Synthomer acquires Eastman Adhesive Resins for USD1 bn

US chemicals company Eastman has completed the previously announced sale of its adhesives resins business to UK-based Synthomer for USD1bn in cash, said the company.

The sale included the hydrocarbon resins (including Eastman Impera tyre resins), pure monomer resins, polyolefin polymers, rosins and dispersions, and oleochemical and fatty-acid based resins product lines.

All of these businesses were previously part of Eastman's Additives & Functional Products segment.

As per MRC, Eastman is targeting for a 2023 groundbreaking on its proposed plastics recycling project in France. The company has yet to decide where in France the project will be built. The methanolysis-based project, first announced on 17 January, will process up to 160,000 tonnes/year of hard-to-recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste. Startup of production is expected in 2025.

As MRC reported earlier, Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.) has completed the acquisition of the business and assets of Matrix Films, LLC and its UK affiliate, PremiumShield Limited, marketer of PremiumShield performance films, including its extended line of automotive film patterns.

Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company's innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end-markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive and diverse company, Eastman employs approximately 14,000 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries.
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Mexico will reduce refining output at state oil company Pemex while it modernizes its oil refineries, reported Reuters with reference to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's statement.

Lopez Obrador was asked at a news conference whether Mexico would export more crude oil than Pemex had previously planned this year due to the high prices the commodity is fetching on international markets.

Without answering the question directly, he said his government was capitalizing on the high oil prices to pursue an "emerging plan" that included repairing the refineries.

"We're taking advantage of the fact that the price is high to put more time and resources into rehabilitating the (refineries)," he said. "(Output) will come down from around 1 million barrels a day processed in the refineries to 850,000."

As MRC informed before, in March 2022, officials told Reuters that Mexico's oil exports would remain close to 1 MMbpd for much of the year, despite plans announced by Pemex to slash them to less than half that so it could refine more crude.

We remind that n late January, 2022, Pemex signed a long-term crude supply contract with Royal Dutch Shell Plc as part of its acquisition of the Deer Park refinery in Texas. Pemex and Shell in May, 2021, announced the transaction, which is worth almost USD600 MM and will make the Mexican firm the sole owner of the refinery near Houston. The facility has capacity to process 340,000 bpd. Shell will supply about 200,000 bpd of foreign and US crude to the plant for at least 15 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 2,487,450 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.
MRC

MRC) -- Neste Corporation announced that it had signed an agreement to sell its existing base oils business to Chevron Global Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The transaction includes the NEXBASE brand, associated qualifications and approvals, and related sales and marketing business. As part of the divestment, the parties also agreed on a long-term offtake for Neste’s base oils supply from Porvoo, Finland. With the same date, Neste signed an agreement to exit its base oils JV with Bahrain Petroleum Company and Nogaholding.

The transaction has been approved by regulatory authorities, and has been completed on April 1, 2022.

As per MRC, Neste has replaced most of its Russian crude oil purchases with other crudes such as North Sea oil due to the crisis in Ukraine. Previously the Finnish refiner purchased from Russia some two-thirds of the crude oil it uses.

As MRC wrote before, Neste has successfully concluded its first series of trial runs processing liquefied waste plastic at its Porvoo refinery in Finland. After kicking the series off with its first-ever industrial scale trial run with liquefied waste plastic in 2020, Neste has conducted additional runs in 2021. In the course of the trial runs, Neste has been able to upgrade liquefied waste plastic to drop-in solutions for plastic production and develop industrial scale capabilities to upgrade recycled feedstocks. Trials pave the way for continuous and commercial activities. Neste has set itself the goal of processing more than 1 MM tons of plastic waste per year from 2030 onwards.

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.
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South Korean naphtha cracker operators are expected to stop importing Russian petrochemical products after deliveries from existing contracts are completed, two industry sources told Reuters.

The country's naphtha cracker operators will not sign any new contracts for Russian products and are working to diversify to other sources such as U.S. and India, the sources said, declining to be identified as they are not authorized to speak to media.

"Companies are unwilling to take the risk of trying to bring in Russian products after sanctions by the U.S. and others, when import and export processes could fall apart on any one of many points such as financial, insurance and shipping," said one of the sources.

