LyondellBasell appoints Peter Vanacker as its CEO

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell has announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Peter Vanacker, President and CEO of Neste Corporation, as its new Chief Executive Officer, as per the company's press release.

Mr. Vanacker succeeds Bhavesh V. "Bob" Patel, who will retire from the company on December 31, 2021, as previously announced.

Mr. Vanacker will assume his role no later than June 2022, upon satisfaction of the notice period under his current employment agreement, at which time he will also join the company's Board of Directors.

The Board also announced that Kenneth (Ken) Lane, executive vice president, Global Olefins & Polyolefins (O&P) for LyondellBasell, will serve as interim CEO upon Mr. Patel's retirement.

"Peter's outstanding leadership and industry experience made him the Board's choice in an exceptional field of candidates who were considered as part of the comprehensive search process," said Jacques Aigrain, Board Chair. "The Board is confident that his success in delivering value to shareholders, along with his strategic and forward-thinking mindset, will serve the Company well as we continue to drive growth and advance our climate and circularity goals."

Mr. Vanacker brings more than 30 years of industry experience to his new role, including serving as President and CEO of Neste, an industry-leading renewable products company that has seen substantial growth and transformation under his leadership since 2018. Prior to that role, Mr. Vanacker was CEO and Managing Director of the CABB Group, a leader in the fine chemicals global market, and he was CEO and Managing Director of Treofan Group, a global leader in the polypropylene films business. He previously had a succession of roles at Bayer AG, including as EVP and Head of the Global Polyurethanes business and member of the Executive Committee of Bayer Material Science, now Covestro. During his tenure with Bayer, Peter worked across various subsidiaries, including in Belgium, Brazil, Germany and the United States. He is the Chair of the Advisory Board for the European Institute for Industrial Leadership and a member of the Supervisory Board of Symrise AG.

As MRC reported earlier, 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 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-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

Mitsubishi Chemical and Agilyx announce trial results for advanced recycling collaboration

Mitsubishi Chemical and Agilyx announce trial results for advanced recycling collaboration

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates (MCM) and partner, Agilyx Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Agilyx, announced the successful results of a full-scale production trial for polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA; commonly called acrylic) depolymerization at Agilyx’s facility in Tigard, Oregon, said the company.

The full-scale trial, conducted in August 2021, returned results consistent with the successful results of a laboratory-scale trial conducted in 2020. A mixed feedstock included both cast and extruded PMMA sheet, and the effects of different temperature settings were analyzed to find the optimal conditions for PMMA pyrolysis. Following the successful plant trial, experts from MCM and Agilyx met to build an action plan that sets out the required next steps.

“The results at full production scale are very encouraging,” said David Smith, circular economy program lead, Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates. “The teams at both MCM and Agilyx worked very well together, and all parties are excited at the prospect of building a new PMMA depolymerization plant using Agilyx technology."

"The results of our PMMA trials in Tigard have been very positive,” stated Carsten Larsen, CCO of Agilyx. “We’ve proven that Agilyx technology is capable of turning PMMA back into its original monomer, MMA, creating a truly circular material. We’re excited to continue our collaboration with Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates."

The crude MMA produced during the plant trial is currently being distilled at MCM’s pilot plant in Wilton, England and will be used both for internal product development and to validate the purification solution that will be used in this process.

As per MRC, Mitsubishi Corp and Shell Canada Products, by its managing partner, Shell Canada Limited (Shell Canada) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to the production of low-carbon hydrogen through the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) near Edmonton, Canada.

As per ICIS-MRC Price Report, deals on December shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) to the CIS markets were held in the range of EUR1,650-1,710/tonne FCA, which practically corresponds to the November level.

Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates (MCM) is the global Methacrylates Division of Mitsubishi Chemical and the world’s largest producer of methyl-methacrylate (MMA). With manufacturing sites, sales offices and distribution networks throughout Asia, the Americas and Europe, MCM creates products that improve the quality of life around the world, every single day.
MRC

Saudi Aramco and Chevron Lummus Global to co-develop Aramco HOPI+ technology

Saudi Aramco and Chevron Lummus Global to co-develop Aramco HOPI+ technology

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Lummus Global LLC (CLG) and Saudi Aramco announced that they have signed a joint collaboration and license agreement to co-develop and license Saudi Aramco's Heavy Oil Processing Initiative (HOPI+) technology, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

HOPI+ aims to achieve relatively higher conversion of vacuum residue and other available heavy feeds, including incremental crude, using CLG's LC-FINING platform (jointly referred to as LC-HOPI+). The LC-HOPI+ innovative process is expected to help minimize both CAPEX and OPEX and significantly improve margins for bottom-of-the-barrel upgrading.

In 2019, Saudi Aramco joined CLG at its research and development facility in Richmond, California, to create and develop the initial concept pilot testing. Success there led to further HOPI+ evaluations against different process schemes, which further helped quantify the technology's added value.

