Air Liquide and Sogestran partner to develop shipping solutions for carbon management

Air Liquide and Sogestran partner to develop shipping solutions for carbon management

Air Liquide and Sogestran have signed an agreement to form a joint venture, said the company.

It will provide large-scale liquid CO2 shipping and barging solutions tailored to the needs of future Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects in Europe. This joint venture will strengthen Air Liquide’s offering on the carbon management value chain, including capture, aggregation, processing, and transport to permanent storage locations.

CCS represents one of the fundamental tools in the decarbonization process in particular for the most carbon-intensive industrial sectors. In this context, shipping will be essential to transport CO2 from industrial plants with major CO2 emissions, where carbon is captured, to sequestration sites, where it will be permanently stored.

Combining Air Liquide’s expertise in CO2 with Sogestran’s experience in high value-added transportation of goods, the joint venture will transport CO2 in its liquid form thanks to newly-designed shipping and barging solutions, invested and operated through this collaboration.

Emilie Mouren-Renouard, member of the Air Liquide Executive Committee, supervising Innovation and Development, said: "We are pleased to partner with Sogestran to offer innovative solutions in the new market of large volume CO2 transportation. This initiative complements our carbon management technologies to support our industrial customers in their decarbonization strategies and illustrates Air Liquide's commitment to actively contribute to the emergence of a low carbon society."

Pascal Girardet, Sogestran’s CEO, said: "Air Liquide and Sogestran have built a strong relationship over the past years, working on reliable solutions for this emerging market, in line with our corporate strategy based on innovation. Our teams have worked hand-in-hand to design ships and barges able to safely and efficiently transport liquid CO2. This joint venture will be in a great position to offer the market solutions that will make a significant positive impact on the environment."

Eni and Air Liquide have entered into a collaboration agreement aimed at assessing decarbonization solutions in the Mediterranean region of Europe, focusing on hard-to-abate industrial sectors. The two companies join forces to enable CO2 capture, aggregation, transport and permanent storage.

As MRC wrote earlier, Air Liquide, BASF and Shell are joining Calpine, Chevron, Dow, ExxonMobil, INEOS, Linde, LyondellBasell, Marathon Petroleum, NRG Energy, Phillips 66 and Valero to collectively evaluate and advance emissions reduction efforts in and around the Houston industrial area. Three additional companies have announced their support for exploring the implementation of large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in and around the Houston industrial area.

A world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 75 countries with approximately 66,400 employees and serves more than 3.8 million customers and patients. Oxygen, nitrogen and
hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody Air Liquide’s scientific territory and have been at the core of the company’s activities since its creation in 1902.
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ExxonMobil suspended Far Eastern LNG project

ExxonMobil suspended Far Eastern LNG project

ExxonMobil has suspended its Far Eastern LNG project in the port of De-Kastri, Russia, said Interfax.

This was announced on the air of one of the Russian radio stations by the governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Mikhail Degtyarev. "The project that the Americans announced - Exxon - in the port of De-Kastri with a pipe from Sakhalin, it is frozen," he said.

Exxon Neftegaz Limited is a "daughter" of ExxonMobil, which is the operator of the Sakhalin-1 project. In February, the company launched a tender campaign to select contractors for the Far Eastern LNG project. The company announced a search for contractors to assess the quality of building materials, as well as a search for manufacturers of reinforced concrete products.

According to the project, the terminal was supposed to have a capacity of 6.2 million tons per year in the part of the Sakhalin-1 consortium. The cost of the Far Eastern LNG project is estimated at USD4.2 billion. The launch was planned for 2027-2028.

Oil company Exxon Mobil suspended oil and gas production in Russia, the company said in early March. This decision left the fate of the LNG plant, which was being built in the Khabarovsk Territory, unclear.

As per MRC, ExxonMobil announced that construction of the new linear alpha olefins (LAO) manufacturing unit at its Baytown, Texas, integrated petrochemical complex is progressing and targeting commercial start up in mid-2023. When fully operational, the new facility will have the capacity to produce approximately 350,000 metric tons of LAO annually.

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.

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.

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Polynt Composites increased prices in Europe

Polynt Composites increased prices in Europe

Polynt Composites increased prices in Europe, said the company.

The chemical products sector, already heavily hit in February, is undergoing further cost pressure triggered by the current persistent geopolitical problems with consequent further price increases in the main oil derivatives and in the raw materials and utilities for UPR and VE.

In this scenario Polynt is forced to announce a price increase, effective April 1st, of 160 €/t on the UPR and GC families and of EUR200 per tonne on the VE resin family.

Although this situation was caused by circumstances beyond their reasonable control, they sincerely regret and apologize for the inconvenience this may cause to your business.

Polynt Composites will continue to make every effort to limit the impact of these rising costs upon product pricing.

As it was written earlier, Polynt Group employees, together with the Company, made a charitable donation to the “Amici del MoyaMoya ONLUS” association to help both the reception of Ukrainian children and women fleeing the war (Matrioska Association) and the transport of essential goods to the boarder regions. In addition, Polynt Composites Poland Sp. z o.o. made a further donation to the “Aiutiamoli a Vivere” association to help Ukrainian children.

We remind, Black Diamond Capital Management, L.L.C. has announced that Speciality Chemicals International Limited has agreed to repurchase Investindustrial’s shares in the of Polynt-Reichhold Group and following the completion of the transaction, Black Diamond will become the Group’s controlling shareholder.
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Olin Corp. and Mitsui announced a global strategic alliance to better serve customers

Olin Corp. and Mitsui  announced a global strategic alliance to better serve customers

Olin Corp. (Calyton, Mo.) and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Tokyo) announced a global strategic alliance to better serve customers, said the company.

The companies have agreed to a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture that brings together Mitsui’s top-notch global logistics, deep supplier and customer relationships, and breadth of product portfolio with Olin’s scale, North American export capability, and production flexibility across the electrochemical unit (ECU) portfolio.

The joint venture will be an independent global buyer, supplier, and marketer of ECU-based derivatives, initially focused on globally traded (blue water) caustic soda and ethylene dichloride (EDC) with potential future expansion into other ECU derivatives and related products. By combining the complementary geographic and functional strengths of Olin and Mitsui, the joint venture will enable customers to benefit from greater security of supply, enhanced logistics reliability, increased access to global product liquidity, and network optimization to support the decarbonization agenda.

The parties expect to commence the joint venture later this year, subject to agreement of definitive terms and applicable regulatory approvals.

Scott Sutton, Chairman, President & CEO of Olin commented "Olin’s 130-year history in ECUs and Mitsui’s 70-year history in trading and logistics creates a natural partnership that will grow Olin’s parlay activities and grow Mitsui’s capacity to serve on a global scale. This innovative alliance will connect Olin’s leading asset positions with global product liquidity to reliably meet growing demand in increasingly sustainable ways. Through this alliance, Olin is committed to delivering strategic, sustainable solutions across the value chain."

Takashi Furutani, Chief Operating Officer of Basic Materials Business Unit, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. said “It is an exciting challenge to establish a new joint venture which will operate independently from both parent companies and contribute to the sustainable development of the industry. The joint venture aims to bring value to the industry through optimizing and streamlining the sourcing, supplying, and marketing of ECU-based derivatives. The joint venture also intends to help accelerate the industrial decarbonization effort by enhancing its capabilities and network."

As per MRC, Olin Corp., one of the largest PVC producers in the country, plans to close production at the phenol and acetone plant in Oyster Creek (Oyster Creek, Texas, USA) in mid-April for planned preventive measures. Maintenance at this facility with a capacity of 295,000 tonnes of phenol and 180,000 tonnes of acetone per year will be short and will take one week.

It was previously reported that in 2019, Olin carried out scheduled maintenance at the phenol and acetone plant in Oyster Creek from March 15 to 31.

Olin Corporation was founded in 1892 and is currently based in Clayton, Missouri, USA. The company's activities are concentrated in three segments: the production of military ammunition and chlor-alkali products, and their distribution. It is one of the main producers of polyvinyl chloride in the USA along with Shintech, Formosa Plastics, Westlake Chemical and Axiall.
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KBR announces changes to its board of directors

KBR announces changes to its board of directors

KBR announced that Umberto della Sala will not seek re-election to the company's board of directors at the annual shareholder meeting in May, said the company.

Sir John A. Manzoni KCB has been nominated to fill the board position and will stand for election at the May meeting. Della Sala has been a member of KBR's board of directors since 2015, serving on the Compensation and Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Committees.

Manzoni currently serves as the Chair of SSE, a UK utilities company, and is Chairman of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, a non-departmental UK government body central to the country's nuclear defense strategy. In addition, he is as a nonexecutive director of Diageo plc, a British multinational beverage company, and serves on the Global Leadership Council of the Said Business School at the University of Oxford. Past industry experience includes tenure as Chief Executive of the UK Civil Service and as Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office from 2013 to 2020. Manzoni spent 25 years at BP, including as Chief Executive of Gas and Power and later as Chief Executive of Refining and Marketing. He also joined BP plc's main board in 2003. From 2007 to 2012, he was President and Chief Executive of Talisman Energy, a global exploration and production company based in Canada. And he also served on the board of SABMiller from 2005 to 2014.

"We look forward to Sir John joining the KBR family and welcome his guidance and diverse experience to the KBR Board of Directors," said General Lester Lyles, USAF (Ret.), Chairman of KBR's board. "And I would like to thank Umberto for his dedication to KBR over the past seven years. It has been an honor to serve alongside him, and we wish him well for the future."

As per MRC, KBR and ExxonMobil Catalysts and Licensing will collaborate to bring significant advancements to propane dehydrogenation (PDH) technology. Under the collaboration, ExxonMobil's new proprietary catalyst technology will be combined with KBR's proprietary K-PRO PDH technology to convert propane into propylene. Enabled by the superior performance of ExxonMobil's new catalyst, the combined technology solution could offer financial savings compared to PDH technologies currently available.

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.

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