Maritime Corporation has appointed John Claybrooks to the newly created position of chief marketing officer, leading the company’s strategic marketing and communications to enhance and differentiate the Crowley brand across its worldwide services.In this new role, Claybrooks leads all marketing and communications functions for the global enterprise, including the harmonization of integrated marketing and communications for all business units and geographies. His strategic…

Louisiana-based shipbuilder Metal Shark has delivered a custom welded-aluminum pilot boat to the Brazos Pilots Association in Freeport, Texas.The new vessel, “Brazos Pilot,” is a 64’ x 19’ Defiant-class monohull pilot boat designed by Metal Shark and built at the company’s Franklin, Louisiana shipyard. This new pilot boat is intended to replace the pilots’ smaller, single-engine 40’ pilot boat, improving safety for crews while enhancing service to operators and providing around…

Saudi Arabia's Sadara Basic Services, fully owned by Sadara Chemical Co, has signed agreements covering storage facilities and port services, it said on Sunday as the firm prepares to start producing petrochemicals by the end of this year. Sadara Chemical is a $20 billion petrochemical joint venture between national oil giant Saudi Aramco and U.S. firm Dow Chemical. The partners have said the venture will go ahead on schedule despite slumping global oil and petrochemical prices. Sadara will sell some tank storage facilities to Jubail Chemical and Storage Services Co (JCSSC) at cost for around 1.76 billion riyals ($470 million), it said in a Saudi bourse statement.

Marine terminal operator DP World, UAE Region, has reached an agreement with an affiliate of The Dow Chemical Company based in Jebel Ali to support the distribution of Dow‘s products. The contract was signed recently by Mohammed Al Muallem, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of DP World, UAE Region, and Moosa Al-Moosa, President of Dow UAE in Jebel Ali in the presence of senior officials from both organizations. Under the agreement, DP World will provide Dow with value-added services such as Jebel Ali Port’s storage facilities and shipping to its customers globally.

The U.S. Energy Department on Wednesday approved liquefied natural gas exports from two projects, as lawmakers pressed the administration to move quickly to clear a backlog of applications to ship gas abroad. Sempra Energy's Cameron LNG facility in Louisiana and Carib Energy's small-scale export project in Florida are the first projects to receive final permits from the department to export gas to non-free-trade-agreement countries since Cheniere's Sabine Pass project was approved in 2012. Until now Sabine Pass was the only project fully permitted at the federal level. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted the $10 billion Cameron project a construction license in June after it was issued a conditional export permit by the Energy Department earlier in the year.

U.S. regulators on Thursday approved Sempra Energy's bid to build a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Louisiana, opening the door to a significant expansion of the American role in global gas trade. Sempra's Cameron LNG facility was the second gas export project to get the green light to begin construction from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the first since 2012, when FERC permitted Cheniere's Sabine Pass project. With the FERC approval in hand, Cameron will likely soon receive its final permit from the Energy Department allowing the facility to export gas to all countries, which would make it the only project outside of Sabine Pass fully licensed at the federal level.

As a polar vortex snarled North America's railroads and upended freight flows this winter, everyone from agricultural giant Cargill to Dow Chemical rushed to secure the next-best form of hauling goods: trucks. In what trucking executives described as an unprecedented bidding frenzy, spot market rates surged by as much as 20 percent to record highs in the first three months of 2014 as shippers sought to minimize sometimes weeks-long delays in rail service. "We've received letters from CEOs from major chemical companies asking us if we can do more," said Bill Marchbank, vice president of operations at Houston-based Trimac Transportation, a leading bulk shipper of liquid chemicals and industrial minerals.

Neptune  Advanced Subsea Flow Assurance Insulation System Named “Best Production Technology” of 2012. The winner of the 2012 World Oil Award for Best Production Technology is a breakthrough in subsea insulation developed by Dow Oil & Gas, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW), in cooperation with multiple organizations, including Trelleborg Offshore, a leading provider of polymer and syntactic foam-based coating solutions for the offshore oil and gas industry.

