SK Capital closed acquisition of Ipackchem

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SK Capital Partners, LP, a private investment firm focused on the specialty materials, chemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors, has completed its previously announced acquisition of Ipackchem Group SAS, a leader in sustainability-oriented barrier packaging, said the company.

Ipackchem represents SK’s second investment in the packaging sector. Stephen D’Incelli, Managing Director at SK Capital, stated, "The transaction is a testament to SK’s ability to leverage our global platform to identify leading materials technologies businesses with immense commercial applications. We believe IPACKCHEM is a highly differentiated and sustainability-advantaged business with significant growth potential. We’ve been tremendously impressed by Jean-Philippe and the entire IPACKCHEM management team and we are excited to partner with them to execute our shared strategic objectives."

Jean-Philippe Morvan, CEO of Ipackchem, noted, "We are delighted to partner with SK Capital as we embark on our next phase of growth. We believe their specialty chemicals expertise, functional and operating resources and extensive M&A capabilities will be instrumental in building on our existing strong market positions. Our common ambition is to accelerate organic and acquisitive growth and develop IPACKCHEM into the leading global barrier packaging player for Crop Protection and select Specialty Chemical markets."

Ipackchem Board of Directors includes several highly experienced executives, including Rob Tiede, the former CEO of Sonoco Products, Dave Mezzanotte, SK Capital Senior Director and former Chairman and CEO of Coveris, and George Gregory, SK Capital Senior Director and former CEO of Kraton Polymers.

Rob Tiede, former CEO of Sonoco Products, commented, “IPACKCHEM is at the forefront of addressing many of today’s macroeconomic and socioeconomic issues. The Company’s highly specialized packaging products are of extremely high quality, enabling the safe handling and shipping of highly regulated Crop Protection chemicals that allow farmers to feed the world‘s growing population, and are 100% recyclable, helping to address environmental issues."

Earlier this year, Ipackchem expanded with the acquisition of Chinese blow moulding company JRB Packaging.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Founded in 1987 by Jean-Philippe Morvan as a division of Air Products Group, Ipackchem is a supplier of specialized barrier packaging solutions. Ipackchem leading market positions in the Crop Protection and Specialty Chemical markets are further underscored by its commitment to providing 100% recyclable plastic barrier packaging. IPACKCHEM is headquartered in Paris, with global operations spanning seven countries and four continents.

MRC

LyondellBasell receives ISCC Plus Certification for European polymer sites and Germany cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell has received the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus certification for its cracker in Wesseling, Germany, and European polymer sites, said the company.

Lyondell Basell has recently announced that it has obtained the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus certification, one of the world’s largest sustainability certification systems, for its cracker in Wesseling, Germany, and European polymer sites. As a result of this certification, Lyondell Basell will offer mass balance certificates for its advanced (molecular) recycled and renewable-based Circulen polymers.

"In 2020, LyondellBasell announced our goal to produce and market two million metric tons of recycled and renewable-based polymers annually by 2030,” states Richard Roudeix, Lyondell Basell Senior Vice President of Olefins and Polyolefins for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India. “This ISCC Plus certification for our cracker in Wesseling, Germany, and European polymer sites is another milestone on our path to becoming an industry leader in the production and marketing of recycled and renewable-based polymers."

In addition to the ISCC Plus certification, Lyondell Basell can also offer a Carbon-14 analysis for certain products. Carbon-14 analysis is a reliable method to determine the percentage of renewable content in a physical product.

“In our journey to deliver on our sustainability ambitions, we support our customers in reaching their sustainability goals,” states Willemien Terpstra, Director Polyethylene Europe. “The ISCC Plus certification is a proven tool to verify compliance with sustainability and traceability requirements. This third-party certification is a confirmation of the concrete actions we are taking in support of a circular economy."

Lyondell Basell will broaden the ISCC Plus certification to its sites in other regions and expects to obtain it for its North American plants later this year.

