SIBUR and Sinopec secures project financing for Amur Gas Chemical Complex

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Amur Gas Chemical Complex LLC, hereinafter “Amur GCC”, has agreed and signed loan documents to finance the completion of Amur GCC’s construction, reported PRIME with reference to SIBUR's press release.

Amur GCC will act as the borrower; SIBUR and Sinopec will be sponsors proportional to their stakes (60/40, respectively) in the joint venture (JV).

Upon completion of standard conditions precedent, AGCC will begin to draw on the loan which will total USD USD9.1bn and has a final maturity of 2035. Project costs in excess of USD 9.1bn will be covered by the JV parties pro rata.

The credit facilities are provided by international banks under coverage from Italian (SACE) and German (Euler Hermes) export credit agencies and also from Chinese and Russian banks on a commercial basis. The total amounts of ECA-backed and commercial credit facilities will equal USD 2.6 bn and USD 6.5 bn, respectively.

Peter O'Brien, member of the Management Board and Managing Director for Economics and Finance at SIBUR, said: “SIBUR continues to demonstrate proven expertise in raising competitively priced capital for large-scale investment projects. With financing secured, the construction of Amur GCC, one of the world’s largest polymer production facilities, will continue towards completion on schedule. The project is set to contribute much-needed additional supply of polyethylene and polypropylene to global markets to address the needs of modern consumers.”

As MRC reported earlier, SIBUR and Sinopec closed the deal to create a JV based on Amur GCC in late December 2020. As a result of the deal, the parties obtained joint control over the JV in shares of 60% and 40%, respectively.

SIBUR is implementing an Amur GCC project for processing ethane fraction and liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) at Gazprom's Amur GPP.

The capacity of the Amur GCC, as the future world's largest complex for the production of base polymers, will be 2.7 mln tons per year: 2.3 ml tons of polyethylene (PE) and 400,000 tons of polypropylene (PP). The complex's products will be represented by a wide range of grades. The construction of the complex is synchronized with the gradual reaching full capacity of Gazprom's Amur GPP. The approximate time frame for completion of construction and commissioning is 2024.

Due to the geographic location of the complex, Amur GCC's products will be focused on Asian markets, primarily the Chinese market, the world's largest consumer of polymers. It is expected that the project for the construction of Amur GCC can be included in the intergovernmental agreement between the Russian Federation and China.

SIBUR reported that Amur GCC's budget is tentatively estimated at USD10-11 bln and will be updated during its implementation.

It was also reported that last December, SIBUR Holding chose Spheripol LyondellBasell polyolefin technology for its Amur GCC under construction. The technological process will be used at the PP plant with a capacity of 400,000 mt/year, which will be built in the town of Svobodny, Amur Region.

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.

Sinopec corp. is one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemical companies. Business Sinopec Corp. includes oil and gas exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas, oil refining, petrochemical production, production of mineral fertilizers and other chemical products. In terms of refining capacity, Sinopec Corp. ranks second in the world, in terms of ethylene capacity - fourth.

SIBUR Holding is the leader in the Russian petrochemical industry and one of the largest global companies in the sector with over 23,000 employees. Over the past 10 years, SIBUR has implemented a number of large-scale investment projects worth about Rb1 trillion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Finnish oil refiner and biofuelmaker Neste’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Vanacker has resigned, reported Reuters with reference to the company's statement on Thursday.

“Three years as Neste’s President and CEO has been a time of growth and transformation,” Vanacker said in a statement.

Neste has already started looking for a new CEO while Vanacker will stay until June 2022 at the latest.

As MRC reported before, the EU Innovation Fund has recently given a positive grant decision of EUR88 million funding to Neste’s green hydrogen and CO2 capture and storage project, which aims to quickly and efficiently reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the Porvoo refinery in Finland.

We remind that in July, 2021, Neste and LyondellBasell announced a long-term commercial agreement under which LyondellBasell will source Neste RE, a feedstock from Neste that has been produced from 100% renewable feedstock from bio-based sources, such as waste and residue oils and fats. This feedstock will be processed through the cracker at LyondellBasell’s Wesseling, Germany, plant into polymers and sold under the CirculenRenew brand name.

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 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.

Neste (Helsinki) creates solutions for combating climate change and accelerating a shift to a circular economy. The company refines waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. The company is the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. In 2020, Neste's revenue stood at EUR11.8 billion, with 94% of the company’s comparable operating profit coming from renewable products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Burckhardt Compression has signed a contract with Jiangsu Hongjing New Material Company Ltd. to equip three production lines for EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers) and LDPE (low-density polyethylene) with three booster-primary and three hyper compressors, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The petrochemical mega-plant that is currently being built in Lianyungang, China, will have an output of 600 kilotons per year of EVA/LDPE. The production of EVA and LDPE is technically highly demanding and requires booster-primary and hyper compressors as key components. The hyper compressors are high-pressure reciprocating machines compressing ethylene with discharge pressure of up to 3,500 bar.

EVA and LDPE are raw materials for products such as foils, electric cables or floor coverings. Specifically, the three 200 kilotons per year photovoltaic class ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers plants will help to satisfy the worldwide demand for EVA polymer, which, shaped as a film, is used in solar panels as an insulating and sealing agent around the solar cells.

Jiangsu Hongjing New Material Company Ltd., a subsidiary of Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical Co. Ltd. is a mostly privately-owned company in China that refines petroleum products and manufactures chemical products. The mega-plant will help to satisfy China's growing demand for EVA polymer, driven by the switch from traditional hydrocarbon-based energy production to renewable energy. Burckhardt Compression has already delivered booster-primary and hyper compressors for the first phase of this project. The current stage of expansion is the second one of this mega-plant.

