BASF reduces size of Board of Executive Directors from seven to six members

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF is to have six board members, effective 1 January, instead of seven as part of its cost-cutting programme, said the company.

Hong Kong-based Sanjeev Gandhi, responsible for Asia-Pacific and for the Petrochemicals and Intermediates divisions, is to leave the board on 31 December. Gandhi will leave the company “at his own request”, according to BASF.

“In addition as part of the ongoing reorganisation, the cross-functional service units Global Engineering Services, Global Digital Services and Global Business Services will provide end-to-end services worldwide,” it said.

The German major said in June it was due to cut 6,000 jobs worldwide as part of its cost-cutting programme. That represents nearly 5% of its 122,000 employees, of which nearly 56,000 are based in Germany.

The company did not clarify, however, the jurisdictions in which it was aiming to reduce its workforce.

As of 1 January, BASF’s board will be formed by: - Martin Brudermuller, CEO and chief technology officer (CTO).
- Hans-Ulrich Engel, CFO.
- Saori Dubourg, in charge of Agricultural Solutions; Care Chemicals; Nutrition & Health; Construction Chemicals (soon to be divested); Bioscience Research; Region Europe. In a company with an unequal gender balance (see bottom graph), Dubourg will be the only woman sitting on the board.
- Michael Heinz, Industrial Relations Director, in charge of Global Engineering Services; Corporate Environmental Protection, Health & Safety; European Site & Verbund Management; Region South America.
- Markus Kamieth, based in Asia and in charge of Catalysts; Coatings; Dispersions & Pigments; Performance Chemicals; Advanced Materials & Systems Research; BASF New Business; Greater China; South & East Asia, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia/New Zealand.
- Wayne T Smith, based in North America and in charge of Monomers; Performance Materials; Petrochemicals; Intermediates; Market & Business Development, Site & Verbund Management North America; Country Platforms North America; Process Research & Chemical Engineering.

As MRC informed earlier, BASF would expand the capacity of ethylene oxide and ethylene oxide derivatives at its Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium. The total investment adds about 400 000 tpy to BASF’s production capacity for the corresponding products with an expected investment amount exceeding EUR500 million.

Ethylene is a feedstock for producing polyethylene (PE).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe has announced a range of bio-attributed olefins and polyolefins, based on renewable bio based raw materials that do not compete with food production, according to Kemicalinfo.

Products will be supplied from the INEOS Koln site, Germany, later this year.

The company stated that bio-attribution measures the extent to which fossil fuel-derived feedstocks have been substituted by renewable or bio-feedstocks. Each step in the supply chain has been fully certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) to track the renewable materials through the production system as they are converted into drop-in olefin and polyolefins. The final product carries an attribution according to the displacement of fossil fuel-derived raw materials.

The RSB process also tracks and measures the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Saving through the Lifecyle of the product. The INEOS bio-attributed polyolefins can be made with 100% substitution of bio-feedstock and provide more than 100% Greenhouse Gas savings (GHG). The results are products which have a proven positive impact on the environment without sacrificing any product performance.

RSB is an independent organisation that has built a stringent certification process to help drive the sustainable development of the bio-economy.

Liz Rittweger, Business Director for Olefins and Polymers, "We are very proud to have achieved RSB certification of Olefins and Polyolefins from our Koln site. Being able to offer Bio-Attributed Olefins and Polymers represents another concrete step for INEOS along the path towards a more circular and sustainable economy."

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, in September 2019, INEOS Phenol broke ground at its world scale cumene investment in Marl, Germany. The new state-of-the-art 750 000 t unit is scheduled to be completed in 2021. Its location will help optimise the efficiency of the plant by integrating raw materials from the refinery and cracker complex. The site also benefits from the Marl harbour waterway connection.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,436,390 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the PP consumption in the Russian market was 909,260 tonnes in
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP and China’s Zhejiang Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (ZPCC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore the creation of a new equally-owned joint venture to build and operate a 1 million ton per year (Mtpy) acetic acid plant in eastern China, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The proposed facility - in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province - would deploy BP’s CATIVA XL technology to produce acetic acid, a versatile intermediate chemical used in a variety of products such as paints, adhesives and solvents. It is also used in the production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) of which BP is a leading global manufacturer.

The potential new plant, which would be an addition to ZPCC’s major integrated refining and petrochemical manufacturing complex at Zhoushan, would be BP’s largest acetic acid producing site in the world.

China is the world’s largest acetic acid market and accounts for more than half of global production capacity. BP is a long-term investor in China with a number of existing petrochemical manufacturing facilities in the country, including two existing acetic acid joint ventures.

The MOU was signed by Nigel Dunn, chief executive of BP’s Global Acetyls business and Luo Wei, executive director of ZPCC and was witnessed by Xiaoping Yang, BP China Chairman and President, Li Shuirong, Chairman of ZPCC and senior officials from Zhejiang Province. The signing took place at the third International Petroleum and Natural Gas Enterprises Conference (IPEC 2019) in Zhoushan.

"This is a significant new opportunity for BP in China, one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for petrochemicals," said Rita Griffin, chief operating officer, BP Petrochemicals. "Combining BP Acetyls’ world-leading technology and know-how, with ZPCC’s world-class mega complex and local expertise, our new partnership will help meet demand for these important products."

Li Shuirong, Chairman of ZPCC said: "ZPCC is delighted to sign this MOU with BP to explore this opportunity for acetic acid production. I am confident that this cooperation will help ZPCC to optimize its site structure and improve competitiveness, and together, we shall advance the high-quality development of China’s petrochemical industry."

