Recycling compounder Canuck Compounders bought by Montreal NanoXplore

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cambridge, Ont.-based recycling compounder Canuck Compounders Inc. has been acquired by graphene supplier NanoXplore Inc., of Montreal, for USD9.3 million, said Canplastics.

Canuck Compounders provides sustainable and engineered recycled plastic compounds for use in transportation, building and construction, agriculture and packaging markets. The company’s Cambridge manufacturing facility has a production capacity of approximately 40 million pounds annually.

In a Dec. 16 news release, NanoXplore CEO Soroush Nazarpour described the acquisition as being “strategically aligned with our growth initiatives and significantly increases our graphene compounding capability, especially in recycled plastics."

Canuck Compounders has a “strong relationship with recycled plastic suppliers” that ensures a smooth and reliable supply of post-consumer and post-industrial recycled plastics, Nazarpour continued. “This transaction will enhance our technical expertise in recycled plastic compounds and bolster our top-line by approximately USD20 million annually, without considering revenues derived from graphene inclusion,” he said.

Officials with NanoXplore added that the firm is seeking to expand its downstream, value-added product offering through enhanced masterbatch and compounds, pastes, battery materials, formulated thermoset resins and cement admixtures. Canuck Compounders founder and CEO William Dickinson will continue in a role as general manager, the news release said, along with about 40 employees.

As it was written earlier, Marieville, Que.-based PVC compounder Reinier Plastics Inc. has been acquired by Aurora Plastics LLC, a supplier of PVC compounds headquartered in Streetsboro, Ohio. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Optima Colour, a Cambridge, Ont.-based thermoplastic compounder, has been acquired by a group of purchasers headed by industry veteran Kurt Stahle, the owner of material supplier Simcoe Plastics Ltd. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday confirmed a Reuters report that the sale of its controlling interest in a Texas refinery to Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos has been delayed until next year, reported Reuters.

A review of the deal by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an national security group chaired by the US Treasury, had been expected to wrap up this month but has been extended into next year, Shell spokesperson Curtis Smith said.

Shell in May disclosed an agreement to sell its 50% interest in the 302,800-barrel-per-day (bpd) Deer Park, Texas, refinery outside Houston to partner Pemex for about $596 million. The closing was expected this month, officials have said.

“We were hopeful we could conclude the sale before the end of the month, however, it now looks like the full amount of time will be needed,” Smith said. “We will continue to cooperate with CFIUS as they review the transaction.”

Pemex was not immediately available to comment.

The delay signals CFIUS has moved past its initial 45-day review and into a second, investigative period. The committee is charged with reviewing sales of critical US infrastructure to foreign buyers for national security implications.

The second phase does not signal a potential rejection by the security group. Questions raised during the inital review can be resolved with a letter of agreement or a mitigation agreement, according to a former CFIUS official not involved in the Pemex review.

As MRC informed previously, Royal Dutch Shell plc. said in November that its petrochemical complex of several billion dollars in Western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete and in the process to enter service in the early 2020s. The plant's costs are estimated to be USD6-USD10 billion, where ethane will be transformed into plastic feedstock. The facility is equipped to produce 1.5 million metric tons per year (mmty) of ethylene and 1.6 mmty of polyethylene (PE), two important constituents of plastics.

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

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.

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.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has announced that it recently started commercial service on its new Gillis Lateral pipeline and the associated expansion of its existing Acadian Haynesville Extension system to serve the growing liquefied natural gas (LNG) market on the Gulf Coast, according to BusinessWire.

The approximately 80-mile Gillis Lateral originates near Alexandria, Louisiana on Enterprise’s Acadian Haynesville Extension system and extends to third party pipeline interconnects near Gillis, Louisiana, including multiple pipelines serving LNG export facilities.

The recently completed Gillis Lateral pipeline has the capability to transport approximately 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas.

“By leveraging the flexibility of our Acadian system, Enterprise is providing natural gas producers in the growing Haynesville shale, one of the most lucrative natural gas plays in the US, with access to the higher valued global LNG market,” said Natalie Gayden, senior vice president, Natural Gas Assets for Enterprise’s general partner. “This environmentally responsible project will facilitate delivery of affordable, clean-burning US natural gas to developing nations living in energy poverty that may otherwise rely on highly polluting solids, such as wood, coal and animal waste for heating and cooking. The Gillis Lateral is fully subscribed with long-term, firm commitments from shippers.”

