Arkema finalizes the acquisition of Polimeros Especiales in Mexico

Arkema finalizes the acquisition of Polimeros Especiales in Mexico

Arkema finalized the acquisition of Polimeros Especiales, strengthening the Group’s offering in solvent-free solutions and its position in this fast growing region, said the company.

Polimeros Especiales is a well-established Mexican company producing high-performance waterborne resins for a broad range of applications in markets such as architectural and decorative paints, textiles, pressure sensitive adhesives and construction. It is a key manufacturer of emulsions in the region, achieving sales of around US$40 million in 2021 and employing 230 people.

As part of Arkema’s Coating Solutions segment, Polimeros Especiales will strengthen the Group’s position in high-growth markets, drive the development of further sustainable innovations together with Arkema’s other key solvent-free technologies, and reinforce its presence in the Americas market.

We remind, Arkema has set itself an ambitious target, based on an SBT (Science Based Target) approach, to reduce its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and its scope 3 emissions by 46% by 2030 relative to 2019.

Also, Nippon Shokubai and Arkema are joining forces to launch feasibility studies and establish a joint venture for the construction of an industrial plant for the production of LiFSI (Lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide) ultrapure electrolyte salts, a key component of battery cells for electric mobility.


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YPF, Petronas in talks over gas pipeline, LNG plant

YPF, Petronas in talks over gas pipeline, LNG plant

Argentina's state oil company YPF and its Malaysian counterpart, Petronas, inked a deal on Thursday to build a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and a pipeline to transport the fuel, as demand for the fossil fuel spikes globally, said Reuters.

An agreement could be announced as soon as the end of the week, likely ahead of the Gastech conference in Milan that begins on 5 September. Confirmation from YPF and PETRONAS could not be reached before publication.

YPF operated a brief run at LNG exports between 2019 and 2020, with its Tango FLNG project that was installed in Bahia Blanca. The project’s operations were short-lived, however. Six LNG cargoes were exported, before payments were terminated and Exmar took back the vessel.

Tango FLNG has since been acquired by Italy’s Eni for its exports in the Republic of Congo. Eni’s project could start production as soon as the second half of 2023. Sources said that YPF could consider a bridging venture using floating LNG again while pursuing an onshore liquefaction project, which could be planned as a sizeable project.

One source said as much as 25mtpa was under consideration, but that this sounded overambitious. Argentina has been a net importer of LNG, particularly during the country’s southern hemisphere winter.

YPF would look to export during the country’s summer season, which runs during the northern hemisphere winters in Europe and Asia, coinciding with peak LNG demand. Argentina has imported about 1.8m tonnes of LNG from January to August 2022, according to ICIS LNG Edge. Argentina imported 2.1mtpa in 2021.

We remind, YPF said it would maintain its USD2.7 billion 2021 investment plan despite only partially resolving a recent debt crisis, with USD1.3 billion of the spending for shale oil and gas production at Vaca Muerta, reported Reuters.
The investment represents an 73% increase versus 2020, when the firm suffered a severe blow from the drop in international oil prices and lower demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As MRC informed earlier, Argentina's state-backed energy company YPF plans to ramp up it investment 73% this year, with the brunt of the increased spending going toward rebuilding oil and natural gas production after a 10% slump in 2020, according to a company source's statement Jan. 26, 2021.
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Topsoe makes FID on big electrolyser project in Denmark

Topsoe makes FID on big electrolyser project in Denmark

Topsoe has made a final investment decision (FID) to build what will be “the world’s largest” solid oxide electrolyzer cells (SOEC) electrolyzer plant, said the company.

The plant at Herning in Denmark’s Jutland region will have an initial capacity of 500 MW per year, with an option to expand to 5 GW.

With the Danish kroner (DKK) 2bn (USD267m) project, Topsoe would take power-to-x technology and electrolysis to produce green fuels to a “commercially competitive position, ultimately making the case for decarbonisation unarguable,” Topsoe said.

“We already have 500 MW of pre-sold capacity and are in discussions with other potential offtake partners as well, who find our electrolyzer technology attractive, and look forward to being able to make more announcements in due course,” said Sundus Cordelia Ramli, chief commercial officer (CCO) of Topsoe’s Power-to-X division.

Construction will start during H2 2022. Timelines for completion and startup were not disclosed.

