Reliance may avoid buying Russian fuel after sanctions

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's Reliance Industries, operator of the world's biggest refining complex, may avoid buying Russian fuels for its plants following western sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, reported Reuters with reference to a senior company official's statement.

"Even if we can source some of the feeds (from Russia), probably we will be out of it because of the sanctions," Rajesh Rawat, senior vice president and business head cracker, told an industry event on Wednesday.

Reliance buys Urals crude and straight run fuel oil for its refineries from Russia. The private refiner mostly buys its petrochemical feedstock from the Middle East and the US.

Sanctions on Russia have prompted many companies and countries to shun its oil, depressing Russian crude to record discount levels.

Rawat said in India most of the oil supplies from Russia are going to the state-run companies.

"So probably, those feed streams will still continue, or may have a lesser impact compared to the private sector players. Because we deal with banks, and also even if we can source some of the feeds (from Russia), probably we will be out of it because of the sanctions," Rawat told the Asia Refining and Petrochemical Summit.

As MRC informed before, in November 2021, Reliance Industries and Saudi Aramco decided to re-evaluate their agreement for the Middle Eastern producer to buy a stake in the refining and petrochemical business of India's biggest private refiner, and both companies would look at broader areas of cooperation due to the changing energy scenario.

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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company produces polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride and other petrochemical products.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, Albea Tubes and L’OCCITANE en Provence have recently launched groundbreaking cosmetic tubes and caps for L’OCCITANE en Provence’s “almond” range, supporting the circular economy, said the company.

The packaging is made by Albea Tubes with CirculenRevive polymers from LyondellBasell. The protection of biodiversity and the reduction of waste are at the heart of the international beauty brand L’OCCITANE en Provence. Therefore, when re-designing two tubes of its “almond” product range, L’OCCITANE was seeking a resource-friendly solution and teamed up with cosmetic tubes specialist Albea and polymer supplier LyondellBasell.

As per MRC, LyondellBasell Industries will turn down new business opportunities with Russian state-owned entities, and plans to discontinue existing business with those entities as well. Houston-based LyondellBasell also is donating 200,000 euros (USD220,000) to relief efforts in Ukraine.

As MRC informed earlier, three US subsidiaries of Dutch chemical giant LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (LBI) have agreed to make upgrades and perform compliance measures estimated to cost USD50 million to resolve allegations they violated the Clean Air Act and state air pollution control laws at six petrochemical manufacturing facilities located in Channelview, Corpus Christi, and LaPorte, Texas, and Clinton, Iowa, according to the Department of Justice and the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) statement.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges, like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road, and ensuring the safe and effective functionality in electronics and appliances. LyondellBasell sells products into more than 100 countries and is the world"s largest producer of polymer compounds and the largest licensor of polyolefin technologies. In 2020, LyondellBasell was named to Fortune Magazine"s list of the "World"s Most Admired Companies" for the third consecutive year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sumitomo Corporation has commenced sales of the industrial park developed in a special economic zone in Narayanganj District, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh together with Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority, said the company.

Bangladesh borders India on the north, east and west, and Myanmar on the southeast, placing at a geographically important location connecting South and Southeast Asia. Bangladesh has abundant human resources, with 170 million people (ranking 8th in terms of population in the world) and the labor market is expected to increase at a pace of more than 2 million people every year for the next 20 years. Not only is Bangladesh expected to have a large domestic market, the country is expected to play an important role in the supply chains of products as an export hub for products to neighboring countries. Bangladesh government has set a goal of developing 100 special economic zones by 2030 with aim to diversify industrial areas, and global companies have made inroads into Bangladesh recently as a result.

The industrial park is located approximately 20 kilometers east of central Dhaka (about 1 hour by drive), and approximately 190 hectares are now being developed. The industrial park started its on-site infrastructure development construction works in November 2021 and is scheduled for completion to begin operational in December 2022. The industrial park features international standard infrastructure set up through a Japanese government ODA loan project and One Stop Service through BEZA for license and approval procedures for investors. Sumitomo Corporation is investing 76% stake in the industrial park entity, which amounts to approximately 13 billion Japanese Yen.

As it was written earlier, Sumitomo Corporation, Shikoku Electric Power Company and Sunseap Group, which is an integrated clean energy business company operating in the Asia-Pacific region, have jointly established Sun Trinity LLC to develop and operate in the solar power business in Japan.

