ExxonMobil acquires California-based Materia

ExxonMobil acquires California-based Materia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Chemical has acquired California-based Materia for an undisclosed sum, said the company.

Materia makes thermoset resins based on dicyclopentadiene (DCPD). They are designed to be alternatives to epoxy resins, vinyl ester resins and unsaturated polyester resins (UPR). The materials can be used in a number of applications, including wind turbine blades, electric vehicle parts, sustainable construction, and anticorrosive coatings.

They are based on olefin metathesis catalyst discoveries made by Robert Grubbs and his research team at the California Institute of Technology. Grubbs received the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for these discoveries. “This acquisition ties together Materia’s Nobel Prize-winning technology with ExxonMobil’s complementary proprietary technology and world-class manufacturing capabilities to bring this exciting new class of structural materials to commercial scale,” said Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Chemical.

ExxonMobil has been collaborating with Materia since 2017 on the development of new hydrocarbon-based materials that are stronger, lighter and more durable than existing thermoset products such as epoxy. ExxonMobil intends to operate the acquired business under the Materia company name as a wholly owned affiliate. The acquisition includes Materia’s headquarters and technology centre in Pasadena, California and its manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Texas.

As MRC informed previously, ExxonMobil and SABIC have announced that their joint venture, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures located near Corpus Christi, Texas, has reached mechanical completion of a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit and two polyethylene (PE) units. Project startup is expected to begin ahead of schedule, likely in the fourth quarter of 2021.

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.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

Oil prices grow on easing Omicron coronavirus variant fears and Iranian crude delay

Oil prices grow on easing Omicron coronavirus variant fears and Iranian crude delay

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices rose nearly USD2 on Tuesday, extending the previous day's almost 5% rebound as concerns over the impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant on global fuel demand eased and Iran nuclear talks stalled, delaying the return of Iranian crude, reported Reuters.

Brent crude futures were up USD1.67, or 2.3%, at USD75.75 a barrel by 1323 GMT, having registered a 4.6% gain on Monday. US West Texas Intermediate crude was up USD1.90, or 2.7%, at USD71.39, building on a 4.9% gain in the previous session.

Oil prices were pummelled last week by concerns that vaccines might be less effective against the Omicron variant, sparking fears that governments could impose fresh restrictions to curb its spread and hit global growth and oil demand.

However, a South African health official reported over the weekend that Omicron cases there had shown only mild symptoms. Also, the top US infectious disease official, Anthony Fauci, told CNN that "it does not look like there's a great degree of severity" so far.

In another sign of confidence in oil demand, the world's top exporter, Saudi Arabia, raised monthly crude prices on Sunday.

That came after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, agreed to continue raising output by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January despite the release of US strategic petroleum reserves.

Crude imports to top importer China also rebounded in November and a Reuters poll showed that US crude inventories are likely to have fallen for a second straight week last week.

Oil prices were also supported by delays to the return of Iranian oil, with indirect nuclear talks between the United States and Iran having hit stumbling blocks. Germany urged Iran on Monday to present realistic proposals in talks over its nuclear programme.

As MRC informed before, US commercial crude stocks fell 3.48 million barrels to 413.96 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 17, to more than 8% below the five-year average, Energy Information Administration data showed. Stocks were last lower Oct. 5, 2018.

We remind that in late August, 2021, US crude stocks dropped sharply while petroleum products supplied by refiners hit an all-time record despite the rise in coronavirus cases nationwide, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 27 to 425.4 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.1 million-barrel drop. Product supplied by refineries, a measure of demand, rose to 22.8 million barrels per day in the most recent week. That's a one-week record, and signals strength in consumption for diesel, gasoline and other fuels by consumers and exporters.

We also remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, EIA said in a monthly report earlier this year, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC

Saint-Gobain buys U.S.-based GCP to grow in construction chemicals

Saint-Gobain buys U.S.-based GCP to grow in construction chemicals

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saint-Gobain has signed an agreement to acquire US-based construction-chemicals producer GCP Applied Technologies for USD2.3bn, said Reuters.

The price comes to USD32/share and represents a multiple of 13.2x of GCP's 2022 estimated adjusted earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), Saint-Gobain said. That 2022 estimate for adjusted EBITDA comes to USD170m.

The stock-price offer of USD32/share represents a 39% premium of the average GCP stock price during November, Saint-Gobain said. The boards of the two companies have unanimously approved the agreement. Saint-Gobain has obtained undertakings from Starboard and Standard Investments to vote in favour of the deal.

Starboard holds an 8.9% stake in GCP and Standard holds a 24.2% stake, Saint-Gobain said. Closing should take place by the end of 2022 and it is contingent on approval from shareholders and anti-trust regulators, Saint-Gobain said. The company expects the deal will create value by the third year after closing. Saint-Gobain said it will finance the acquisition with cash. Synergies should reach USD85m by the fifth year, including cost synergies of USD72m.

