INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

BASF and ABB Sign IT Agreement

ABB (Eschborn, Germany; www.abb.com/chemicals) will supply distributed control systems (DCS) to BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) facilities worldwide. The companies' agreement comprises Operate IT, Control IT controllers and other controllers, as well as engineering services, documentation, factory-acceptance test training and maintenance.

Eastman Chemical Sponsors Speciala!Chem.com Portal

Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, TN; www.eastman.com) is a new sponsor of the adhesives and sealants portal, SpecialChem.com. The portal features a TechCenter where formulators can find detailed information about ingredients and obtain troubleshooting tips from industry experts. A searchable library of Eastman's adhesives products and technical documents is also available.

Lurgi Picks SAP for BP's MepMethanot Plant

Lurgi Oel Gas - Chemie GmbH (Frankfurt, Germany; www.lurgi.com) is using mySAP Engineering & Construction (mySAP E&C) to handle all aspects of materials management for the engineering and construction of a MegaMethanol plant in Point Lisas, Trinidad. The project, named "Atlas Methanol," is being constructed for British Petroleum (BP; London, UK; www.bp.com) and Methanex Corp. (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; www.methanex.com), and is scheduled for completion in 2004. With an operating capacity of 5,000 ton/d of methanol, Atlas will be one of the largest methanol facilities in the world.