As per MRC, Burckhardt Compression has entered into a memorandum of understanding to acquire the remaining 40% of Shenyang Yuanda Compressor. Burckhardt Compression initially purchased a 60% interest in Shenyang Yuanda Compressor, a Chinese compressor manufacturer based in Shenyang, in March of 2016 and both companies have collaborated closely in the meantime. To finance the acquisition, Burckhardt Compression plans to issue a bond in the Swiss capital market.

As MRC informed earlier, Burckhardt Compression was selected to modernize MOL Petrochemicals' third-party Hyper
Compressor at its LDPE plant in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary. The goal was to improve production performance and to establish a comprehensive, long-term service capability with a running-hours guarantee.

Burckhardt Compression is a renowned original equipment manufacturer of high-pressure reciprocating Hyper Compressors for LDPE plants with a discharge pressure of up to 3,500 bar (50,000 psi). An outstanding track record with decades of experience in building Hyper Compressors makes Burckhardt Compression a competent and reliable partner for modernization projects and a trusted provider of global, one-stop maintenance and service solutions for
compressors of any brand.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF will invest up to EUR4.5bn in battery materials and recycling, while carving out its mobile emissions catalyst business, said the company.

The chemical company BASF has announced that in future it will focus more on its electromobility offering. For this purpose, up to 4.5 billion euros are to be invested in battery materials and recycling by 2030 – in return, the business with exhaust gas catalysts is to be spun off.

The spin-off as a new unit called ‘BASF Automotive Catalysts and Recycling’ is intended to prepare the business for the upcoming changes in the market for combustion engines, according to BASF. In addition, “future strategic options” would be made possible. The approximately 20 global production sites with more than 4,000 employees are to be retained. The spin-off process is scheduled to start in January 2022 and is expected to take up to 18 months, the company said.

While the exhaust catalysts will be spun off, BASF’s Catalysts division plans to focus more on its electromobility offering. “BASF will become a leader in innovative and sustainable cathode active materials with a significant production capacity footprint in Asia, Europe and North America,” said Peter Schuhmacher, head of BASF’s Catalysts division. “The recently announced long-term battery materials strategy lays out an ambitious growth plan for battery materials and base metal services with targeted 2030 sales in excess of EUR7 bn."

According to this strategy, BASF aims to achieve sales of over seven billion euros in 2030. To achieve this, the growth plan calls for investments of 3.5 to 4.5 billion euros between 2022 and 2030 – for the battery business alone.

BASF is currently building a cathode material factory and a recycling pilot plant in Schwarzheide, Brandenburg. The production will process precursors from another plant in Finland. BASF hopes that this European value chain will reduce the CO2 emissions of its battery materials.

As per MRC, BASF, the world's petrochemical major, is strengthening its global catalyst development and helping customers to bring new products faster to the market. As part of this strategy, BASF is building a new pilot plant center at its Ludwigshafen site. The new Catalyst Development and Solids Processing Center will serve as a global hub for pilot-scale production and process innovations of chemical catalysts. The construction of the new pilot plant center in Ludwigshafen also emphasizes the importance of the site for global research. The new building is scheduled for completion by mid-2024.

As MRC wrote before, BASF will build a battery recycling prototype plant in Schwarzheide, Germany, at the site of its cathode active materials (CAM) plant.

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) -- bp took its first major step into electrification in the US with the acquisition of AMPLY Power, an electric vehicle (EV) charging and energy management provider for fleets that operate trucks, transit and school buses, vans and light-duty vehicles, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This investment is aligned with bp’s plan to scale-up next generation mobility solutions, providing the fastest, most reliable and convenient network of?charging and digital solutions?for customers, including individual drivers and fleet operators.

By 2030, bp aims to nearly double earnings1 from its global convenience and mobility businesses - increasing from around $5 B in 2019 - while delivering returns in the range of 15-20%. During this time, bp plans to grow its global network of EV charging points from around 11,000 today to more than 70,000.

Richard Bartlett, senior vice president, future mobility and solutions, bp: “bp is aiming to speed up electrification in the fast-growing fleet segment, which is key to lowering emissions from the transport sector - the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the US. As we continue to invest in new forms of infrastructure and technology to serve our global fleet customers, AMPLY Power provides an ideal opportunity to build our EV business in the US. They bring an experienced team, a rapidly expanding customer base and user-friendly digital platform.”

Founded in 2018, AMPLY Power aims to make EV adoption easy for fleets. The California-based firm has two offers for fleet operators:

Fully financed Charging-as-a-Service (CaaS) – AMPLY Power provides solutions for the charging of customers’ fleets, including the procurement and installation of hardware, software and operational and maintenance costs. Customers sign 5-to-10 year agreements for these services and AMPLY Power charges customers a flat usage rate ($/kWh or $ per mile driven).

Under the terms of the agreement, AMPLY Power will continue to operate independently as part of bp’s global portfolio of businesses.

Financial details of the agreement are not being disclosed.

As MRC wrote previously, in October, 2021, BP announced plans for a USD269 million investment in three projects at its Cherry Point Refinery in Washington state, aimed at improving the refinery's efficiency, reducing its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and increasing its renewable diesel production capability. The investment is aligned with bp's aims to be net zero across its operations by 2050 or sooner and to reduce the carbon intensity of the products it sells by 50% by 2050 or sooner.

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 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.

BP is one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, serving millions of customers every day in around 80 countries, and employing around 85,000 people. BP's business segments are Upstream (oil and gas exploration & production), and Downstream (refining & marketing). Through these activities, BP provides fuel for transportation; energy for heat and light; services for motorists; and petrochemicals products for plastics, textiles and food packaging. It has strong positions in many of the world"s hydrocarbon basins and strong market positions in key economies.
MRC