Revenue synergies should result in a benefit of at least USD13m in EBITDA, the company said. GCP makes cement additives and concrete admixtures as well as waterproofing and building-envelope products. Saint-Gobain expects such admixtures and additives will play a key role in reducing carbon emissions in the construction industry. GCP's roofing underlayment products and waterproofing portfolio should complement Saint-Gobain's CertainTeed business.

GCP's specialty building materials business will be integrated into Saint-Gobain's CertainTeed business that serves customers in the Americas. GCP's concrete admixtures and cement additives will be combined with Saint-Gobain's Chryso business and be part of the company's High Performance Solutions segment.

As per MRC, Saint-Gobain has invested in Continuous Composites, a US 3D printing company based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. At the same time, the companies signed a joint development agreement for the commercialisation of Continuous Composites' patented Continuous Fiber 3D Printing (CF3D) process. CF3D combines continuous fibre with rapid curing thermostat resins to enable on-demand manufacturing of complex composite structures.

As MRC informed earlier, Saint-Gobain, the world's largest manufacturer of building materials, has opened the third plant in Russia for the production of dry building mixtures in the city of Yegoryevsk, Moscow Region. The total investment in the construction of the plant amounted to more than 500 mln rubles.

Saint-Gobain is an international industrial group of companies headquartered in Paris. At present, the group includes 1.5 thousand companies from 64 countries, and employs about 190 thousand employees. According to the Forbes rating, Saint-Gobain is among the top 100 largest industrial companies in the world. The company operates in four sectors: innovative materials, construction products, glass containers and packaging, distribution of construction materials.
MRC

Novatek and RWE signed memorandum on decarbonization and LNG

Novatek and RWE signed memorandum on decarbonization and LNG

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian gas supplier Novatek and Germany’s RWE Supply & Trading on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for mutual co-operation in the field of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply and decarbonisation, said the company.

The MoU envisages the supply by Novatek to RWE of low-carbon ammonia and hydrogen (blue ammonia/hydrogen) from the former’s planned Obskiy gas chemical complex project, for delivery to German and European markets.

The pair will also look to deepen their co-operation in supply of LNG – including carbon-neutral LNG – through the expansion of existing spot supplies, as well as possible long-term supplies of LNG to be produced by the Arctic LNG 2 and other Novatek projects.

“We are very well positioned to benefit from the transition of global economies to low-carbon energy sources,” said Lev Feodosyev, first deputy chairman of Novatek. “Natural gas, including LNG, is already replacing other types of fuels with a higher carbon footprint, and we are working on decreasing the already low-carbon footprint of LNG produced by our projects in the Russian Arctic.

“Now, we are undertaking the preliminary front end engineering design (pre-FEED) study for the blue ammonia and hydrogen plant with CCS [carbon capture and storage] facilities nearby our LNG cluster in Yamal for the delivery to final customers of low-carbon products in Europe and Asia."

Earlier, the head of Novatek, Leonid Mikhelson, announced that the company hopes to make an investment decision on the Obskiy GCC, which will produce blue ammonia and hydrogen in the first half of 2022. The commissioning of the plant is expected in 2027.
MRC

EPA to expand credit eligibility under biofuel program

EPA to expand credit eligibility under biofuel program

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Biden administration is expected to propose expanding the kinds of renewable fuel production processes that are eligible to receive credits under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard program, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The move could help increase production of advanced biofuels, which include lower-carbon products such as renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, the sources said. It is expected to be included in a highly anticipated upcoming proposal that mandates the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must blend into their fuel mix, they said.

The Environmental Protection Agency, which administers the RFS, plans to announce the blending mandate proposal in days, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing sources. The EPA declined to comment for this article.

The expanded eligibility around production processes could echo a similar proposal put forth in 2016, the sources said. That rule, proposed toward the end of the Obama administration, was never finalized. It is unclear how closely the new proposal's language would align with the previous language.

In the 2016 proposal, the EPA highlighted that several companies have developed renewable fuel production technologies that produce a "biointermediate" at one facility that is then processed into renewable fuel at another facility. The EPA sought to allow fuels produced through such methods to qualify under current approved RFS production pathways. The EPA said at the time it was proposing those changes to raise production of cellulosic and other advanced biofuels.

As per MRC, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering regulating chemical recycling, a controversial technology that aims to convert mixed plastic waste into fuel or energy. In its notice in the Federal Register earlier this month, the EPA said it wants more information about so-called pyrolysis and gasification, also known as advanced or chemical recycling, and is considering how they could be regulated under the federal Clean Air Act.

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