Sumitomo Corporation has taken part in the business of development, sales and operation of industrial parks in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar and India. As of February 2022, the 7 industrial parks have invited 563 tenant companies with 220,000 direct employment. This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Japan. Sumitomo Corporation will utilize its know-how obtained through industrial park business operations in other countries to support tenant companies and contribute to the diversification of the industrial sector and encouraging job creation in Bangladesh.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- LG Chem announced that it will hold the ‘First Global Innovation Challenge (GIC)’ for startups all around the world, said the company.

GIC is a technology contest hosted by LG Chem for startups around the globe aimed at discovering outstanding innovative technologies.

With this GIC, LG Chem expanded its past open innovation involving industry-academic cooperation to global startups, and it plans to preemptive procure prospective future technologies and support its commercialization and quickly integrate it in actual businesses.

LG Chem will receive innovative technology ideas in a total of four sectors such as circular plastics, renewable hydrogen, carbon utilization, and sustainable battery materials from March 16 to May 1.

As per MRC, LG Chem Ltd., South Korean petrochemical major, has reported its 2021 net profit of 3.95 trillion won (USD3.3 billion), up 479.4% from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that operating income for the year rose 178.4% on-year to 5.02 trillion won. LG Chem's annual revenue increased by 41.9% to 42.65 trillion won.

As MRC reported before, LG Chem plans to shut down its naphtha cracker in the Korean city of Yeosu for a scheduled turnaround this year. Thus, LG Chem is expected to put its Yeosu naphtha cracker under scheduled maintenance sometime in the second half of 2022. LG Chem's Yeosu naphtha cracker can produce 1.16 MMtpy of ethylene.

LG Chem Ltd., often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It has eight domestic factories and global network of 29 business locations in 15 countries. LG Chem is a manufacturer, supplier, and exporter of petrochemical goods, IT&E Materials and Energy Solutions.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thyssenkrupp suspended its 2021/22 forecast for free cash flow before mergers and acquisitions for due to the Ukraine crisis and said it was unclear if it would still be able to spin off its steel division, said the company.

Although the group’s sales from Russia and Ukraine are negligible at significantly less than one percent of total sales, the Executive Board estimates that the group’s business performance will be impacted by the far-reaching macroeconomic and geopolitical consequences of the war in Ukraine. The Executive Board currently assumes that the global disruptions at various points in the supply chain will affect above all thyssenkrupp’s steel and automotive supply businesses. Opposing developments in materials trading, which is benefiting from the current increase in raw material and material prices, and the countermeasures initiated will not be able to fully compensate these impacts.

At the present time, the specific extent of the direct and indirect consequences of the war in Ukraine on the business development of thyssenkrupp is associated with high uncertainties. Against this background – in particular due to rising raw material prices – thyssenkrupp AG suspends its forecast for free cash flow before M&A for fiscal year 2021/2022.

Until the start of the war, business development of thyssenkrupp AG in the first quarter and in the current second quarter of the fiscal year was according to plan. In March, initial negative effects occurred primarily in the steel and automotive supply businesses. At the present time, the Executive Board continues to assume that the adjusted EBIT for the second quarter will still be above the previous quarter. Free cash flow before M&A, on the other hand, will be more strongly impacted by negative price effects than previously expected.

The economic consequences of the war in Ukraine for the group’s business development are also influencing the possible stand-alone solution for the steel business. thyssenkrupp AG remains convinced that the independent positioning of the steel business offers very good prospects for the future. Nevertheless, a statement on the feasibility is at present not possible due to the current economic conditions.

As per MRC, Thyssenkrupp Uhde’s subsidiary Uhde Inventa-Fischer signed a contract to build three new polymer plants for SASA Polyester Sanayi A.S in Adana, Turkey. One plant is planned to produce 1,050 metric tpd (380,000 tpy) polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for low viscosity application combined with a Co-PET plant with a capacity of 100 metric tpd (36,000 tpy). The third plant will use Uhde Inventa-Fischer’s proprietary patented MTR (Melt-to-Resin) technology to produce 330,000 tpy of resin for the production of PET bottles.

Thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers offers world-leading technologies for high-efficiency electrolysis plants. The company, a Joint Venture with Industrie De Nora, has extensive in-depth knowledge in the engineering, procurement, and construction of electrochemical plants and a strong track record of more than 600 projects with a total rating of over 10 gigawatts already successfully installed. With its water electrolysis technology to produce green hydrogen, the company offers an innovative solution on an industrial scale for green value chains and an industry fueled by clean energy – a major step towards a climate-neutrality.
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