G7 finance ministers agree to Russian oil price cap

The Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers plan to implement a price cap on Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products, they confirmed in a joint statement on Friday, as per Reuters.

The initial price cap will be based on range of technical inputs and the price level will be revisited as necessary, said the ministers.

"We aim to align implementation with the timeline of related measures within the EU?s sixth sanctions package," they added.

As per MRC, as a shareholder of Novatek, TotalEnergies asked the management of Novatek on August 25 for information on what happens of the gas condensates produced by the Termokarstovoye field in Russia, in order to shed the fullest light on the recent controversy initiated by French daily newspaper, Le Monde. TotalEnergies publishes the response given to TotalEnergies by Novatek: "All of the unstable condensate produced by our subsidiaries and joint ventures, including Terneftegas, comes into our Purovsky condensate processing plant. The Purovsky Plant also stabilizes condensate from other Russian producers, whose share in the plant's load does not exceed 20%.

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Air Liquide confirms today its intention to withdraw from Russia, said the company.

Taking a responsible and orderly approach, the Group has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the local management team with the objective to transfer its activities in Russia in the framework of an MBO (Management Buy Out). This project is notably subject to Russian regulatory approvals. In parallel, as a consequence of the evolution of the geopolitical context, the activities of the Group in Russia will no longer be consolidated starting September 1, 2022.

Air Liquide employs close to 720 people in Russia and its turnover in the country represents less than 1% of the Group’s turnover. This divestment project to local managers aims to allow an orderly, sustainable and responsible transfer of its activities in Russia, ensuring notably the continuity of oxygen supply to hospitals. As a reminder, the Group has previously announced, in the context of the closing of its accounts at June 30, 2022 an exceptional provision of 404 million euros on the Group’s assets in Russia, which has no impact on cash.

As per MRC, Air Liquide invested and will operate its first biomethane production unit in China by the end of 2022. Located in Huai’an City, in the Jiangsu Province, the unit will have a production capacity of 75 GWh per year. This project demonstrates a circular economy and low-carbon approach, in line with the Group’s Sustainable Objectives and strategic plan, ADVANCE.
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SIBUR will build a facility to produce up to 50,000 tonnes of hexene per year at the Nizhnemkamskneftekhim petrochemical plant's olefins complex, SIBUR head Mikhail Karisalov said at a petrochemical forum in Kazan, said the company.

"Development of the technology and its piloting have been successful, and a decision was made to build this facility using in-house technology at Nizhnemkamskneftekhim," he said.

"This covers 125-130% of SIBUR's immediate demand, and what we used to buy in the UK and Germany. We expect to start pilot operation of this capacity within 18-20 months, and have it in our portfolio as a product from the end of 2024," Karisalov said.

Hexene is used to produce polymers. It is not currently produced in the former USSR, including in Russia, Karisalov said.

We remind, SIBUR has partnered with the global engineering company Technip Energies to licence out its technology for producing 1-hexene, a co-monomer used to make LLDPE and HDPE. The technology, known as HEXSIB, was developed by NIOST – one of SIBUR’s main R&D centres. 1-Hexene can be used to make LLDPE and HDPE and is an essential component of speciality polyethylene grades that offer premium quality and boast much better properties than commodity grades. For example, 1-hexene helps reduce the amount of plastic used in each end product and lower the environmental footprint by providing the same barrier properties to a thinner film.

SIBUR Holding is the leader of the petrochemical industry in Russia and one of the world's largest companies in the sector with more than 23,000 employees. Over the past 10 years, SIBUR has implemented a number of large-scale investment projects worth about 1 trillion rubles.

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The company Nizhnekamskneftekhim (part of Sibur) and the special economic zone (SEZ) Alabuga signed an agreement on the creation of an industrial park in the city of Nizhnekamsk with a possible investment of about 1.3 trillion rubles, said the company.

Within the framework of the Tatarstan Oil and Gas Chemical Forum, the agreement on the conduct of industrial and production activities on the territory of the newly created Ethylene 600 industrial park was signed in the presence of President Rustem Minnikhanov and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the General Assembly. Director of Sibur PJSC Mikhail Karisalov.

Within the framework of the agreement, it is expected that Alabuga SEZ will provide the industrial park and its residents with infrastructure for the development of existing and import substitution industries, and the SEZ investments for park infrastructure will amount to approximately 169. billion rubles, its area is about 2 thousand hectares.

It is assumed that the projects of Nizhnekamskneftekhim will become anchors for the new economic development zone, and the range of products produced by the enterprise opens up wide opportunities for the development of production in the relevant sectors, and there are no actual costs for delivery. raw materials for park residents can significantly increase the competitiveness of their products.

“Across Sibur, Alabuga and potential participants in the new industrial park received the best long-term partner for growth in the Russian Federation. According to preliminary estimates, Sibur’s investments, our infrastructure costs and third-party capital, the total of the project can reach about 1.3 trillion rubles ” said Timur Shagivaleev, Managing Director of Alabuga SEZ.

“Today’s agreements have become another stage in the implementation of the agreement signed between Sibur and the Republic of Tatarstan a little less than a year ago, which separately determines a number of obligations regarding investment projects. Today, the development of infrastructure is very important. For medium-tonnage chemistry and its derivatives, this There is a great deal of such projects and Alabuga has significant experience in building world-class infrastructure and we are sure it will help unlock it,” added Igor Klimov, Managing Director of Nizhnekamskneftekhim.

We remind, that Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC (NKNKH, part of SIBUR) has created a stock of catalysts and special chemicals for its production. The company uses various actions to ensure supplies: for some items, the company purchased large volumes of catalysts and special chemicals for warehouses in advance, and a lot of work is being done to select and homologate analogues.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim is one of the largest producers of synthetic rubbers in the world and plastics in Russia.

SIBUR Holding is the leader of the petrochemical industry in Russia and one of the world's largest companies in the sector with more than 23,000 employees. Over the past 10 years, SIBUR has implemented a number of large-scale investment projects worth about 1 trillion rubles.
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The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld a USD14.25 MM judgment against ExxonMobil Corp for pollution from its Baytown, Texas, refining and petrochemical complex, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The judgment stems from a U.S. Clean Air Act lawsuit brought by two environmental groups, Environment Texas and the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter. This is Exxon’s second appeal of a Houston U.S. district court’s ruling that Exxon was responsible for repeated releases of pollution from the refinery and chemical plants in Baytown.

Exxon stipulated the Baytown complex had 16,286 days of violations between October 2005 and September 2013, which included multiple simultaneous violations. “While we respect the court’s opinion, we disagree with the decision,” said Exxon spokeswoman Julie King. “We have acted responsibly and in accordance with regulatory requirements. We are reviewing the decision and considering next steps."

Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, called on Exxon to accept the repeated decisions in the case against the company.

"After 13 years of litigation – including a three-week trial, two appeals, two remands of the case to the trial court for additional findings, and three appellate decisions against them – it is long past time for Exxon to accept responsibility and finally pay what it owes to the public for years of illegal, toxic pollution,” Metzger said.

The case was brought by the two groups under a provision of the Clean Air Act that allows citizens to sue when government agencies have failed to prevent pollution.

As per MRC, Exxon Mobil 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.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
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