As per MRC, Topsoe’s technologies are set to reduce its customers’ greenhouse gas emissions by 12 MMt in 2022 alone. These reductions will not be one-offs but ongoing for the years to come. The key driver is Topsoe’s renewable fuels solutions, producing low-carbon fuels from waste and biomass.
mrc.ru

Imperial, Exxon completes USD1.9B sale of XTO Energy Canada

Imperial, Exxon completes USD1.9B sale of XTO Energy Canada

Imperial Oil Ltd. says it and ExxonMobil Canada have closed the USD1.9-billion sale of their oil and gas-producing assets in the Montney and Duvernay areas to Whitecap Resources Inc., said Jwnenergy.

The two companies each owned 50 per cent of XTO Energy Canada, which held the assets, while Imperial itself is majority owned by ExxonMobil.

Imperial says the assets sold include almost 230,000 net hectares in the Montney shale and about 29,000 net hectares in the Duvernay shale, plus additional holdings in other areas of Alberta.

Whitecap says the acquisition will add the equivalent of about 32,000 barrels per day of production (including condensate and natural gas liquids) and over 2,000 drilling locations in the two fossil fuel plays.

Calgary-based Whitecap says the deal also includes a gas processing facility, and that integration of the acquired assets is already well underway.

Imperial said in January it would look to sell XTO Energy Canada as part of its strategy to focus on key oilsands assets.

As per MRC, 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.

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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BASF, SABIC and Linde start construction of the world’s first demonstration plant for large-scale electrically heated steam cracker furnaces

BASF, SABIC and Linde start construction of the world’s first demonstration plant for large-scale electrically heated steam cracker furnaces

BASF, SABIC and Linde have started construction of the world’s first demonstration plant for large-scale electrically heated steam cracker furnaces, said the companies.

By using electricity from renewable sources instead of natural gas, the new technology has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions of one of the most energy-intensive production processes in the chemical industry by at least 90% compared to technologies commonly used today.

The demonstration plant will be fully integrated into one of the existing steam crackers at BASF’s Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. It will test two different heating concepts, processing around 4 tons of hydrocarbon per hour and consuming 6 megawatts of renewable energy. The start-up of the demonstration plant is targeted for 2023.

BASF and SABIC are investing together into the project and the demonstration plant will be operated by BASF. Linde is the engineering, procurement and construction partner for the project and in the future will commercialize the developed technologies.

To support the development of the novel furnace technology, the project has been granted €14.8 million by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action under its “Decarbonization in Industry” funding program. The program is supporting energy-intensive industries in Germany in their efforts to achieve carbon neutrality.

The demonstration plant aims to show that continuous olefin production is possible using electricity as a heat source. The plant is designed in a way that two heating concepts can be tested in parallel: Direct heating applies an electric current directly to the process tubes inside the reactor; indirect heating uses radiative heat of heating elements placed around the tubes. Testing these two concepts will make it possible to react flexibly to different customer and site requirements.

Steam crackers play a central role in the production of basic chemicals and require a significant amount of energy to break down hydrocarbons into olefins and aromatics. Typically, the reaction is conducted in furnaces at temperatures of about 850 degrees Celsius. Today these temperatures are reached by burning fossil fuels. The project aims to reduce the CO2 emissions by powering the process with electricity.

In March 24, 2021 BASF, SABIC and Linde have signed a joint agreement to develop and demonstrate solutions for electrically heated steam cracker furnaces. The partners have already jointly worked on concepts to use renewable electricity instead of the fossil fuel gas typically used for the heating process.

SABIC is a global diversified chemicals company, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It manufactures on a global scale in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific, making distinctly different kinds of products: chemicals, commodity and high-performance plastics, agri-nutrients and metals.

Linde is a leading global industrial gases and engineering company with 2021 sales of $31 billion (€26 billion). We live our mission of making our world more productive every day by providing high-quality solutions, technologies and services which are making our customers more successful and helping to sustain and protect our planet. The company serves a variety of end markets including chemicals & energy, food & beverage, electronics, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and mining.

BASF operates through six core business segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technology, Nutrition & Care, and Agricultural Solutions. In Russia, the company has at least six subsidiaries: BASF LLC (fertilizer trade), BASF Industrial Metals LLC (metals trade in primary forms), BASF Yug LLC (seed trade), Hemetal LLC ( trade in industrial chemicals), LLC "MBS Building Systems" (trade in building materials and products) and LLC "BASF Vostok" (production of paints and varnishes).

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