Petronas, Pertamina and PTT Intensify Collaboration on methane emissions management

Petronas and key energy players at the ASEAN Energy Sector Methane Roundtable 2022 are intensifying collaboration on methane emissions management in the region by leveraging collective capabilities, global best practices and actionable insights to progress the shared ambition towards a lower-carbon future, said the company.

The virtual Roundtable, the second in the series held on 19 May 2022, was hosted by PETRONAS and supported by Thailand’s PTT Public Company Limited (PTT) and Indonesia’s PERTAMINA. The initiative is part of the collaborative effort between energy companies to raise awareness, elevate conversation and champion the climate change agenda in the region, particularly on effective methane emissions management.

The session was attended by participants from PETRONAS, PTT, PERTAMINA and key ASEAN oil and gas companies as well as international organisations such as the International Energy Agency (IEA), the World Bank, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Environment Defense Fund (EDF). Also present were representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Water, Malaysia (KASA), the Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysia (EPU), Embassy of the United States of America in Malaysia, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMOC).

In his welcoming address, PETRONAS President and Group CEO, Datuk Tengku Muhammad Taufik said a transition strategy that is responsible and equitable is key to ensure the sustainability of ASEAN’s energy system.

He said, “As part of our duty as energy companies, it is imperative that we navigate these challenges with a deep-rooted purpose. We must remain at the heart of an effective engine to drive economic recovery by providing energy that is clean, reliable and affordable as well as rally support to shape an ecosystem that will enable a responsible and just transition.

We remind, Perstorp Group said that it is to be acquired by PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG). PCG announced that it has signed a Securities Purchase Agreement on 14 May 2022 to acquire the entire equity interest in Perstorp Holding AB. The agreement was signed with Financiere Foret S.a.r.l, a company under PAI Partners, a European private equity firm.
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ProAmpac, a leader in flexible packaging and material science, announced that it has acquired Specialty Packaging, Inc. (“Specialty Packaging”), a family-owned manufacturer of specialty paper, film and foil packaging products for the fast food and food services industries, said the company.

The addition of Specialty Packaging’s complementary product portfolio and manufacturing capabilities extends ProAmpac’s reach with food service customers and expands its footprint to the southwestern United States.

Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Specialty Packaging is a leading provider of paper, film, foil bags, sandwich wraps, basket liners and other custom products for longtime blue-chip fast food and food service brands. The company produces custom and stock paper, film and foil products from its state-of-the-art 100,000 square-foot facility. With this acquisition, ProAmpac broadens its portfolio of highly customized, recyclable food packaging solutions and increases its paper bag converting capacity.

Greg Tucker, Founder and CEO of ProAmpac, said, “Specialty Packaging has a very complementary offering of high-quality products and a proven commitment to customer service. I am eager to welcome the Specialty Packaging team to the ProAmpac family. We are excited to expand our customer relationships and enhance our manufacturing presence as we work together to strengthen our position as an industry leader in specialty, sustainable packaging."

"We are pleased to join forces with the ProAmpac team, who values the history of our family-owned business and are committed to our company’s long-term growth,” said Hank Dorris, President at Specialty Packaging. “With ProAmpac’s extensive and comprehensive manufacturing capabilities, we will be able to better serve our existing customers while expanding into exciting new end-markets."

Cincinnati-based ProAmpac is owned by Pritzker Private Capital along with management and other co-investors. ProAmpac has over 50 sites globally, with close to 5,800 employees supplying over 5,000 customers in 90 countries. ProAmpac innovates, engineers and manufactures flexible and sustainable packaging and material science solutions for various consumer, healthcare, e-commerce, retail and industrial goods markets.

Kaitlyn Desai, Vice President at Pritzker Private Capital, added, “This acquisition enhances ProAmpac’s leading position in the food packaging sector. The addition of Specialty Packaging’s highly complementary product lines create a truly exciting combination. We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with Greg and the ProAmpac team and welcome Specialty Packaging to the PPC family."

As per MRC, Amcor, a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging solutions, announced an investment to establish new thermoforming capabilities for medical packaging in its Sligo, Ireland, healthcare packaging facility. The multi-million-dollar investment will strengthen Amcor’s leadership in the growing industry for sterile packaging, offering customers in Europe and North America another site with comprehensive healthcare solutions.

We remind, Indorama Ventures completed the acquisition of Ngoc Nghia Industry, one of Vietnam’s leading PET packaging companies. The acquisition will boost IVL's market position as it continues to expand its integrated offering of PET products to major multinational customers throughout the region. Ngoc Nghia is a trusted market leader in PET, preforms and closures, with long-term partnerships with major global and Vietnamese brands in the beverage and non-beverage industries. It has four manufacturing facilities in Vietnam's north and south with a total production capacity of 5.5 B units of PET preforms, bottles and closures, totaling 76,000 tpy of PET conversion.

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S&B Engineers and Constructors (S&B) signs a multi-year master service agreement to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for New Hope Energy’s plastics pyrolysis unit, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The initial project under this partnership is the expansion in Tyler, Texas. The expansion will add 420 metric tons per day of capacity to convert plastic waste to chemical feedstocks in the existing facility. This expansion will allow the Tyler plant to divert more than 300 million pounds of plastic waste from landfills annually. The project also represents a long-term alliance between S&B and New Hope Energy, an environmental technology company developing advanced chemical recycling systems.

"We selected the S&B team for this significant project because of their deep technical expertise, fully-integrated EPC capabilities and 50+ year history of successfully delivering industrial-scale facilities,” said Ron Nussle, COO and President of New Hope Energy. “We look forward to the long-term program and collaborative partnership with S&B and its highly developed supply chain as we grow our advanced chemical recycling systems to create a circular economy that moves the U.S. toward a sustainable future."