South Korean naphtha cracker operators had already flagged the possibility of seeking alternative supplies beside Russian petrochemical products, after Western countries imposed aggressive sanctions on Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine.

As per MRC, Clariant announced that it will suspend business with Russia in response to the Russian state’s intolerable acts of violence in Ukraine with immediate effect. Clariant’s operations in Russia include a sales office and a laboratory in Moscow and contribute approximately 2% to the company’s annual sales.

Honeywell has substantially suspended sales, distribution and service activities in Russia and Belarus. The company prioritizes the safety and security of the employees and partners in the region and responding to their immediate needs.

Solvay has decided to suspend its operations and new investments in Russia. Further, Solvay will suspend dividend payments from Rusvinyl, an independent 50:50 joint venture in Russia.
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Petrochemicals Private Company Ltd. (“MOL”) and HELM AG (“HELM”) have agreed on a long-term marketing co-operation for propylene glycols produced by MOL in its backwards-integrated, newly built polyol chemical complex in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary, according to HELM's press release.

The product range will include both technical and higher value added monopropylene glycol and dipropylene glycol grades.

The Tiszaujvaros complex will produce polyols and propylene glycols using efficient and environmentally friendly technologies such as the HPPO process (propylene oxide from hydrogen peroxide) developed by Thyssen Krupp and Evonik. The overall progress of the Project has exceeded 90%.

In the marketing agreement with HELM, MOL will contribute with its extensive knowledge in the production of petrochemicals, while HELM will provide its supply chain know-how and commercial expertise through its global market presence. Both partners also cooperate on developing the highest standards of certified propylene glycols, to distribute the materials in all fields of applications, including pharmaceutical raw materials as well as industrial applications for unsaturated polyester resin production and to serve the deicing sector.

HELM’s market knowledge and infrastructure ensure MOL’s successful and efficient propylene glycol market entry in the selected regions. However, CEE market sales, as MOL’s home market, will be co-ordinated by MOL.

As MRC reported earlier, MOL Group (Budapest, Hungary) has recently announced that Rossi Biofuel (a joint venture wherein MOL Group and Envien Group are the 25-75% owners) inaugurated a new plant in Komarom, Hungary, which will significantly increase the biofuel production volume in the country. With this investment, MOL Group and Envien Group launched a technology in Europe that can boost greenhouse gas savings by more than 85%. With a capacity of 50,000 tons per year, the plant is the first in Europe to use the RepCat technology offered by Austrian firm BDI-BioEnergy International GmbH, which is highly flexible in terms of raw materials - it allows the processing of greasy wastes of different types and origins, such as used cooking oils, trap grease, animal fats or residues from vegetable oil production. Biodiesel produced in this way is one of the most climate-friendly fuels.

We remind that in March 2021, MOL became a biofuel producer through the realization of an investment in the Danube Refinery. Bio feedstock will be co-processed together with fossil materials increasing the renewable share of fuels and reducing up to 200,000 tons /year CO2 emission without negatively affecting fuel quality.

HELM is a Hamburg, Germany, based family-owned company established in 1900 generating global revenues of EUR 6 billion per year. HELM is one of the world’s largest chemicals marketing companies. The company secures access to the world’s key markets through its specific regional knowledge and subsidiaries, sales offices and participations all around the globe. As a multifunctional marketing organization HELM is active in the chemicals industry, in the agricultural industry and in pharmaceuticals.

MOL Group is an international, integrated oil, gas, petrochemicals and consumer retail company, headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. It is active in over 30 countries with a dynamic international workforce of 25,000 people and a track record of more than 100 years. MOL Group operates three refineries and two petrochemicals plants under integrated supply chain management in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia, and owns a network of almost 2000 service stations across 10 countries in Central & South Eastern Europe. MOL’s exploration and production activities are supported by more than 85 years’ experience in the field of hydrocarbons and more than 30 years in the injection of CO2. At the moment, there are production activities in 9 countries and exploration assets in 14 countries. MOL is committed to transform its traditional fossil-fuel-based operations into a low-carbon, sustainable business model and aspires to become net carbon neutral by 2050 while shaping the low-carbon circular economy in Central-and Eastern Europe.
MRC