High pressure waterjetting/waterblasting and industrial vacuum equipment play an integral role in industrial cleaning/recovery and surface preparation. The 2011 WJTA-IMCA Conference and Expo, to be held September 19-21, 2011, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, will focus on sharing information about the technology, equipment, and safety practices with industrial cleaning contractors and company representatives who contract for these services. “We invite all industrial cleaning contractors and end users who use the equipment or who are considering purchasing or renting the equipment to attend,” says association manager Ken Carroll.

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen will honor the recipients of the 2008 Biennial, Rear Adm. William M. Benkert, Marine Environmental Award for Excellence by presenting the awards during an American Petroleum Institute luncheon in . Silver Award -- U.S. Honorable Mention -- Todd Pacific Shipyards Corporation, Seattle, and SeaRiver Maritime Inc., . The award recognizes maritime industry businesses and corporations involved in marine facility or vessel operations that have demonstrated sustained excellence and outstanding achievement in protecting the marine environment. The award program also encourages innovations in operations, maintenance, cargo handling, refueling, training and the sharing of best practices throughout the industry.

The Dow Chemical Company has awarded Aker Solutions a contract to provide engineering services for Dow supplied technologies. Aker Solutions' engineering services are expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2008. The scope of the project includes basic engineering and design services, led by Aker Solutions in . The project will also exhibit Aker Solutions global capacity with deliverables from an integrated project team in Zoetermeer and . The contract was awarded to Aker Solutions US, Inc., a subsidiary of Aker Solutions.

HOUSTON - Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Galveston temporarily closed the Intracoastal Waterway in Freeport, Texas Tuesday night after a barge collision occured in the Kirby Barge Fleeting area. The tug boat Drum Point, was pushing two barges loaded with Naphtha, when the collision occurred. The third barge contained more than 1 million gallons of Cumene. The collision resulted in a fracture to the hull of the barge containing Cumene. However, no cargo was spilled into the water, and the barges carrying Naphtha were only slightly damaged. The Coast Guard established a safety zone in the waterway surrounding the damaged barge. The Coast Guard also temporarily closed the Intracoastal Waterway until the barge could be moved to repair facilities at the Dow Chemical Plant.

Kirby Corp. reported second quarter earnings per share of $.44 versus $.39 a year ago, beating a Wall Street consensus estimate of $.40, reported Lazard Frères & Co., LLC. The marine transportation segment benefited from 94 inland barges leased from Dow Chemical Company in February, the Lazard report said. Lazard noted that the weakness in the company's core chemical and petrochemical business is expected to continue at least through the third quarter, while refined product, fertilizer and black oil volumes should continue to be strong. The company is expected to benefit from lower interest rates and a declining debt balance. As a result, Lazard has raised its 2001 EPS estimate to $1.60 from $1.53 and its 2002 EPS estimate to $1.72 from $1.69.

Dow Chemical Company and its subsidiary Union Carbide Corporation have filed lawsuits in the US against Odfjell and three other major parcel chemical tanker carriers, Stolt-Nielsen, Tokyo Marine and JO Tankers in relation to violations of antitrust laws in the US, and claimed damages as a consequence thereof. The lawsuits have not yet been served on Odfjell. On September 29, Odfjell ASA's wholly owned subsidiary Odfjell Seachem AS entered into a voluntary plea agreement with the US Department of Justice. Odfjell Seachem AS agreed to plead guilty to a single-count violation of the US Sherman Antitrust Act for allocating customers and thereby fixing prices on certain contracts of affreightment from 1998 to 2002.

Commenting on a lawsuit filed recently by Dow Chemical Co. against four chemical carriers including Stolt-Nielsen S.A., SNSA said that the company believes the Dow Chemical claims are without merit and that it will vigorously defend itself against those claims. The company added that the relationships between its chemical shipping unit - Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group B.V. - and its customers are governed by contracts that contain arbitration clauses. SNSA said it will move for the courts to compel arbitration as agreed to by customers in their contracts with the company. The other three carriers named in the Dow Chemical suit are Odfjell ASA, Jo Tankers B.V. and Tokyo Marine Co, a unit of Mitsui O.S.K. Line Group.