S&B will provide full EPC services for the pyrolysis unit expansion to industrial-scale using the Lummus New Hope Plastic Pyrolysis Technology to process plastic waste into renewable chemical feedstocks. “We’re excited to partner with New Hope to boost its advanced recycling capacity to create solutions for plastic waste,” said Ray Sherman, President of S&B’s Energy Transition, Power and Industrial business unit. “S&B remains at the forefront of energy transition projects because of our engineering expertise and the ability to safely execute on time and within budget."

The project began in late 2021, with construction completion and commissioning expected in early 2024.

As per MRC, INEOS Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, has announced the introduction of its new Styrolution PS ECO 260 MR85 grade containing mechanically recycled post-consumer waste. This grade is available across markets in Asia at commercial scale with immediate effect. The new Styrolution PS ECO 260 MR85 contains 85 percent recycled post-consumer content from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). It offers identical mechanical properties as virgin HIPS equivalent, including very good mechanical performance, consistency and high fluidity, making it an excellent drop-in solution for application developers in the household and electronics industries.
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The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), oil major BP and Abu Dhabi future energy company Masdar have joined forces to develop clean hydrogen and technology hubs, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Announcing their new-energy partnerships, ADNOC said the H2Teesside low-carbon hydrogen project with BP had moved into the design phase.

Other partnerships include a feasibility study for a low-carbon hydrogen project in the UAE and an expanded ADNOC-BP-Masdar partnership to explore the production of sustainable aviation fuels from municipal waste and green hydrogen in Abu Dhabi.

Masdar and BP will also explore potential collaboration on HyGreen Teesside, BP's green hydrogen project powered by offshore wind in the UK's Teesside industrial cluster.

The new partnership builds on framework agreements signed during a Sept. 2021 visit to the UK by UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan.

We remind, Borouge, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Austrian chemical producer Borealis, on Monday said it secured seven cornerstone investors, including India’s wealthy Adani family for its USD2 billion initial public offering (IPO).

As per MRC, Adnoc and Mubadala Mubadala announced a strategic transaction involving Borealis, one of Europe’s leading petrochemical companies. Under this agreement, Adnoc will acquire a 25% shareholding in Borealis from Mubadala. Upon completion of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, Borealis will be owned 25% by Adnoc and 75% by OMV, an Austrian multi-national integrated oil, gas and petrochemical company listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange.
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Thai-based Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) with its facility Wellman France Recycling in Verdun, has been working on the PET trays recycling for 6 years and through an ongoing project with VALORPLAST and supported by CITEO, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The project has the objective to develop and validate recycling for monolayer and multilayer PET trays. VALORPLAST has collected significant quantities of post-consumer PET trays and several industrial runs have been conducted by Wellman. The produced flakes are being tested by several actors to develop high quality applications. Those tests have led by IVL to develop a commercially feasible recycling solution for monolayer PET trays with the collaboration of Klockner Pentaplast. The new technology is processing monolayer PET trays used for food packaging (meat, produce and cheese) into a high-quality product, suitable for new tray production.

This new recycling innovation will see over 50 million post-consumer PET trays diverted away from landfill or incineration. " PET trays are essential to combat food waste. Their high barrier properties protect food for longer meaning fresh and safe food for all of us.” for Francois LAGRUE, Head of Operations – Europe, Indorama Ventures Recycling Group said “This new technology will mean that for the first time we have a circular recycling solution for PET tray packaging. This will lend significant support in realising the EU’s plastic collection and recycling targets.

"This is a true value circle effort. Tests were performed at all levels, including sorting, recycling and conversion. Ensuring the input met the right quality and purity levels is our top priority. Development of tray recycling has been a goal for some time. We are proud that – together with our partners – we have been able to develop a commercially and technically feasible process, that allows us to produce a dedicated rPET flake product for the food packaging market."

Testing has now moved into commercial production. 500 tonnes of PET trays are now being processed monthly and transformed into a high-quality tray flake, which can be used to produce new trays. The purity of the flakes is comparable with high-quality bottle flake. A further scale up is foreseen, and the company plans to process 10KT of tray flake in 2022.

Catherine Klein, General Director of VALORPLAST said, “We are delighted with the results of this ambitious project. It shows that the recycling of plastic packaging is really progressing. On the side of VALORPLAST, we have been involved for many years on PET trays recycling. This main project, hand in hand with Indorama Ventures’ Wellman site and started in 2018, leads today to an opportunity for industrial recycling for this type of packaging. Through the project, we are also working on solutions for multilayer PET trays. The next steps could be the game changer we look for."

Adam Barnett, President of the Food Packaging Division at Klockner Pentaplast said, “We welcome this investment in Europe’s circular economy. By delivering a circular system for trays weensure that valuable secondary raw material is not wasted. We will be using this flake as part of our kp Tray2Tray initiative to include recycled content in our food packaging trays for the fresh food sector across Europe. An exciting step change to creating and supporting true circularity.

As per ICIS-MRC Price Report, April PET chips supply to the country increased to 15,000 tonnes, compared to 13,500 tonnes a month earlier. Imports of material were at 31,500 tonnes in April 2021.The share of Chinese material was 99% (14,900 tonnes) in April versus 89% (12,000 tonnes) a month earlier. Supply of bottle grade PET increased by 10% in the four months 2021 compared to the same period last year - from 67,100 tonnes to 73,700 tonnes.

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