Rosneft will apply a new strategy to achieve zero emissions by 2050

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft said that its board has approved new strategy through to 2030 with the aim of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, earlier than President Vladimir Putin's deadline, said Reuters.

Climate scientists have said the balance between the greenhouse gases we emit and those removed from the atmosphere must be zero by 2050 to prevent catastrophic levels of global warming. Russia, the world's no. 4 greenhouse gas emitter, however, has said it targets carbon neutrality by no earlier than 2060.

Rosneft, in which BP (BP.L) holds an almost 20% stake, said the company will reach its emission targets "through a number of actions," including low-carbon power generation, eliminating routine flaring of gas and energy-saving and carbon capture and storage technologies.

As part of efforts to reach that goal, the share of natural gas in total hydrocarbon production will grow to 25% by 2025. Achieving a set of strategic targets is expected to contribute to a more than doubling of the company's free cash flow by 2030, said Rosneft, which is managed by Igor Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.

The "Rosneft-2030" strategy also targets hydrocarbon production of 330 million tonnes of oil equivalent per year, it said. Output growth will be driven mainly by the flagship Vostok Oil project, large new projects (including Russkoye, Yurubcheno-Tokhomskoye, Severo-Danilovskoye and Severo-Komsomolskoye fields), and gas projects (Rospan, Kharampur and others).

As per MRC, Rosneft, Russia's largest state oil company, and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), an Indian petrochemical giant, have signed a contract to supply up to 2 million tonnes of oil to India via the port of Novorossiysk by the end of 2022.

Rosneft is the world's largest publicly traded oil company. The company accounts for about 5% of global oil production, and its proven reserves in the international category will exceed 5 billion tons of oil equivalent. The structure of Rosneft includes the Angarsk Plant of Polymers and Ufaorgsintez (part of the structure of Bashneft) after the closing of the transaction for the purchase of Bashneft. Rosneft and partners acquired the Indian company Essar Oil in 2017 for USD12.9 billion and later renamed the company to Nayara Energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow announced that its carbon partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has delivered on the goal of two mln tons of third-party verified CO2e emission reductions by end of year 2021, five years ahead of the original 2026 goal year, said the company.

Dow was named the official carbon partner of the IOC in 2017 and has since developed a portfolio of global carbon mitigation projects based on Dow’s technology for the built environment, packaging and industrial processes, combined with carbon offsets from high quality external projects. The objective was to balance the IOC’s direct and indirect carbon emissions during the period of 2017-2020, while generating long-term carbon savings in different industry sectors well beyond that period. Altogether, the collaboration’s resulting emissions are expected to leave a positive climate legacy.

Dow’s 10-year participation in the olympic partner program as well as its tenure as the official carbon partner of the IOC concluded at the end of 2021.

Environmental Resources Management provided third-party verification of GHG emission reductions against the Dow climate solutions framework.

In addition to the Company’s carbon partnership with the IOC, Dow’s collaborations with the broader Olympic Movement have brought new levels of science and innovation to multiple high-carbon industries through more than 20 carbon mitigation projects in over 12 countries, including those completed in conjunction with the Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 Olympic & Paralympic Organizing Committees. Together, these collaborations have delivered third-party verified emission reductions of more than 6 MM tons of CO2e since launched.

As per MRC, Cracking unit N7 of Dow Chemical, one of the largest US petrochemical companies, in Freeport (Texas, USA) suffered a technological failure on December 27, the company said in a statement. So, according to the statement, the failure of the technological process at this enterprise with a capacity of 725 thousand tons of ethylene and 80 thousand tons of propylene per year led to the release of substandard products, as a result of which the company had to reduce the capacity utilization at this plant. However, the Dow was able to restore the download on the same day. Meanwhile, emissions of chemicals into the atmosphere were observed for about 6 hours.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Blackstone Inc said on Friday it would invest about USD3 B in Invenergy Renewables Holdings Llc, the largest private renewable energy company in North America, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The world's largest manager of alternative assets such as private equity and real estate has been seeking to bolster its sustainability credentials as investors increasingly question companies on their impact on the environment and workers.

Blackstone's investment will provide capital to accelerate Invenergy's renewables development activities, the company said in a statement. Canadian pension fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and Invenergy management remain majority owners of the company, while Invenergy will continue as managing member.

Blackstone said the investment was made through funds managed by Blackstone Infrastructure Partners.

It was earlier said, Nautic Partners LLC, a leading middle-market private equity firm focused on investments in the healthcare, industrials, and services sectors, and Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today jointly announced a new partnership in which funds managed by Blackstone GP Stakes acquired a minority ownership interest in Nautic. Blackstone GP Stakes specializes in value-added, long-term investments in the management companies of leading private equity firms.

As per MRC, Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, and funds managed by Blackstone, one of the world's leading investment firms, has announced a definitive agreement to form a JV that will create a global acetate tow supplier. Celanese and Blackstone will own 70% and 30% of the JV, respectively.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The US Department of Energy said in late December it had approved a release of two MM bbl of crude oil to ExxonMobil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of a previously announced plan to try to reduce gasoline prices, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Energy Department said it has now provided a total of over seven MM bbl of crude oil from its reserve to boost the nation's fuel supply.

As MRC reported earlier, ExxonMobil said on Dec. 27, its Baytown, Texas, refinery continued to operate at reduced rates following a fire on Dec. 23, and that the unit involved remained shut down. The company has not yet determined the cause of the fire, but said it was continuing to empty the unit so it could safely enter the facility and assess what impact it would have on production. A filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said the fire occurred at the facility's hydro desulfurization unit 1.

Exxon's Baytown facility is home to a chemical plant, an olefins plant and the country's fourth-biggest oil refinery, with capacity to process 560,500 bpd of crude.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding 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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Energy and infrastructure conglomerate Essar will transition existing assets towards a green economy and invest in businesses that will transform sector landscapes from carbon to a clean energy ecosystem, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the company's promoter director Prashant Ruia' statement in late December, 2021

As the world welcomes the new year, the group announced the launch of its campaign #KalKeLiye with a vision to ensure a cleaner and greener tomorrow. With this campaign, Essar embarks upon building a much greener and cleaner business portfolio for the new-age shared economy.

"Essar is poised to transition its existing assets towards a #greeneconomy and invest in businesses which will transform sector landscapes from carbon to a #cleanenergy ecosystem," he wrote. ”#KalKeLiye reaffirms our commitment to help bring a transformation for a better future."

The Covid-19 pandemic that continued in the year 2021 further impacted many businesses across the country and pushed the global economy into turmoil. Many parts of the world were also struck with high levels of climatic disasters like floods and cyclones. Also, the increased production of coal led to higher carbon emissions during the year in a bid to recover the losses caused by the economic downfall.

To address the growing need to maintain a healthy balance of economic and environmental consciousness, Essar launched its campaign #KalKeLiye.

The Resurgent Essar strategy is based on three themes; decarbonization, decentralization and digitalization. It plans to transition its existing seed investments to green assets and invest in new projects that will have a significant regenerative, social and environmental impact on these sectors. In a major initiative, it will create platforms of new-age resources and integrators to enhance the co-creation of value both for the companies and the platforms.

As MRC informed earlier, British refiner Essar Oil plans to build two low-carbon hydrogen plants at its Standlow refinery in northwest England at a cost of 750 million pounds (USD1 billion). The company submitted planning applications for the project in October, 2021.

We remind that in late September 2019, Essar resumed operations at its cracker in Stanlow, UK with the capacity of 45,000 mt/year of ethylene and 165,000 mt/year of propylene. It was shut on 11 September, 2019, due to the power outage at the site.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC