One-third of ExxonMobil shareholders back study on virgin plastics risks

A little more than one-third of ExxonMobil Corp. shareholders voted May 25 to urge the company to closely study its financial risks if society makes rapid moves away from single-use plastics and virgin resin, said Sustainableplastics.

The ExxonMobil vote, which was opposed by the company, comes two weeks after a similar resolution at Philipps 66's annual meeting, where 50.4 percent of shareholders favored a plan from green investors to look at risks it faced from stranded plastics production assets. "What investors are looking for is robust and quantitative disclosure of a company's exposure to the single-use plastics supply chain and how the company can fundamentally change its business model for plastics production," said Joshua Romo, energy and plastics associate at the shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, which brought the resolution.

The issue could be particularly important for ExxonMobil because it's the world's largest maker of virgin plastic intended for single-use applications, AYS said, quoting an analysis from the Minderoo Foundation. AYS said 37.4 percent of ExxonMobil shareholders voted for its resolution.

In comments to shareholders ahead of the May 25 annual meeting, however, ExxonMobil urged investors to reject the AYS resolution, saying that the company shares concerns about plastic waste and is taking action, including investments in chemical recycling facilities in the United States and France, and plans to build capacity to process about 500,000 metric tons of plastic waste per year by 2026.

As well, it said that it's a founding member of the Alliance to End Plastics Waste, a USD1.5 billion industry effort to improve waste management in the developing world. And it said that plastics demand is expected to continue to grow worldwide, including a push to meet needs for lower-carbon technologies like electric cars and green power, as well as help achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in areas like clean drinking water.

ExxonMobil quoted an International Energy Agency analysis that said that even under a net zero emissions by 2050 strategy, chemical demand will grow by 30 percent from 2020, and plastics will account for half that new demand. But the green investors argued that the resin industry is at risk because it's not moving fast enough to use recycled materials to meet that demand, and faces financial risks if it doesn't move faster.

AYS said that ExxonMobil's planned investment in new virgin plastic production is eight times its target for recycled resins, and it said those recycling investments would displace at most five percent of the company's virgin plastics production by 2026.

AYS pointed to a report from the Pew Charitable Trust that said ocean plastic pollution can be reduced by 80 percent by 2040 if recycled plastic demand triples and demand for virgin plastic drops by one-third. "These high votes with Exxon and Phillips 66 send a loud, clear message to the industry to move swiftly to develop a blueprint for an expeditious transition away from virgin plastic and less production of throwaway plastics overall," said Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president at AYS.

As per MRC, ExxonMobil has made three new discoveries offshore Guyana and increased its estimate of the recoverable resource for the Stabroek Block to nearly 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels. The three discoveries are southeast of the Liza and Payara developments and bring to five the discoveries made by ExxonMobil in Guyana in 2022.

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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CHIMEI Corporation announced that it is launching a Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) project as part of its ongoing development of sustainable materials, said the company.

The CCU project will capture and convert CO2 from production processes into the main raw material in polycarbonate (PC) products. The new generation of fixed carbon PC products produced in this manner will help bring about circular sustainability. Phase 1 of the project commenced in May this year when CHIMEI partnered with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to leverage its portfolio of sustainable innovative technologies to develop a technology to covert CO2 recovered from CHIMEI’s flue gas into dialkyl carbonate (DRC), the main in-process material used in PC products. The technology is currently expected to be validated by the end of 2023. In the future, CHIMEI will use this precursor technology as the basis for developing the next-generation of fixed carbon PC products.

To realize circular recycling and carbon reductions in full, CHIMEI has been working with the supply chain in recent years to develop and use various sustainable materials, including mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, and biomass materials. Our goal is to become the leading international partner in sustainability. The CCU project in particular is a key area of CHIMEI’s roadmap on development of sustainable material and the next wave of development.

Polycarbonate makes use of CO2 during the production process so it was selected as the first target for CCU. On the technical side, CHIMEI chose ITRI with its extensive portfolio of sustainable, innovative technologies as its partner. The new catalyst and reaction techniques developed by ITRI as well as CHIMEI’s years of experience in PC manufacturing and outstanding technical capabilities will hopefully lead to a new low-carbon technology for converting CO2 recovered from flue gas into DRC.

CHIMEI then plans to use the DRC output to synthesize diphenyl carbonate (DPC), then use the reaction between fixed carbon DPC with bisphenol A to obtain fixed carbon PC. All of the byproducts during the PC production process can be recycled as well. Once the technology is complete, the only raw material required for fixed carbon PC products will be CO2 recovered from flue gas and bisphenol A.

By upholding the green vision of “Clean & Green”, CHIMEI actively responds to global environmental sustainability issues. In December 2021, CHIMEI committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and became the first petrochemical company in Taiwan to respond to SBTi. With “Net Zero by 2050” as its goal, CHIMEI will propose short-term (2030) and long-term (2050) carbon reduction roadmaps within the year (the official requirement of STBi is 2 years).

As per MRC, CHIMEI completed a one-year-long ecological survey of its Green Energy Park, covering the diversity of animals, plants, and soil properties. Results of the survey indicate that 282 species of animals and plants have been recorded in the park, showing that the ecology of animals and plants in our Green Energy Park is quite rich compared with that in general low-altitude farmland and rural areas.

