Solvay’s new oil & gas solutions facility in North Dakota to benefit from first-mover advantage in North America’s Bakken Shale Formation

Brussels, June 11, 2014 --- Solvay has opened its laboratory and production facility in North Dakota, putting it in pole position to serve oil and gas customers in the Bakken Shale Formation and expand its extensive tailored formulations that facilitate extraction.

With this new facility in Killdeer, Solvay’s Global Business Unit Novecare is among the first specialty chemical players to serve oilfield services companies in North America’s second largest reserve of tight oil and shale gas.* Novecare’s eighth laboratory and production unit is at the heart of the Bakken area, giving it key access to customers.

Solvay Novecare develops tailor-made, bio-based specialty formulations that help oilfield services operators manage and reduce water consumption, optimize stimulation operations and improve well yields. The business unit, which last year acquired Chemlogics, develops and produces these formulations at plant and laboratory facilities near its customers in the field. Each formulation is designed to fulfill their distinct needs, depending on the unique geological conditions of the shale formations.

 

“Most of our lab-to-well services are in Texas, but thanks to this new facility we can now also seize growth opportunities with our oil and gas customers in North Dakota’s increasing shale gas activities,” said Chen Pu, Solvay Novecare Executive Vice President for Oil & Gas.

“Our priority is to provide expert formulation and production services that quickly and accurately meet a specific application need, driving value for our customers,” said Jack Curr, Director of Novecare unit Chemplex, which provides specialty chemicals for the oil and gas industry.

_{*According to a 2008 estimate by the Federal U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the formation could hold up to 4.3 billion barrels of oil while several private estimates put that number at as high as 40 billion barrels} 

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As an international chemical group, SOLVAY assists industries in finding and implementing ever more responsible and value-creating solutions. Solvay generates 90% of its net sales in activities where it is among the world's top three players. It serves many markets, varying from energy and the environment to automotive and aeronautics or electricity and electronics, with one goal: to raise the performance of its clients and improve society's quality of life. The group is headquartered in Brussels, employs about 29,400 people in 56 countries and generated 9.9 billion euros in net sales in 2013. Solvay SA is listed as SOLB.BE on NYSE Euronext in Brussels and Paris (Bloomberg: SOLB:BB - Reuters: SOLB.BR).  

Solvay Novecare is a global leader in specialty surfactants, guar, polymers, amines and phosphorus derivatives. Solvay Novecare engineers and develops formulations that provide consumer products and state-of-the-art industrial applications with specific functional qualities designed to modify fluid behavior and deliver cleansing, softening, moisturizing, gelling, texturizing, penetrating or dispersal properties. These formulations are used in shampoos, detergents, fracking fluids, oil separation, paints and lubricants as well as in crop protection and mining. It serves customers in the Agrochemicals, Coatings, Home & Personal Care, Industrial and Oil & Gas markets.