Occidental signs lease agreement for carbon capture and sequestration project in Louisiana

Occidental’s Low Carbon Ventures’ (OLCV) subsidiary, 1PointFive, and Manulife Investment Management have announced a lease agreement for approximately 27,000 acres of Timberland in Louisiana to develop carbon capture and sequestration hubs, said the company.

The companies say that some of the hubs will be Direct Air Capture (DAC) facilities, which will take the carbon dioxide from the air and directly sequester it.

Manulife's acreage will be used to develop and operate a carbon sequestration hub, with access to permanently store industrial carbon emissions. The land offers proximity to point source industrial emitters as well as copious storage capacity, and the company has already filed two required Class IV injection permits for the project.

In addition to this venture, 1PointFive and Manulife are exploring other locations for more carbon capture and sequestration projects throughout the U.S. The lease agreement furthers Oxy's commitment to creating carbon capture hubs to decarbonize the atmosphere.

As MRC wrote previously, Occidental Petroleum's low-carbon unit said in May 2021 it plans to construct and operate a pilot plant that would use human-made carbon dioxide, instead of hydrocarbon-sourced feedstocks, to produce bio-ethylene. The pilot plant will be jointly developed by Occidental's venture capital arm, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures LLC, and bio-engineering startup, Cemvita Factory. It is expected to start functioning in 2022. Bio-ethylene is currently made from bio-ethanol, which is made from sugarcane.

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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Azelis, a leading global innovation service provider in the specialty chemicals and food ingredients industry, announces that it has reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Ashapura Aromas Private Limited (“Ashapura”), a leading distributor of ingredients in the flavors & fragrances (“F&F”) market in India, said the company.

This acquisition provides Azelis with a strong F&F platform in Asia Pacific, creating a global F&F network, following its 2021 acquisitions of Vigon in the US and Quimdis in France, serving the Americas and EMEA regions respectively. Ashapura’s extensive product portfolio strategically complements the group’s lateral value chain (LVC) in the fast-growing F&F market segment, strengthening the offering and technical expertise Azelis provides to customers.

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Mumbai, Ashapura is the leading distributor of F&F ingredients in India, representing more than 225 principals with well-established partnerships and serving over 900 customers globally through the breadth and depth of its portfolio of products. Ashapura’s 100 plus employees will join Azelis, along with founders and owners Ajaykiran and Nayan Gudka, who will remain to lead the business post-integration. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the third quarter, after fulfilment of customary closing conditions.

As per MRC, Azelis announces that it has reached an agreement to acquire Chemo India and Unipharm Laboratories’ distribution assets. Both companies are renowned local distributors of specialty chemicals and ingredients for the CASE (coatings, adhesives, sealants, elastomers), L&MWF (lubricants & metalworking fluids) and pharmaceutical market segments in India.
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Germany-based engineering company Linde has completed their efforts as part of implementing the Amur Gas Chemical Complex (AGCC) construction project, as per TASS.

"Linde has completed its work within the AGCC project framework. We are dealing with its adaptation to new conditions together with partners from Sinopec," the Russian chemical giant said. Early in 2020, Linde made the contract for provision of pyrolysis services for AGCC.

The Amur Gas Chemical Complex is the joint venture of Sibur (60%) and China’s Sinopec (40%) for polyethylene and polypropylene production. The capacity of the plant will be up to 2.7 mln tonnes of polymers annually.

As per MRC, Linde Engineering announced it has been selected by Slovnaft, a member of the MOL Group, a leading integrated Central Eastern European oil and gas corporation, to conduct a complex large-scale revamp of a polypropylene (PP3) plant in Bratislava, Slovakia. The revamp will extend the plant’s capacity by 18 percent to 300 kilotons of polypropylene per year, and the storage facility will be expanded from the current 45 to 61 silos in total. The revamped plant has been designed to offer a higher degree of operational flexibility by producing multiple product grades and utilizing intermediate storage to ensure just-in-time production.
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CNOOC, Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Shell Group and ExxonMobil jointly signed a memorandum of understanding on the Daya Bay carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage (ccs/ccus) cluster research project in the form of "Online + offline" in Beijing, Guangzhou, London and Houston, said the .

This is China's first large-scale offshore ccs/ccus cluster research project (3-10million tons), and it is also another important measure for CNOOC to actively promote the "double carbon" work.