In February, LyondellBasell Industries (LBI), the world's largest producer of polyolefins, announced force majeure on February 19 to supply styrene to Channelview (TX, USA) due to cold weather, the company said to the Texas Environmental Protection Commission (TCEQ). LyondellBasell shut down its 510 ktpa styrene plant in Channelview, Texas in mid-February for scheduled maintenance. But due to extreme weather conditions, the company was forced to extend the duration of the repair and declare force majeure on the supply of styrene.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

LyondellBasell is one of the world's largest polypropylene producers, a leading supplier of polyethylene and catalysts, and a developer of polyethylene and polypropylene technologies. The company manufactures products at 58 production sites in 18 countries around the world. In addition, LyondellBasell is the developer of the Spheripol process, which is the basis for polypropylene production at Omsk Poliom and Nizhnekamskneftekhim.
MRC

Total starts producing sustainable aviation fuel iat its La Meide biorefinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total, French multinational oil and gas company, has begun producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at its La Mede biorefinery in southern France and its Oudalle facility near Le Havre, as per the company's press release.

The biojet fuel, made from used cooking oil, will be delivered to French airports starting in April 2021. Total will also be able to produce SAF as from 2024 at its zero-crude Grandpuits platform, southeast of Paris.

All of these sustainable aviation fuels will be made from animal fat, used cooking oil and other waste and residue sourced from the circular economy. Total will not use vegetable oils as feedstock.

In this way, Total will be in a position to respond from its production sites in France to new French legislation that calls for aircraft to use at least 1% biojet fuel by 2022, 2% by 2025 and 5% by 2030. The development of SAF is one of the strategic paths being pursued by Total to meet the challenge of carbon neutrality, as biojet fuels help reduce CO2 emissions from air transportation.

“By producing sustainable aviation fuel at our French sites today, we are able to respond to strong demand from an aviation industry looking to reduce its carbon footprint, while adapting our industrial resources. As a broad energy company, we support our customers by providing innovative solutions to reduce their emissions. This commitment is fully aligned with Total’s climate ambition to get to net zero emissions by 2050,” said Bernard Pinatel, President of Refining & Chemicals at Total.

As MRC reported earlier, within the framework of its net zero strategy, Total will convert its Grandpuits refinery (Seine-et-Marne) into a zero-crude platform and will invest more then EUR500 mln into this project. By 2024 the platform will focus on four new industrial activities: production of renewable diesel primarily intended for the aviation industry, production of bioplastics, plastics recycling and operation of two photovoltaic solar power plants.

We remind that in November 2019, Total disclosed that itis evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers 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

COVID-19 - News digest as of 12.04.2021

1. The loss of profits of NKNK last year was due to large foreign currency loans

MOSCOW (MRC) - Net profit of Nizhnekamskneftekhim in 2020 decreased by 81% to 4.4 billion rubles, but not because of the lockdown caused by the coronavirus, but because of gigantic loans in euros, BUSINESS Online reports. NKNK's revenue also decreased, but not so much - by 15%, or 26.2 billion, to 147.9 billion rubles. According to the consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS, the operating result fell generally by only 5.4 billion to 22.7 billion rubles.

MRC

Shell warns of negative impact from Texas winter storm on its Q1 2021 earnings

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the world's petrochemical major, has warned that the Texas winter storm is expected to have had a negative impact of USD200 million on its first-quarter adjusted earnings, according to MarketWatch.

In addition, the FTSE 100 oil and gas major said it expects to report natural gas production of between 920,000 and 960,000 oil-equivalent barrels a day for the first quarter, combined with liquefied natural gas volumes of 7.8 million-8.4 million metric tons. This compares with previous guidance of 900,000-950,000 barrels and 8.0 million-8.4 million tons.

For the upstream business, production is expected at 2.40 million-2.475 million oil-equivalent barrels a day, including a 10,000-20,000 barrels hit from the Texas storms. This compares with previous guidance of 2.40 million-2.60 million barrels.

Sales volumes for oil products have been downgraded to 3.7 million-4.7 million barrels a day from 4.0 million-5.0 million. Sales volumes for the chemicals division have been revised down to 3.5 million-3.7 million tons from 3.6 million-3.9 million.

However, the company's chemicals adjusted earnings are expected to be positively impacted by improved base margins and slightly higher intermediate margins compared with the fourth quarter of last year.

As MRC informed earlier, Royal Dutch Shell Plc restarted the small crude distillation unit (CDU) on 2 April at its 318,000-bpd joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery. The 70,000-bpd DU-1 CDU was shut on Feb 14 by a pump seal failure. All other units were shut the following day by severe cold weather. DU-1 is the last unit shut in February to restart at the refinery.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC