North American chem rail traffic rises

Chemical railcar traffic in North America continues to trend downward from its April peak. During the week ended 4 June, volume totaled 45,852 carloads, down 3.5% from the previous week and up 0.1% year over year (YOY), according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

On a four-week basis, volume declined 0.9% sequentially and 1.9% YOY. For the year to date, chemical railcar traffic in North America is up 2.9% from 2021 and up 6.4% from 2020.

Chemical railcar traffic in the United States contributed 31,938 carloads to the total, down 2.0% YOY and down 4.2% from the previous week. For the year to date, US chemical railcar traffic is up 5.7%. Canadian chemical rail traffic totaled 13,050 carloads, up 3.9% YOY and down 1.3% from the previous week. For the year to date, Canadian chemical railcar traffic is down 4.6%.

North American rail volume for the week ending June 4, 2022, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 319,932 carloads, down 1.4 percent compared with the same week last year, and 331,817 intermodal units, down 5.2 percent compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 651,749 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.4 percent. North American rail volume for the first 22 weeks of 2022 was 14,815,546 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.7 percent compared with 2021.

Canadian railroads reported 75,646 carloads for the week, down 3.5 percent, and 67,573 intermodal units, down 9.2 percent compared with the same week in 2021. For the first 22 weeks of 2022, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 3,134,201 carloads, containers and trailers, down 6.1 percent.

Mexican railroads reported 19,012 carloads for the week, up 2.8 percent compared with the same week last year, and 14,005 intermodal units, up 1.2 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 22 weeks of 2022 was 813,863 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, up 3 percent from the same point last year.

We remind, North American chemical railcar traffic fell by 0.9% year on year. It was the fourth consecutive decline, led by a 2.0% drop in US loadings, which more than offset increases in Canada and Mexico. For the first 21 weeks of 2022 ended 28 May, North American chemical railcar traffic was up 3.1% year on year to 990,052 railcar loadings. With the exception of chemicals, coal and nonmetallic minerals, shipments in all other railcar categories fell for the first 21 weeks.
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State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has discontinued all activities associated with the disinvestment of the company after the government dropped plans to privatise the firm for now, said Newindianexpress.

In a stock exchange filing, the company said the government has through a letter dated June 3, 2022, called off the present tender to sell its entire 53 per cent stake in the company. "Accordingly, all the activities in connection with the disinvestment including the data room are being discontinued," the firm said.

The move by the central government to call off the expression of interest (EoI) followed two out of the three bidders walking out. BPCL had in April last year opened a virtual data room, mostly containing financial information on the company, for the qualified bidders signing Confidentiality Undertaking (CU).

A 'Clean Data Room' containing commercially sensitive information on the firm subject to their signing an additional confidentiality agreement was also opened for bidders.

Bidders which included mining-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta and private equity firms Apollo Global and I Squared Capital's arm Think Gas were also allowed physical inspection of assets such as refineries and depots as part of the due diligence process.

The government was to seek financial bids once bidders completed due diligence and the terms and conditions of the share purchase agreement (SPA) were negotiated. But that stage was never reached. BPCL had in an earnings call with investors on February 2, 2022, stated that no bidder had visited the firm's premises in the previous quarter (October-December 2021).

The data room access for due diligence was available for a period of around 8 weeks. Calling off the bid process, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had stated that multiple pandemic waves and geopolitical situations impacted sectors around the world, especially the oil and gas industry.

"Owing to prevailing conditions in the global energy markets, the majority of QIPs (qualified interested parties) have expressed their inability to continue in the current process of disinvestment of BPCL," it had said last month.

A group of ministers on disinvestment agreed to half the current EoI process and initial bids received from QIPs be cancelled, it had said on May 26. The sale of government's 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL was part of the Rs 1.75 lakh crore disinvestment target for 2021-22 (April 2021 to March 2022). But the COVID-19 outbreak slowed down the sale process and the sale got pushed into 2022-23 before it was put off.

A special purpose vehicle floated by the BSE-listed Vedanta and its London-based parent Vedanta Resources Plc submitted an expression of interest (EoI) for buying the government stake in BPCL before the close of the deadline on November 16, 2020. It continued to be in the fray but the two private equity firms withdrew. BPCL would have given the buyer ownership of around 15.33 per cent of India's oil refining capacity and 22 per cent of the fuel marketing share.

The buyer would have got a 12 million tonne a year refinery at Mumbai, 15.5 million tonne Kochi refinery and 7.8 million tonne Bina unit. BPCL also owns 20,088 petrol pumps, 6,220 LPG distributor agencies and 60 out of 270 aviation fuel stations in the country.

We remind that in April, 2020, BPCL shipped the first consignment of acrylic acid from its Propylene Derivative Petrochemical (PDP) complex at Kochi Refinery. Acrylic Acid is one of the six niche petrochemical products produced in the new PDP Complex at Kochi Refinery.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
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BASF’s Glyoxal is utilized by customers as a cross-linking agent in numerous industries, said the company.

Effective June 1, 2022, Univar Solutions has been named the exclusive distributor for BASF's Chemical Intermediates’ Glyoxal in the US and Canada. With this agreement BASF and Univar Solutions expand their collaboration to better serve customers through a host of sustainable solutions across a range of applications.

