Hallstar to acquire North Carolina esters facility from Lanxess

US speciality chemical company Hallstar has agreed to acquire Lanxess's esters manufacturing facility in Greensboro, North Carolina, said the company.

The acquisition will expand Hallstar’s manufacturing capacity and product portfolio, and will include the ester manufacturing plant, select product lines and site personnel. Financial details of the acquisition, which is expected to close by the end of the year, were not disclosed.

“This strategic acquisition complements Hallstar’s position as a leader in the design, synthesis and manufacturing of specialty ester chemistry,” said chief executive John J. Paro. “We’re glad to see increasing demand for our products but know that our continued success depends on customer’s supply security. The outstanding facility in Greensboro will be a welcome addition to Hallstar’s production capabilities,” he added.

Carmen B. Masciantonio, chief operating officer and president of Hallstar Industrial Solutions, added: “This manufacturing capacity expansion directly enables us to increase our polymeric plasticizer business in the US market.

"The site has significant assets that produce environmentally friendly phthalate-free plasticizers including benzoate and citrate esters under the Uniplex brand, as well as other specialty chemistries. The acquired products will further strengthen Hallstar’s global position and add to our portfolio of well-known brands – Plasthall, Paraplex, Dioplex, Staflex and TegMeR.”

As per MRC, Lanxess said it was suspending its business activities in Russia due to the war in Ukraine. Thus, the company had “suspended business activities with Russian customers as far as contractually possible until further notice” and had suspended all investments in Russia. Its sales in Russia and Ukraine made up less than 1% of its global sales, it said.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with about 19,200 employees in 25 countries. The company is currently represented at 74 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. Through Arlanxeo, the joint venture with Saudi Aramco, Lanxess is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber.
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German speciality chemicals maker Lanxess said it expects its adjusted core profit to rise by up to a quarter in 2022 as it is able to pass on soaring raw material and energy costs to customers through higher prices, said the company.

Lanxess second-quarter net profit dipped by 7% year on year on lower margins amid rising raw material and energy prices. Operating profit margin slipped to 4.9% in April-June 2022, from 5.7% in the previous corresponding period.

“In an economic environment driven by sharply rising raw material and energy prices, all segments achieved higher sales than in the previous year in both the second quarter and the first six months,” Lanxess said in a statement.

The German firm said that there was a positive contribution from businesses acquired from Emerald Kalama Chemical in 2021, while its high performance materials business unit is recognised as a discontinued operation, with restated prior-year figures for sales and EBITDA. In the first half of the year, EBITDA pre-exceptionals rose by 14.5% year on year to EUR253m.

For the whole of 2022, Lanxess expects EBITDA pre-exceptionals to be between €900m-€1bn from around €800m in the previous year.

As per MRC, Lanxess said it was suspending its business activities in Russia due to the war in Ukraine. Thus, the company had “suspended business activities with Russian customers as far as contractually possible until further notice” and had suspended all investments in Russia. Its sales in Russia and Ukraine made up less than 1% of its global sales, it said.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with about 19,200 employees in 25 countries. The company is currently represented at 74 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. Through Arlanxeo, the joint venture with Saudi Aramco, Lanxess is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber.
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Six South Korean companies and Malaysian state-owned energy company Petronas have agreed to work together to look at the feasibility of a cross border carbon capture and storage project in what's been called Asia’s first CCS hub project, said Oedigital.

Under a memorandum of understanding (MOU), Korean companies Samsung Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries, SK Earthon, SK Energy, GS Energy Corporation and Lotte Chemical will work with Petronas across the full carbon capture and storage cycle chain.

The so-called Shepherd CCS Project will capture CO2 emitted from industrial complex sources in Korea and then transport the captured CO2 to Malaysia to store it in the Southeast Asian country. This would be Asia’s first CCS hub project with a goal of developing the entire value chain at once. The MoU will involve the search for and evaluation of potential CO2 storage sites in Malaysia and exploration of other areas across the CCS value chain, including the strengthening of cross-border CO2 transportation.

"Due to the lack of adequate space for CO2 storage within South Korea, it is imperative to secure storage sites outside its territory, and Malaysia stands out as the best option for its global storage capacity and its geographical accessibility with South Korea," says SK. "In this project, Samsung Engineering will manage the business development as well as the hub. Meanwhile, Lotte Chemical, GS Energy, and SK Energy will handle the CO2 capturing and the hub. Transportation shall be entrusted to Samsung Heavy Industry, while SK Earthon and Petronas will oversee the exploration, selection, and operation of the storage."

Hong Jeong-eui, Head of Net Zero Office, SK Energy, said, “CCS is becoming the requisite measure for achieving carbon neutrality across the globe. Moreover, the method of capturing the CO2 from various sources and storing together (Hub & Cluster Method) is in the limelight, especially in Europe. The geographical difference in capturing location and storage is expected to vitalize international shipping and overseas storage. In line with this, we will make sure that the cross-border cooperation achieves success in every process of the value chain."

Han Young-ju, Head of E&P Tech. Center, SK Earthon, shared, “The feasibility study will be conducted in the area near the SK427 block, of which we recently acquired the operatorship. This project marks the first for SK Earthon to link our Upstream strategy and CCS project and create a synergy effect. The acquirement of the storage is significant to the completion of the overall value chain. Thus, we will do our best to secure the storage by utilizing our over 40 years of experience and technological capabilities."

Emry Hisham, Head of Carbon Management, Petronas, said that this cooperation enabled a close collaboration with South Korean companies in order to develop its action plan for Net-Zero. “The feasibility studies undertaken through this collaboration will identify suitable technologies for the CCS and transportation value chain, bringing Petronas closer towards establishing Malaysia as a leading regional CCS solutions hub,” he added.

As per MRC, BASF and Malaysia's Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd announced on Monday that they will build a major new production plant for 2-Ethylhexanoic Acid (2-EHAcid). The new facility will be located at the site of their existing joint venture, BASF Petronas Chemicals, in Kuantan, Malaysia. Construction is anticipated to start in the second quarter of 2015. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
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Shanghai Honeywell announced that China Tianying (CNTY) has selected the Honeywell UpCycle process technology to use in a new advanced plastics recycling plant to be built in Jiangsu Province, China, said Apic-online.

The facility, which will be the first commercialized waste plastics recycling facility using the UpCycle process in China, will convert mixed waste plastics into polymer feedstock. A schedule for the project was not given.

Honeywell UOP will supply related engineering work and technical services for the project up to its start-up and commissioning, and provide technical support services for the plant's operations.

CNTY intends to use the UpCycle process in future recycling plant. The two parties will also explore potential collaboration in various fields, including waste plastics pre-treatment and pyrolysis equipment manufacturing.

As per MRC, Honeywell launched communications systems and bi-directional amplifiers (BDA) that cover the entire Public Safety spectrum, providing scalable solutions to support first responder emergency radio connectivity even in challenging environments.
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U.S. oil producer Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) is in the process of transitioning its 30% stake in a Russian oil development "to another party," according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said Reuters.

“The corporation complies with all established laws and sanctions and is currently engaged in the transfer of the Sakhalin-1 project to another party,” the document says.

The name of the “other party” to which ExxonMobil is going to transfer its stake in the project has not been disclosed.

As a result of withdrawing from the project, the company will no longer account for 150 million barrels of oil equivalent in its proven reserves. This is less than 1% of Exxon’s total proved reserves of 18.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2021.

Exxon Mobil announced in March its withdrawal from the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project due to the situation around Ukraine. In the same month, the company announced the recall of its American employees employed in oil and gas projects in Russia.
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