In November, ExxonMobil made a final investment decision to proceed with a USD10-billion chemical complex at Huizhou. The greenfield project includes a steam cracker with nameplate ethylene capacity of 1.6 MMt/y, three polyethylene lines, and two polypropylene lines.

Shell and CNOOC separately operate a 50-50 petrochemical joint venture at Huizhou, which started operations in 2006. Shell and CNOOC announced plans in 2020 to add a third cracker to their site. The CCS project would be “a follow-on to [ExxonMobil’s Huizhou project], and potentially impact more broadly to multiple industries within the Dayawan Petrochemical Industrial Park."

The CCS project at Huizhou could become one of the first chemical decarbonization projects in China. The companies will also evaluate China’s carbon policy systems and propose policies to support deployment of CCS projects in the Dayawan Industrial Park. “Collaboration with government and industry is an important part of unlocking future carbon capture and storage opportunities, with the potential for large-scale reductions of emissions from vital sectors of the global economy,” said Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions.

Currently, ExxonMobil estimates that it has an equity share of one-fifth of global CCS capacity at approximately 9 MMt/y.

As per MRC, China oil giant CNOOC Ltd shares surged as much as 44% in their Shanghai debut on Thursday, defying broad market weakness, as investors sought safety in the Chinese oil giant amid high energy prices and quickening inflation. After opening 20% higher, CNOOC shares immediately shot up 44% on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, hitting a price ceiling for the day and triggering a 30-minute trading halt. The stock ended the session up 27.7%.
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Trinseo, a specialty material solutions provider, opened its new Global Business Services (GBS) office in Dublin City Centre, welcoming representatives from leading local businesses and organisations, staff and partners to an official unveiling ceremony attended by Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD, said the company.

Residing across two floors at 76 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay in the city’s Docklands, Trinseo’s new GBS is in one of the most attractive waterfront properties in the South Docklands within the newly developed office building.

Frank Bozich, Trinseo President & CEO, said: "Trinseo’s move to establish a significant base in Ireland is a huge step forward as we continue to transform into a higher-growth, higher-margin and less-cyclical specialty materials and sustainable solutions provider to better serve our customers worldwide. We’re delighted to be in Ireland and open our offices in Dublin. We’re proud to become part of a rich community of high-calibre, high-growth companies in a dynamic and vibrant city business hub which is home to some of the world’s biggest companies."

Established in 2010, Trinseo has grown to become a leading global specialty materials solutions provider with a focus on delivering innovative, sustainable and best-in-class materials to unlock value for companies. Last October, the company announced its plans to establish its new Global Business Services function in Dublin City Centre and launched a major recruitment initiative to fill more than 100 highly skilled roles across many facets of finance, procurement, cash collections and IT.

Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD, said: "Congratulations to the Trinseo team and the very best of luck with this new office. I’m glad to see you will still be promoting a flexible working environment, for the more than 120 new staff you’ve hired since deciding to invest here. It’s a great vote of confidence in Dublin City and underlines our attractiveness as a base. It’s a pleasure to be here in person to warmly welcome the new team as they embark on their new careers. The very best of luck with this expansion."

Speaking at the new office opening, Lori Wilcox, Global Business Services Leader said: "Since announcing our arrival in Ireland last year, we have been focused on building a stellar team of diverse and talented people for our Global Business Services function who share in our vision for the future, our values and our culture. Our ambition is to cement Trinseo as a great place to work locally. We want to grow our team with us and enable them to enjoy a rewarding career with a global company.

The new office is a fantastic multifunctional space where staff can connect and collaborate as part of our flexible ways of working and I’m delighted to welcome everyone here today. It’s an exciting time for Trinseo, and we’re proud to become part of the City of Dublin."

Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland said: "Trinseo was attracted to Ireland due to the country’s international reputation as a location where companies can quickly establish their operations – this is evidenced by the fact that the company has added 120 talented people to its team here in less than a year. I would like to wish Trinseo continued success and our ongoing support as they further develop their business from Ireland."

As per MRC, Trinseo will use gasification technology to depolymerize post-consumer polystyrene waste into pure styrene. It’s a first-of-its-kind project on an industrial scale. Trinseo’s plant will process 15 kilotons of recycled polystyrene flakes every year. These will be transformed into high-quality recycled styrene and used for the production of new polystyrene and/or styrene derivatives, including acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and styrene acrylonitrile (SAN).

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately $4.8 billion in net sales in 2021 and has 26 manufacturing sites and one recycling facility around the world and approximately 3,400 employees.
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