Azelis to acquire Italian distributor

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemicals distributor Azelis has signed an agreement to acquire Came Chemical Mineral and Engineering (CAME), an Italy-based distributor of chemicals for friction and sintering applications, cosmetics, as well as coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers (CASE), said Chemweek.

The acquisition, expected to close later this month, will help Azelis expand into the friction market and strengthen its presence in CASE and personal care, as well as rubber and plastic additives (R&PA), it said on Monday. “The acquisition of CAME will increase our market presence and overall product offering, and it will generate many cross-selling opportunities,” said Marco Gerosa, regional managing director of Azelis in Italy.

“There is an excellent strategic fit that allows us to provide an expanded product offering and customer reach on one side, while making us more attractive to our existing principals on the other,” Gerosa said. Financial terms were not disclosed.

As per MRC, Azelis says it signed an exclusive distribution deal for Mane’s (Le Bar sur Loup, France) flavor and fragrance products in the Benelux region, including Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The deal is effective from January 2021.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2020, Azelis opened a new application and training center in Istanbul, Turkey. This center will service the Turkish food, personal care and pharma markets and will offer product advice, formulation development and technical research. Next to that, it will host customer meetings, interactive formulation workshops, supplier meetings and internal technical trainings.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-November 2020 output. November production of polymers in primary form rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17.1% year on year.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF says it has chosen BTC Europe (BTC; Monheim am Rhein, Germany) as its new distributor in Europe for aromatic isocyanates and polyols for polyurethane applications, according to Chemweek.

The collaboration comes into effect on 1 February 2021 and will comprise BASF’s polyurethane product brands Lupranat, Lupranol, and Lupraphen. The new agreement will enable the company to “react to the wish of our customers of providing the entire product portfolio from a single source,” says Oliver Peter, BASF’s account manager/European isocyanates.

BTC, owned by BASF, is already the European distribution arm for the sale of BASF’s specialty chemicals to small- and medium-sized customers.

As MRC reported before, BASF says it has shut down an unspecified unit at its 420,000-metric ton/year steam cracker site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, due to a technical defect. Unscheduled flaring started on 13 January at the northern part of the Ludwigshafen site and is expected to last until 17 January, it says. “At around 4pm (local time) there was an outage at a unit at the northern part due to a technical defect. The unit will be partially shut down to repair the defect,” it says.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

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.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Malaysian state-owned energy giant Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or Petronas, said it aims to become a net zero emitter of greenhouse gases by 2050 and also plans to increase its investments in renewable energy, reported Reuters.

Burning of oil and gas accounts for the vast majority of the world’s carbon emissions, and many investors have pushed global oil majors to do more to combat climate change.

Petronas, the world’s fourth-largest exporter of LNG, said it will intensify its efforts toward reducing the so-called Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions, referring to direct emissions from operations and the electricity used by the company.

The company, a significant source of revenue for the federal government, also said it will pursue new avenues of revenue generation via investments in nature-based solutions and set up greater accessibility to clean energy solutions.

Petronas, the sole custodian of Malaysia’s oil and gas reserves, is also engaged in exploration and production activities overseas. It also produces petrochemicals.

The Malaysian firm’s 2050 target is in line with peers BP and Shell - though the companies have marked varying goals to strengthen their green ambitions. Some have even committed to reducing Scope 3 emissions from the final consumption of their products.

Petronas has made a push towards renewable energy in recent years and also acquired a Singapore-based solar energy company in 2019.

Last year, Petronas said it was looking to expand its renewable energy portfolio after posting its first quarterly loss in nearly five years following a coronavirus-related demand slump and lower oil prices.

As MRC wrote earlier, in June 2019, Malaysian state oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd, or Petronas, and Saudi Aramco started operations at their new 1.2-million-tonnes-per-year naphtha cracker. The cracker is part of the USD2.7 billion joint-venture oil refinery and petrochemical project known as RAPID - or Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development - located in Pengerang in the state of Johor, at the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema is investing in Taiwan-based cyanoacrylate solutions supplier Crackless Monomer Co (CMC), which will enable its subsidiary Bostik to accelerate the development and production of high value-added engineering adhesives, said the company.

CMC, which will be 51%-owned by Bostik for an investment of around USD11m, will produce specialty cyanoacrylate monomers on an industrial scale, the company said in a statement.

The cyanoacrylate monomers are dedicated notably to the electronics, medical equipment and "DIY" markets, the company said.

CMC is a joint venture between Bostik and Taiwanese company Cartell Chemical Co.

As MRC reported earlier, Arkema said in June, 2020, that it had finalized the divestment of its functional polyolefins business to SK Global Chemical. The divestment was announced last year. Arkema says the sale forms part of its strategy to refocus the group’s activities on specialty materials.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-November 2020 output. November production of polymers in primary form rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17.1% year on year.

Arkema is a global manufacturer in specialty chemicals and advanced materials, with 3 business segments - High Performance Materials, Industrial Specialties, and Coating Solutions - and globally recognized brands. The Group reports annual sales of EUR8.8 billion. Buoyed by the collective energy of its 20,000 employees, Arkema operates in close to 55 countries.
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1.Chemical shipments fall 8.9% at Port of Antwerp in 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shipments of chemicals through the port of Antwerp, Belgium, declined 8.9% in 2020 compared to 2019, although no full-year chemical volumes total has been made available, said Chemweek. Annual liquid bulk volumes declined by 4.2% in total year on year (YOY) to 69 million metric tons (MMt) in 2020, with crude oil shipments plummeting 60% YOY due to reduced refining activities, says Port of Antwerp. Throughput of oil derivatives, however, recovered with growth of 3.4% despite an initial fall in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic and the sharp drop in oil prices, it says. Fertilizer shipments also declined YOY, but no specific volume figure was given.



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