Russia to cut Nord Stream gas flow

Russia is once again sharply reducing the flow of piped gas to Germany, reminding Europe of the daunting challenge the continent faces to build up its energy stockpiles before winter, said Bloomberg.

Gazprom PSJC will cut shipments on the Nord Stream pipeline -- the main gas link to the European Union -- to about 20% of its capacity from 7 a.m. Moscow time on Wednesday, the Russian gas giant said in a statement. Maintenance issues with a turbine that helps pump gas into the link are behind the curbs, it said.

Russia is once again sharply reducing the flow of piped gas to Germany, reminding Europe of the daunting challenge the continent faces to build up its energy stockpiles before winter.

Gazprom PSJC will cut shipments on the Nord Stream pipeline -- the main gas link to the European Union -- to about 20% of its capacity from 7 a.m. Moscow time on Wednesday, the Russian gas giant said in a statement. Maintenance issues with a turbine that helps pump gas into the link are behind the curbs, it said.

As per MRC, Gazprom has told customers in Europe it cannot guarantee gas supplies because of 'extraordinary' circumstances. The July 14 letter from the Russian state gas monopoly said it was retroactively declaring force majeure on supplies dating from June 14. The news comes as Nord Stream 1, the key pipeline delivering Russian gas to Germany and beyond, is undergoing annual maintenance meant to conclude on Thursday. The letter added to Europe's fears that Moscow could keep the pipeline mothballed in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine, heightening an energy crisis that risks tipping the region into recession.
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Based on LyondellBasell CirculenRecover polyamide, sport equipment specialist TSL has created an innovative snowshoe which will delight outdoor sport fans, said the company.

The footbed of the new snowshoe model is not only based on recycled materials, it also combines extreme resistance with trendy design.

As a world leader in snowshoe development and manufacturing, TSL’s values are strongly connected to the respect of nature, wellbeing and innovation. It was therefore natural for TSL, to invest the use of recycled materials for a new snowshoe model. The challenge with this project was to find a plastic material which was based on recycled materials, but which did at the same time also fulfill all technical and visual requirements. LyondellBasell’s CirculenRecover product range, based on mechanically recycled source materials, brought the solution.

"Snowshoes in general and their footbed in particular are obviously used in extreme conditions,” says Bruno Viala, Business Development Manager at LyondellBasell. “They need to be highly resistant to impact and cold temperatures and also be durable over time. These requirements are usually incompatible with plastics that are based on recycled source materials. After several meetings and trials, we selected together with TSL our CirculenRecover EP PA MV SHI H grade for this project. The product contains approximately 80% of recycled materials and satisfies the demanding quality and design standards of TSL customers."

As per MRC, LyondellBasell has joined the NEXTLOOPP initiative that brings more than 40 major industry players together. Launched in October 2020, NEXTLOOPP aims to create circular food-grade recycled polypropylene (FGrPP) from post-consumer packaging.

As per MRC, LyondellBasell's sprawling chemical plant in Channelview may get even bigger. The international chemical giant, operated out of Houston, said it is evaluating an expansion to potentially boost the Channelview plant's ethylene capacity by 550 million pounds per year. Preliminary engineering work has begun to determine the feasibility of the project. If LyondellBasell decides to proceed, the expansion could be finished by 2017.
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Swiss construction chemicals firm Sika is still waiting for regulators to approve its planned acquisition of Germany-based MBCC Group, said the company.

Sika agreed to acquire MBCC in November 2021. Sika keeps co-operating closely with authorities and currently hopes to complete the deal by the end of 2022, it said.

MBCC Group is the construction chemicals business carved out from BASF. It was acquired for €3.17bn in 2020 by private equity firm Lone Star, which just a year later agreed to sell it to Sika.

As per MRC, Sika AG reported that its first-half net profit after taxes grew 21 percent to 598.8 million Swiss francs from last year's 494.7 million francs. Earnings per share were 3.76 francs, up 20.5 percent from 3.12 francs a year ago. Operating profit or EBIT grew 22.7 percent to 841.9 million francs. EBIT margin was 16 percent. Operating profit before depreciation or EBITDA grew 19.5 percent to 1.04 billion francs.
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Johnson Matthey (JM) has announced that it is collaborating with ClimeCo, a global climate solutions company, to accelerate the deployment of enhanced carbon capture solutions for industry, said the Hydrocarbonengineering.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the two companies will help syngas producers, initially in hydrogen and methanol, to build the business case for reducing CO2 emissions from existing processes by up to 95%.