We remind, EPC Engineering & Technologies GmbH has been selected as technology licensor by ChiMei Corporation and its subsidiary Zhangzhou CHIMEI Chemical Co., Ltd. for a new 180 KTPA Polycarbonate Project to be located in Zhangzhou, China. EPC will provide a license for its patented EPC variPLANT Technology and proprietary equipment to CHIMEI and will also deliver engineering and onsite support for this project.
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A six-year project in France to develop a recycling solution for monolayer and multilayer food packaging PET trays has led to a new technology that makes it possible to process the monolayer trays into a recycled product that is suitable for new tray production, said Sustainableplastics.

With the support of the French not-for-profit organisation Citeo, Indorama-owned Wellman France Recycling and Valorplast, a company specialised in the collection and management of household plastic packaging, collaborated for six years on the project. During that period, Valorplast was responsible for the collection of quantities of post-consumer PET trays, while Wellman conducted a number of industrial runs. The flakes produced through the process have been tested by several actors in order to explore the quality and potentially possible applications for this material.

The outcome of these tests has now enabled a commercially feasible, circular recycling solution for monolayer PET trays to be developed by the project’s participants, who are now working with Klockner Pentaplast on its further implementation. “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,” said Adam Barnett, President of the Food Packaging Division at Klockner Pentaplast.

The new technology is expected to result in over 50 million post-consumer PET trays being diverted away from landfill or incineration in the future. The project is still working on solutions for multilayer PET trays, noted Catherine Klein, general director of Valorplast.

But the new technology means that, for the first time, ‘we have a circular recycling solution for PET tray packaging’ said Francois Lagrue, head of operations – Europe, Indorama Ventures Recycling Group, which 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,” said Lagrue. “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.

As per MRC, 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.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) is the biggest PET producer and, since its acquisition of Wellman International in 2011, has also grown into one of the biggest PET recyclers in the world, producing bottle flakes, rPET and recycled fibres. Since 2011, with IVL has been recycling PET bottles into clear PET flakes for fibre, sheet and bottle applications. Its latest acquisition in this areas was an 85% equity stake in Czech Republic-based PET plastic recycler, UCY Polymers CZ, an investment designed to boost that country’s and Europe’s plastic collection and recycling ambitions. IVL has pledged to invest USD1.5 billion towards achieving the goal of recycling 750,000 tons of post-consumer PET materials as feedback into its own polymer production per year by 2025.
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The Rehau Group will sell its business in Russia to the local management and will withdraw completely from the country. A corresponding preliminary agreement has now been signed by both parties, said Sustainableplastics.

Rehau had previously announced that, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was suspending its activities in Russia and would ramp down its business there in a controlled manner. The company said in its 24 May statement announcing the decision that the ‘ongoing acts of war, which are fundamentally at odds with our values, unfortunately make further action unavoidable. We have accordingly decided to sell our business in Russia’.

The Rehau Group has been active in Russia for around 30 years and has served the market there primarily with polymer-based solutions for the window, construction and furniture sectors. It has almost 700 employees at 23 locations in the country, including a plant near Moscow – its second largest worldwide – that produces PVC window and door profiles.

Rehau is also active in Ukraine. The company has organised emergency aid measures, including the emergency aid fund "Family for Families". It serves to provide short-term support, but is also meant to be used for later reconstruction.

As per MRC, Rehau GmbH, a family-owned supplier of polymer-based solutions to the construction and automotive industries headquartered in Muri, Switzerland, has completed its acquisition of MB Barter & Trading AG. First announced in September, the transaction includes Rehau GmbH in Muri bei Bern, Switzerland, as well as the worldwide subsidiaries of the MB Barter & Trading Group. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

We remind, Rehau Americas, a molder of plastic products for the construction, automotive and industry sectors, will close its manufacturing plant in Winnipeg, Manitoba by the end of 2018. The Winnipeg plant employs approximately 75 workers, and produces rigid PVC profiles for residential and commercial window manufacturers in the U.S. and Canada.
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Abu Dhabi-based petrochemicals company Borouge has attracted demand of USD80 billion for its initial public offering, two sources told Reuters, as retail investors snapped up shares despite volatile global markets.

The company, which is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Austria’s Borealis, has attracted orders of USD63 billion from institutional investors, said the sources, declining to be named as the matter is not public. Borouge is due to list on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange on Friday.

Demand for the retail tranche, which includes employees in the company, totalled USD17 billion, the highest for an IPO in the United Arab Emirates in almost two decades. Asset managers BlackRock and Fidelity were among institutional investors taking part in the offering, the sources said.

Borouge and ADNOC declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Monday. BlackRock and Fidelity did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Borouge’s total offering was about 40 times oversubscribed.

Bankers carved out almost a week to draw interest in the Abu Dhabi offering, but it took less than an hour before they had excess orders.

Borouge last week set the offer price for its initial public offering, which showed it could raise USD2 billion in the deal, implying an equity value of USD20 billion for the company. Gulf issuers have raised USD8.76 billion from IPOs so far this year, Refinitiv data shows, exceeding European flotations even as global markets remain volatile in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine.

Gulf markets are highly correlated to oil prices, which have surged since the conflict in Ukraine with Brent crude now trading at around USD120 a barrel.

As pre MRC, Abu Dhabi-headquartered petrochemicals firm Borouge said on Monday it secured seven cornerstone investors, including India's wealthy Adani family for its USD2 billion initial public offering (IPO). 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).

We remind, Borealis (Vienna), a leading producer of polyolefins, has delayed the start-up of a new, world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant at its existing production site at Kallo, Belgium, which is the company's biggest investment in Europe, until Q3 2023, citing Covid-19. The plant in Kallo in the port of Antwerp was previously targeted to begin operations by the end of next year.

Borealis is owned by OMV AG and Mubadala Investment Co., the Abu Dhabi state investment company. Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
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