Glyoxal is readily biodegradable by showing more than a 90% decrease of dissolved organic carbon according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines 301 C-E and 303 A.

"We are honored and excited to expand our partnership and portfolio of offerings with BASF to match up best in class chemistry with our reliable and flexible service model to the market in the United States and Canada,” said Brian Jurcak, SVP, product marketing management and global trade for Univar Solutions.

"We are proud to extend our relationship with Univar to exclusively represent our Glyoxal product line in the United States and Canada,” said Kevin AndersonVP, business management Amines, Acetylenics, and Carbonyl Derivatives, Chemical Intermediates, North America for BASF. “Univar Solutions’ supply chain capabilities coupled with their extensive market reach will provide customers with the reliability and convenience needed to service their Glyoxal requirements."

BASF’s Glyoxal is utilized by customers as a highly efficient cross-linking agent in the textiles, disinfection, paper, leather, cosmetics and epoxy industries.

As per MRC, BASF and Brookfield have finalized a term sheet for a 25-year renewable electricity supply agreement to purchase solar and wind power for the BASF Zhanjiang Verbund site in China. Under the fixed-price agreement, Brookfield will develop and build dedicated solar and wind farms, as well as possible storage solutions to support the renewable energy demands of BASF site.

We remind that BASF is to increase its production capacity for plastic additives at its sites in Pontecchio Marconi, Italy and Lampertheim, Germany. BASF did not disclose, however, current or future capacities for its production of plastic additives hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS).

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
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Air Products has today (8th June) unveiled plans to build, own and operate a new industrial gases complex in Bihar, India, to supply Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) with hydrogen, nitrogen and steam, said the company.

Marking the industrial gas giant’s second gas complex in India, the site will aid IOCL’s capacity expansion to produce nine million tonnes per annum of Euro-VI or BS-VI compliant gasoline and diesel at its Barauni refinery.

Set to come on stream in 2024, the gases complex will showcase the latest generation multi-feed hydrogen production facility, capable of supplying 70,000 normal cubic meters per hour (Nm3/hr) of hydrogen as well as steam, and a high-efficiency air separation unit producing 4,000 Nm3/hr of nitrogen.

Dr. Samir Serhan, Chief Operating Officer at Air Products, said, “We are honoured to work with IOCL, the largest petroleum refining company and largest public sector undertaking in India."

“As one of the fastest growing economies in the world, our latest strategic investment in India will provide an efficient combination of industrial gas production technologies, enabling IOCL to meet ever-increasing transportation fuel demand. We look forward to reliably supplying IOCL’s industrial gas needs for decades to come."

We remind, Pertamina and Air Liquide Indonesia, signed a joint study agreement on capturing carbon emissions from its Balikpapan hydrogen production facility and storing the carbon in the Kutai basin area off East Kalimantan province. Some of the emissions would be converted into products like methanol, which can be used to produce low-carbon fuels, Pertamina said in the statement. Indonesia, which relies heavily on fossil fuels for its energy, aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060 and aims to nearly double the proportion of renewables in its energy mix to 23% by 2025.

As per MRC, Air Products announced that it is teaming up with World Energy to build a new USD2 B major expansion project at World Energy’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production and distribution hub in Paramount, California. The L.A. county facility is the world’s first commercial scale and North America’s only SAF production facility and its total fuel capacity will be expanded to 340 MM gallons annually.
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PPG announced that it will feature its recently acquired Vanberg Specialized Coatings line of agriculturally focused protective coatings and repair mortars at the World Pork Expo, June 8-10, 2022, at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, said the company.

PPG added the Vanberg product portfolio as part of its acquisition of VersaFlex Inc. in February 2021. For 33 years, Vanberg coatings have provided long-lasting, cost-effective restoration and protection of concrete and metal surfaces in pork production facilities.

“As a leader in the coatings industry with deep expertise in corrosive applications and environments, PPG is proud to expand its services to pork processors,” said Michael Masorli, PPG director, resinous flooring, Protective and Marine Coatings. “We are committed to growing our technology portfolio and providing the agricultural community with the highest-quality product solutions that are backed by unmatched support."

Presented by the National Pork Producers Council, World Pork Expo is the world’s largest trade show for the pork industry.

We remind that in June 2021, PPG announced an expansion of its coatings manufacturing capacity in Europe for packaging applications. The investments at sites in The Netherlands and Poland will support growing customer demand in the region for the latest generation of coatings for aluminum and steel cans used in packaging for beverage, food and personal care items. The projects include a further expansion of the company’s location in Tiel, The Netherlands, which will increase the plant’s production capacity for PPG INNOVEL non-BPA internal coatings for beverage cans by 30%. Expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022, the project follows a 50% expansion completed at the end of 2020.

PPG is a leading supplier of powder coatings to the automotive, transportation, appliance, furniture and other markets. The company expanded the business with its 2020 acquisition of Alpha Coating Technologies, which manufactures powder coatings for light industrial applications and heat-sensitive substrates, and its 2021 acquisition of Worwag, which makes liquid, powder and film coatings for industrial and automotive applications. PPG recently agreed to acquire the powder coatings business of Arsonsisi, including a manufacturing plant in Verbania, Italy.
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