Combining the expertise of the two companies will enable syngas producers to make immediate progress on complex carbon issues by supporting project economics development, de-risking the business case for decarbonisation projects, and providing a mechanism to create validated CO2 emissions reductions and creating compliance credits in many government-backed carbon markets.

Together, the companies aim to empower customers to make informed decisions on allocating capital for the deployment of JM's CLEANPACE solutions, accelerate emissions reductions, and future-proof their plants against the rising costs of carbon.

Syngas producers are responsible for approximately 70% of CO2 emissions in the chemicals sector. The opportunity for JM's Low Carbon Solutions to deploy existing technology to over 150 grey hydrogen plants in Europe and North America alone, could reduce CO2 emissions by over 100 million tpy by 2030.

"Companies around the world are under pressure to reduce carbon emissions and meet net zero targets," said Jane Toogood, Catalyst Technologies Chief Executive at JM. "Creating strategic partnerships allows us to offer our customers rounded and complete solutions. By working together with ClimeCo, we will enable industries such as chemicals and refining, who rely on syngas, to quickly understand the regulatory frameworks, accelerate capital decisions for decarbonisation programmes and easily deploy proven technology solutions that can have an impact today, to create a cleaner world."

"In order to decarbonise, industry is faced with a complex set of regulatory and financial hurdles," added Bill Flederbach, ClimeCo's CEO and President. "This alliance, leveraging ClimeCo's expertise in regulatory analysis along with advocacy and leadership in environmental credit creation and transactions, supports stakeholders across 'hard to abate' industrial sectors by identifying technically and economically viable decarbonisation pathways, helping them go beyond conceptual studies to deploy technology solutions that make a difference today."

As per MRC, Johnson Matthey will build an GDP80.0m gigafactory at its existing site in Royston as part of an effort to scale up the manufacturing of hydrogen fuel cell components. Johnson Matthey said on Monday that the gigafactory will initially be capable of manufacturing three gigawatts of proton exchange membrane fuel cell components for hydrogen vehicles per annum and will be supported by the UK Government's Automotive Transformation Fund.
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Yanbu National Petrochemical Company (Yansab) has posted net profits after Zakat and tax worth SAR 571.50 million in the first half (H1) of 2022, an annual drop of 43.80% from SAR 1.10 billion, said Mubasher.

The company's revenues soared by 8.81% to SAR 4.03 billion in H1-22, compared to SAR 3.70 billion in the year-ago period. Furthermore, the earnings per share (EPS) settled at SAR 1.02 in the first six months (6M) of 2022, lower than SAR 1.81 during the same period a year earlier.

In the second quarter (Q2) of 2022, Yansab registered SAR 288.50 million in net profit after Zakat and tax, a 51.62% year-on-year (YoY) plunge from SAR 596.30 million. Meanwhile, the Q2-22 revenues stood at SAR 2.06 billion, a 3.96% YoY growth from SAR 1.98 billion.

Last June, the Saudi listed firm paid cash dividends worth SAR 843.75 million, accounting for 15% of the capital, for H1-22. During the January-March 2022 period, the petrochemicals manufacturer's net profits after Zakat and tax plummeted by 32.66% YoY to SAR 283 million, compared to SAR 420.30 million.

As per MRC, Yanbu National Petrochemical Company (Yansab), part of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), restarted its cracker after a planned turnaround. The cracker in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, which can produce 1.38 mln mt/year of ethylene and 400,000 mt/year of propylene, resumed operations on 15 February, 2021. It was shut for a turnaround on 5 February 2021.

The company also has polyolefin plants at the same site with production capacity of 400,000 tons/year of polypropylene (PP) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) each. They were also taken off-line for maintenance on 5 February 2021.

Yansab is the most recent SABIC, (Saudi Basic Industries Corp), affiliate in Saudi Arabia, and will be the largest Sabic petrochemical complex. It will have an annual capacity exceeding 4 million metric tons (MT) of petrochemical products including: 1.3 million MT (metric-tons) of ethylene; 400,000 MT of propylene; 900,000 MT of polyethylene; 400,000 MT of polypropylene; 700,000 MT of ethylene glycol; 250,000 MT of benzene, xylene and toluene, and 100,000 MT of butene-1 and butene-2.

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