BP’s proprietary CATIVA® XL technology requires significantly lower capital investment and offers superior operating performance when compared with other acetic acid technologies. In support of BP’s commitment to advancing a low carbon future, CATIVA® XL technology is also more energy efficient and has a high production reliability track record, which also contributes to a lower carbon footprint.

Xiaoping Yang, BP China Chairman and President, added: "We are excited at the potential of this new partnership with ZPCC, a further demonstration of our long-term commitment to the Chinese market. With this proposed investment, we will continue to expand BP’s business footprint in China and to contribute to the country’s economic, environmental and social sustainability."

As MRC reported earlier, BP Plc is expected to resume operation at its small gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at its 430,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Whiting, Indiana, refinery in late October after about a month of the overhaul. The company began a planned overhaul of the small FCCU on 19 September.

PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

According to MRC's DataScope report, Chinese bottle grade PET deliveries to Russia increased 34% in the first eight months of 2019 to 95,600 tonnes. China accounted for 90% of the total imports, compared to 85% a year earlier.
August imports of material from China decreased by 41% to 7,600 tonnes from 12,800 tonnes in July. Jiangsu Sanfangxiang, Yisheng, Wankai and Sinopec were the leading Chinese suppliersof material to the Russian market.

BP is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Equipolymers GmbH (EQP), a German manufacturer of PET resins, has unveiled a new food-grade polyethylene terephthalate (PET) using up to 25% of chemically recycled PET bottles as feedstock, said Plasticsnewseurope.

The material, named Viridis 25, was launched in a ceremony in Vienna on 9 Oct, concurrent with the annual meeting of the European Petrochemical Association (EPCA). The new clear PET product, according to EQP, has the highest recycled ratio ever achieved so far and can absorb more than 3% of the total recycled PET available in Europe.

Established in 2003, Equipolymers is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kuwait-based petrochemicals company Equate Petrochemical Co. (EQUATE). The Viridis 25 project roots go back to 2009, when EQP launched Viridis 10, a PET grade containing up to 10% recycled PET.

“The Viridis 25 project enabled us to create a product with far-reaching environmental, social and business benefits,” said Ramesh Ramachandran, president & CEO of Equate, at the launch ceremony. “We are transforming the way plastic products are designed, produced and recycled,” he added.

The manufacturing of Viridis 25 is based on a chemical recycling process of PET polymers coming from post-consumer flakes. According to EQP, the technology involves an environmentally sustainable process to produce the resin.

EQP is currently modifying its existing 350ktpa production plant in Schkopau, Germany, to produce Viridis 25 and expects to start commercial production by October next year. Once fully operational, the plant can consume up to 30 kilotonnes of post-consumer PET waste to produce Viridis 25.

EQP has also highlighted the strong role Coca-Cola played in the development of the material as a supporter of the project. According to Ramachandran, Coca-Cola's support was particularly helpful “in the boardroom” when further investment decisions were being made to move from Viridis 10 to Viridis 25.

“In response to the European Plastics Strategy, Viridis 25 contributes to Coca-Cola's global strategy of a ‘world without waste' by increasing the amount of recycled material in its PET bottles,” said Bruce Eliott, CEPG managing director of plastics packaging at Coca-Cola, who also spoke at the launch event in Vienna.

As MRC informed earlier, Equipolymers planned to carry out maintenance works at the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in Schkopau (Sckhopau, Germany) in October. Neither the exact start and end dates of repair work at this enterprise, where two production lines with a capacity of 160,000 tonnes/year and 175,000 tonnes/year, were reported.

According to MRC's DataScope report, Chinese bottle grade PET deliveries to Russia increased 34% in the first eight months of 2019 to 95,600 tonnes. China accounted for 90% of the total imports, compared to 85% a year earlier.
August imports of material from China decreased by 41% to 7,600 tonnes from 12,800 tonnes in July. Jiangsu Sanfangxiang, Yisheng, Wankai and Sinopec were the leading Chinese suppliersof material to the Russian market.

Equipolymers is a company dedicated to the manufacture and marketing of PET resins. The company is a 50/50 global joint venture of The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) and Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Since its formation in 2004, Equipolymers has leveraged the unique strengths of its parent companies, Dow and PIC of Kuwait. Equipolymers is the preferred partner for brand-owners and other key value chain players in the PET market, through innovation-driven leadership and high-quality product standards. Equipolymers' production facilities are located in Ottana (Italy) and Schkopau (Germany).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total has decided to double the production capacity of its affiliate Synova to meet growing market demand for high-performance recycled materials, said the company.

By early 2021, Normandy-based Synova, a French leader in its sector, will produce 40,000 tons per year of recycled polypropylene that meets the demanding quality standards of automotive OEMs and carmakers.

"Among their many qualities, plastics help to reduce the weight of everyday items, improving their energy efficiency, and to shrink our carbon emissions. By developing the share of recycled raw materials, we provide a concrete response to the challenge of managing the end-of-life of plastics,” said Valerie Goff, Senior Vice President Polymers at Total Refining & Chemicals. "This investment, which consolidates the acquisition of Synova in early 2019, marks a new milestone in our circular economy activities and contributes to our target of producing 30% recycled polymers by 2030 and Total’s ambition to be the responsible energy major."

As it was written earlier, Synova, a Paris-based plastic recycling company was purchased by Total for undisclosed amount in February 2019.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the PP consumption in the Russian market was 909,260 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC