Limetree Bay refinery sold for USD20 million to St. Croix company eying restart

MOSCOW (MRC) -- After investors poured USD4.1 billion into reviving an aging refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the bankrupt facility was auctioned off for tens of millions of dollars to a new company called St. Croix Energy LLP, said the company.

St. Croix Energy bid USD20 million for the refining assets and emerged as the leading buyer for the facility, which was shut down by U.S. environmental regulators earlier this year, according to a court filing this week.

The refinery, which had been shut for nearly a decade and which St. Croix Energy LLP is looking to restart, reopened earlier this year under the ownership of private equity firms EIG and ArcLight Capital after investors poured USD4.1 billion into reviving it. read more

In its final bid, St. Croix Energy will also cover approximately USD9 million worth of professional fees of Limetree Bay through a transitional services agreement. EIG declined to comment.

Private equity investors wanted to restart the facility to produce 210,000 barrels a day of gasoline and other fuels. Its planned restart was delayed for more than a year, and it operated for only a few months before U.S. regulators shut it down after its stacks spewed oil on homes and contaminated drinking water.

St. Croix Energy was named stalking horse bidder for the facility on Sunday and at that time was the only qualified bidder, according to the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. A “stalking horse” bid is used as a starting bid or minimally accepted offer that other interested bidders must surpass if they want to buy the company.

St. Croix Energy, which describes itself as "a group of businessmen with deep roots in the Virgin Islands," said in an October news release that it is committed to restarting the refinery safely. The company said it will begin rolling out its senior leadership team in the coming weeks and will engage with the local community.

The newly created company consists of industry professionals, some with experience in the refining, marketing and renewable fuel sectors. More than 30 parties, including several that proposed to liquidate the facility and sell the assets, performed due diligence, according to Sunday's filing.

We remind that in late March 2021, EPA said it had revoked an expansion permit for the Limetree Bay oil refinery in the US Virgin Islands, citing concerns that the area around the facility is overburdened with pollution. The decision allowed the plant to keep operating but blocked ongoing expansion work pending an EPA review to assess measures the facility needs to take to protect nearby residents.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

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LyondellBasell announces quarterly dividend

LyondellBasell announces quarterly dividend

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (LBI) has announced that it has declared a dividend of USD1.13 per share, as per the company's press release.

The dividend is to be paid December 6, 2021 to shareholders of record November 29, 2021, with an ex-dividend date of November 26, 2021.

As MRC reported before, LyondellBasell Industries expects to sell its Houston refinery in the “coming quarter or two,” said Chief Executive Bob Patel during a Friday conference call (30 October, 2021) with Wall Street analysts. The chemical maker said on Sept. 8 it was considering strategic options for the refinery, located on the Houston Ship Channel. LyondellBasell tried to sell the refinery in 2016 but was stymied by unit fires and multiple unit shutdowns before it took the plant off the market in a dispute over price.

We remind that LBI's three US subsidiaries have agreed to make upgrades and perform compliance measures estimated to cost USD50 million to resolve allegations they violated the Clean Air Act and state air pollution control laws at six petrochemical manufacturing facilities located in Channelview, Corpus Christi, and LaPorte, Texas, and Clinton, Iowa, according to the Department of Justice and the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) statement.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges, like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road, and ensuring the safe and effective functionality in electronics and appliances. LyondellBasell sells products into more than 100 countries and is the world"s largest producer of polymer compounds and the largest licensor of polyolefin technologies. In 2020, LyondellBasell was named to Fortune Magazine"s list of the "World"s Most Admired Companies" for the third consecutive year.
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Advent to acquire Dutch distributor Caldic

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Advent International is to acquire Netherlands-based chemicals distributor Caldic and merge the firm with portfolio company Grupo Transmerquim, a distribution firm active in Latin America, said the company.

With annual revenues of around EUR1bn in 2020, Caldic distributes specialty and life sciences chemicals in Europe, northern America and the Asia Pacific region, while Grupo Transmerquin – acquired by Advent in 2014 – has a presence in every country in Latin America, according to Advent. Caldic was formerly owned by Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

"As with all our investments, we pursue a long-term growth approach and intend to support Caldic throughout its next phase of growth,” said Advent chemicals head Ronald Ayles. “We see great prospects in the combination with GTM, nearly doubling the size of the New Caldic from the start."

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2021. The company declined to disclose transaction details.

As per MRC, Advent has agreed to sell German coating resins maker Allnex to Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) for around EUR4 billion (USD4.75 billion). Allnex, whose products are used in the industrial metal, automotive and packaging industries, has annual revenue of EUR2 billion and employs 4,000 employees worldwide. The deal values Allnex at 12.2 times its annual core earnings.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC

Jiangyin Xingjia New Material selects EXERGY for its waste heat recovery project

Jiangyin Xingjia New Material selects EXERGY for its waste heat recovery project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- EXERGY, a leading provider of new-generation organic rankine cycle power plants, has been awarded - through its parent company Nanjing TICA Thermal Technology - a new contract for the development of a 5.8 MWe waste heat recovery project in China. The final customer is Jiangyin Xingjia New Material Co., a company engaged in the chemical industry, manufacturing purified terephthalic acid (PTA), polyester fiber, polyester film, synthetic resin, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

EXERGY’s contract includes the engineering and supply of two ORC units, 2.9 MWe each, that will be part of the new customer’s investment in a greenfield polyethylene terephthalate (PET) production facility located in Jiangyin, in the Jiangsu Province.

The waste heat recovery system will exploit the exhausted low-pressure steam, generated from the PET manufacturing process, to feed an efficient ORC cycle utilizing the radial outflow turbine technology and a non-flammable refrigerant as working fluid. The project will be completed by the end of 2022 and once in operation it will produce a total of 5.8 MW of clean electricity and help save the emission of approximately 17,000 tons of CO2 and the consumption of 8,500 tpy.

We remind that, as MRC reported before, on 21 January 2021, Fujian Baihong Petrochemical started up its new PTA line at Jinjiang, China. The new line with the capacity of2.5 million mt/year of PTA was running at half of its capacity after the start-up.

We also remind that Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co. Ltd. is expected to lead the global planned and announced PTA capacity additions during the period 2019 to 2023, contributing around 22% of the global growth by 2023. Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co. Ltd. is expected to add a capacity of 5.00 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from two planned projects by 2023.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PET consumption in Russia increased to 56,960 tonnes in September 2021, up by 10% year on year. Russia's overall PET consumption reached 592,560 tonnes in the nine months of 2021, up by 12% year on year.
MRC

Axens increased prices for its catalysts and adsorbents

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Several market factors such as energy and transportation costs along with challenges in the availability and costs of raw materials have significantly increased Axens’ manufacturing costs, said the company.

In regards to these events, price increases, for some of Axens' Catalysts and Adsorbents, is necessary to maintain the level of quality, responsiveness and support that their customers expect. This increase is effective immediately.

Axens’ Sales Representatives remain available for any questions or concerns regarding this topic.

As per MRC, Sumitomo Chemical has successfully conducted the first waste-based polyolefin production at its laboratory in Japan earlier this year, by use of the ethylene produced by Axens ethanol-to-ethylene technology Atol. This process value chain is complemented with the upfront “Waste to Ethanol” technology by Sekisui Chemical.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Axens is a group providing a complete range of solutions for the conversion of oil and biomass to cleaner fuels, the production and purification of major petrochemical intermediates, the chemical recycling of plastics and all natural gas treatment and conversion options. The offer includes technologies, equipment, furnaces, modular units, catalysts, adsorbents and related services.
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