To accommodate the additional volumes, Enterprise increased capacity on its Acadian Haynesville Extension pipeline from 1.8 Bcf/d to 2.1 Bcf/d by increasing horsepower at its Mansfield compressor station in DeSoto Parish. The Legacy Acadian and Haynesville Extension pipelines are part of the Acadian Gas Pipeline system, which is comprised of approximately 1,300 miles of natural gas pipelines and leased underground storage. It links natural gas supplies in Louisiana and offshore Gulf of Mexico to distribution companies, electric utility plants and industrial customers located primarily in the Baton Rouge/New Orleans/Mississippi River corridor area. Enterprise’s 378-mile Haynesville Gathering system has a capacity of approximately 1.3 Bcf/d, can treat up to 810 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and provides a significant and reliable source of supply for the Acadian system.

As MRC reported before, earlier this year, Enterprise Products Partners reported flaring at its propane dehydration, or PDH, unit in Mont Belvieu, Texas. According to the filing made public Aug. 10, the 750,000 mt/year PDH unit was shut down following a leak on Aug. 9. Sources confirmed on Aug. 10 that the unit was offline, but did not give an estimated timeframe of when the unit is expected to come back online.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s state-controlled oil producer has taken a step closer to selling its stake in the Braskem petrochemicals business after the board approved a share offering, reported Bloomberg Law.

Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras can sell up to 100% of its preferred Braskem shares in a follow-on offering, it said in a filing Thursday.

Petrobras also signed a term sheet to migrate the shares to Brazil’s Novo Mercado, which has more strict governance guidelines. Petrobras has a 36.1% stake in Braskem, which has a market capitalization of 42.7 billion reais (USD7.5 billion).

Through the term sheet, Petrobras and Novonor manifest their interest in selling their respective remaining stakes - common shares - in Braskem after the migration to the Novo Mercado, Petrobras added.

As MRC wrote previously, in August 2021, the oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) hired JPMorgan Chase & Co as an advisor to sell its stake in the petrochemical company Braskem SA.

We remind that Braskem is no longer pursuing a petrochemical project, which would have included an ethane cracker, in West Virginia. And the company is seeking to sell the land that would have housed the cracker. The project, announced in 2013, had been on Braskem's back burner for several years.

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.

Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Linde Engineering and MOL Group have signed a contract for the digitalization of MOL’s steam cracker plant operations at MOL Petrochemicals in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Linde will deploy its technology and expertise to help MOL optimize the plant operations and improve its energy efficiency. Linde Engineering will install the software solution Linde Virtual Furnace on MOL’s steam crackers. The solution allows operators to benchmark actual operations against the optimum in real-time. MOL steam cracker plant’s virtual twin will monitor the plant’s operation performance and provide guidance to optimize production efficiency in real-time. As a result, Linde’s virtual steam cracker plant will help MOL to increase capacity and product quality while reducing energy consumption and emissions.

MOL selected Linde Engineering based on its proven experience gained through operating more than 1,000 process plants across 80 countries, the long-standing relationship since 1972 and the state-of-theart steam cracking technologies. Linde Engineering built MOL’s first steam cracker plant in Tiszaujvaros. Based on this successful project, the two companies established a close long-term cooperation. Linde Engineering was in charge of the plant’s reconstruction and lifetime extension, and in 2005, built the second steam cracker plant for MOL.

As per MRC, MOL Petrochemicals Company (formerly TVK, part of the MOL Group), the only Hungarian producer of olefins and polyolefins, has postponed the completion of its polyol plant until the second half of 2022. The company notes that as a result of the delay, total capital expenditures for the construction of a 200,000 tonnes per year facility could rise to around EUR1.3bn (initially EUR1.2bn). The development of the project was hampered by the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis.

As MRC informed before, MOL Petrochemicals Company (formerly known as TVK, part of the MOL Group), the only Hungarian producer of olefins and polyolefins, announced force majeure on the supply of polypropylene (PP) from plant No. 4 at the petrochemical complex in Tiszaujvaros (Tiszaujvaros, Hungary) on 23 September 2019.

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.

MOL Group is an integrated, international oil and gas company with its headquarters in Budapest, with an international and dynamic workforce of 25,000 in more than 30 countries and an industrial history of more than 100 years. MOL's exploration and production activities are supported by more than 80 years of experience in the hydrocarbon industry. It currently has extraction activities in 9 countries and has research assets in 14 countries. MOL Group operates three refineries and two petrochemical plants under integrated supply chain management in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia, and its retail network includes 1,940 filling stations in 10 countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe.
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