Three Vericor Power Systems' TF50 marine aeroderivative gas turbines have been selected to power the 118 Wallypower high-speed yacht being built by Intermarine Shipyard, Sarzana, Italy for Wally Yacht. This is Wally Yacht's first foray into high-speed power yachts, and the company's initial application of gas turbines. Wally Yacht, based in Monte Carlo, Monaco, is a world-renowned designer of high-speed sailing and power yachts. The 118-ft. yacht will feature three TF50 gas turbines in a Combined Diesel Or Gas (CODOG) turbine configuration. Two TF50s will be used as side or "wing" engines, with one small auxiliary diesel engine connected to each wing engine. The diesels will provide for very slow maneuvering only.

Kirby Corp. entered into a long-term lease with a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Co. for 94 inland tank barges. The lease agreement is expected to be marginally additive to Kirby's earnings, the company said. On Jan 31, Kirby projected earnings for 2001 in a range of $1.45 to $1.55. "At the present time, we feel an adjustment to that range is not in order," said Joe Pyne, president and CEO. The barges were acquired by Dow as part of the recent merger between Union Carbide Corp. and Dow. Used to transport bulk liquids, the barges have total capacity of 1,335,000 barrels. - (Reuters)

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security today announced the appointment of the following individuals to serve on the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee. "On behalf of Secretary Ridge, I am delighted to welcome these advisors to our team," said Admiral Thomas H. Collins, commandant of the Coast Guard. The advisory committee has been established to provide advice to the Department of Homeland Security via the U.S. Coast Guard on matters such as national maritime security strategy and policy, actions required to meet current and future security threats, international cooperation on security issues, and security concerns of the maritime transportation industry as mandated by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. Joseph H. Thomas E. John C.

Kirby Corporation announced the purchase of the stock of Coastal Towing, Inc., the owner of 37 inland black oil tank barges, for approximately $19.3m. Kirby has been operating the Coastal tank barges since October 2002 under a barge management agreement. Leasing, LLC for $15m in cash. Kirby has been leasing the barges since 1994 when the leases were assigned to Kirby as part of Kirby's purchase of the tank barge fleet of The Dow Chemical Company. Both the Coastal and the Cypress purchases were financed through Kirby's $250 million revolving credit facility. Kirby also confirmed its 2006 fourth quarter earnings per share guidance of $.40 to $.45 and 2006 year guidance of $1.74 to $1.79.

CIBER, Inc. $2.3 million. port users. integrated solution. operation. will implement. the U.S. state, federal and private organizations. year. technologies," said Port Freeport's Security Manager Rick Benavidez. common operating picture. information provided by the system, too. Maritime Domain Awareness and waterside perimeter security.

The Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology Corporation (UCCPTC), a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, has awarded Aker Kvaerner an engineering contract to assist in the development of process design packages and extended process design packages for two Ethylene Oxide/Ethylene Glycol (EO/EG) plants that will use the METEOR(TM) LEC EO/EG technology. The plants will be built in the People's Republic of China by subsidiaries of Sinopec under a license from UCCPTC. One project is at the Sinopec Tianjin one million tonne per annum (TPA) ethylene complex in the Dagang District of Tianjin, and the second is at Sinopec Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Company's production facility in the port city of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.

Contango Oil & Gas Company announced that Freeport LNG Development, L.P. (FLNG), in which Contango holds a 10 percent partnership interest, has closed a $383 million private placement note issuance. The funds from the notes will be used to fund the construction of Phase I of FLNG's liquefied natural gas regasification terminal located near Freeport, Texas. Phase I will have a send-out capacity of 1.75 billion cubic feet per day. Natural gas will be transported through a 9-mile pipeline to Stratton Ridge, Texas, a major point of interconnection with the Texas intrastate gas pipeline system. The terminal's Phase I capacity has been sold to ConocoPhillips and The Dow Chemical Company. Construction is expected to be completed by January 2008.

Matson Navigation Company has been awarded with the U.S. Coast Guard's 2006 Rear Admiral William M. Benkert Marine Environmental Award for Excellence. The Benkert Award was created to recognize outstanding achievements in marine environmental protection that go beyond mere compliance with industrial and regulatory standards. Matson was the only containership operator recognized in the 2006 award process, which is conducted every two years. Other recipients of the 2006 award include Dow Chemical, British Petroleum, Marathon Petroleum and Todd Shipyard. The formal awards presentation will take place on June 26 in San Diego. Matson has had a zero discharge policy since 1993 and is still the only container vessel company that has such a program. In 2003, Matson's S.S.