"HOPI+, combined with CLG's LC-FINING platform, is an innovative concept that simultaneously increases crude throughput and converts residue to valuable transportation fuels and petrochemical feedstock while minimizing capital and energy," said Ujjal Mukherjee, Managing Director, CLG. "The initiative further strengthens the relationship between Saudi Aramco and CLG as we develop, pursue and commercialize new and innovative technology."

Chevron Lummus Global and Saudi Aramco now intend to co-develop LC-HOPI+ technology before global commercialization by CLG.

As MRC informed before, in June 2020, Aramco finalized its USD69 billion acquisition of a 70% stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the Middle East's biggest petrochemical maker. SABIC reported more than a fivefold year-on-year increase in its Q3 net profit to USD1.49 billion thanks to higher average sales prices.

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 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco's value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
MRC

Petronas inks MoU with Petros for staggered increase of natural gas supply

Petronas inks MoU with Petros for staggered increase of natural gas supply

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) and Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (PETROS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on a staggered increase of natural gas supply to Sarawak for the implementation of projects under the Sarawak Gas Roadmap, said the company.

The signing of the MOU took place at a hotel here, in the presence of Sarawak Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Johari Tun Openg and PETRONAS Chairman, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Mohd Bakke Salleh.

Signing on behalf of PETRONAS was Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Upstream, Adif Zulkifli while PETROS was represented by its Group Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Sauu Kakok. It was witnessed by Senior Vice President of Malaysia Petroleum Management, Mohamed Firouz Asnan, PETROS' Chairman of the Board, Tan Sri Datuk Amar (Dr) Hamid Bugo and Director of Economic Planning Unit Sarawak, Datu Dr Mohammad Abdullah Zaidel.

Speaking at the ceremony, Tan Sri Mohd Bakke said, “The staggered increase envisaged under the MOU which would ultimately bring the total domestic gas allocation to 1.2 billion standard cubic feet per day would not only support the State’s aspirations to attract investments from new, higher value-adding industries into Sarawak but would also provide the necessary impetus for further upstream exploration that would strengthen the State’s hydrocarbon resource base."

As per MRC, 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. 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.

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.

PETRONAS currently has existing agreements to supply natural gas to the power and non-power sectors in Sarawak and is actively encouraging sustained upstream investments in exploring more gas resources and further developing discovered gas resources, particularly in Sarawak.
MRC

Oriental Energy starts up two UNIPOL PP lines in Ningbo

Oriental Energy starts up two UNIPOL PP lines in Ningbo

MOSCOW (MRC) -- W. R. Grace & Co., the leading independent supplier of polyolefin catalyst technology, polypropylene (PP) process technology, has announced the successful start-up of two 400 KTA UNIPOL PP process technology lines at Oriental Energy in Ningbo, China, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This brings the total UNIPOL PP operating capacity in China to more than 6.3 MM tpy in the last twelve years making homopolymer, random and impact copolymers to serve the growing market for high performance plastics in China. As of today, Grace expects another 2 MM tpy to come on stream in the next few years from UNIPOL PP process technology in China.

“The safe and successful start-up of the two UNIPOL PP lines at the Ningbo facility is an exciting moment for Oriental Energy. It comes at a critical time as the global economy bounces back from the pandemic and customer demand in the region rises. We are committed to our Chinese customers and look forward to supporting Oriental Energy for years to come to ensure their continued success,” said David Hartill, Vice President of Global Licensing and Services.

Mr. Wu, Yinlong, General Manager of Oriental Energy, remarked, “We appreciate the technical support that Grace provided during design, construction, and commissioning of these important PP assets. These lines are critical to our corporate vision and success in polyolefins, and we look forward to working with Grace to further optimize their performance.”

Oriental Energy currently has the largest UNIPOL PP process technology operating capacity in China, and there are plans to build additional PP lines at their sites in Ningbo and Maoming in the coming years. They anticipate producing several grades of homopolymers, random and impact copolymers with these newest lines to meet the expanding resin requirements of their customers in the region.

As MRC reported previously, earlier this month, W. R. Grace & Co. licensed its UNIPOL PP process technology to Oriental Energy for its Maoming, China, plant. This is Oriental Energy’s fifth PP line, and its fourth using Grace’s UNIPOL PP process technology with a production capacity of 400 KTA.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Oriental Energy operates two subsidiaries, Oriental Energy-Ningbo and Oriental Energy-Zhangjiagang, each of which, in turn, operates a plant with a capacity of 400 ktpa PP and a propane dehydrogenation unit with a capacity of 600 ktpa. These companies were renamed in April 2017 as follows: Ningbo Fuji Petrochemical was renamed Oriental Energy-Ningbo and Zhangjiagang Yangzijiang Petrochemical was renamed Oriental Energy-Zhangjiagang.
MRC