Imperial Oil signs deal with Air Products to supply low-carbon hydrogen

Imperial Oil has announced a long-term contract with Air Products which will supply low-carbon hydrogen for its proposed renewable diesel complex at its Strathcona refinery near Edmonton, Alberta, said the company.

Air Products will provide pipeline supply from its hydrogen plant under construction in Edmonton and increasing overall investment in the facility to CAD$1.6bn to support the contract. Jon Wetmore, Imperial’s Vice President of Downstream, said, “Our agreement with Air Products is an important milestone as we progress plans to build the largest renewable diesel manufacturing facility in Canada. This project highlights Imperial’s commitment to investing in a lower carbon future.”

He said it will continue to hold discussions with business partners and governments as it works toward a final investment decision “in the months ahead”. Imperial, which recorded net income of USD2,409m in the second quarter, will use Air Products’ low-carbon hydrogen to produce renewable diesel at Strathcona that substantially reduces greenhouse gas emissions relative to conventional production.

The hydrogen and biofeedstock will be combined with a proprietary catalyst to produce premium low-carbon diesel fuel.

The additional investment by Air Products will be used to facilitate integration with Imperial’s proposed project that is expected to enable further significant emissions reductions at Air Products’ overall complex. Air Products will supply Strathcona with approximately 50% of the low-carbon hydrogen output from the 165m standard cubic feet per day hydrogen production complex.

Dr. Samir J. Serhan, Chief Operating Officer at Air Products, said there is significant demand for low-carbon hydrogen, and Air Products is ready to meet it from the Alberta Blue Hydrogen Hub.

We remind, Air Liquide confirms today its intention to withdraw from Russia. 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.
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SK Capital completes USD250m sale of NuCera Solutions to Chase Corporation, said the company.

An affiliate of funds advised by SK Capital Partners (SK Capital) has completed the sale of NuCera Solutions (NuCera) to Chase Corporation, a leading manufacturer of protective materials for high reliability applications in a USD350 million deal.

Formed through the carve-out of Baker Hughes’ specialty polymer business, NuCera is a recognised leader in the production and development of specialty polymers and polymerisation technologies that serve as mission critical performance additives in demanding applications globally. The Company operates globally with headquarters in Houston, Texas, a primary production facility in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, and international sales offices in France and Singapore.

Following the carve-out of NuCera, SK Capital successfully established NuCera as a standalone market leader, growing the business through the development of a targeted global commercial strategy which resulted in a multitude of new business wins.

We remind, Funds advised by SK Capital Partners, and Edgewater Capital Partners private investment firms focused on the specialty materials and specialty chemicals sectors, announced having entered into exclusive negotiations following submission of their binding offer to acquire the scintillation and photonic crystals business of Saint-Gobain, S.A. SK Capital will lead the investment with Edgewater acting as a meaningful minority shareholder with Board involvement.

SK Capital is a private investment firm with a disciplined focus on the specialty materials, specialty chemicals, and pharmaceuticals sectors.
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BASF and Huayuan Group today signed a strategic cooperation intention agreement to strengthen their collaboration in the areas of raw material supply, market expansion, and product development, said the company.

The two companies will work together on offering high-quality and innovative solutions to serve the increasing demand from various industries in China and overseas.

The business cooperation between BASF and the Huayuan Group dates back more than a decade. Under the new agreement, BASF will continue to provide Huayuan with high-quality ingredients. Meanwhile, leveraging BASF's deep know-how and extensive innovative solutions in the chemical industry, the partners will expand the cooperation in metal pretreatment technologies, pharmaceutical materials, and sustainable packaging materials, further supporting the development of both companies in key strategic industries.

"The Huayuan Group is a major Chinese player in high-end manufacturing, new energy, and advanced materials. By forming a strategic partnership in broad scope, we will meet customers’ increasing demands for high-quality products in various industries,” said Dr. Jeffrey Lou, President and Chairman, BASF Greater China.

Headquartered in Dongyang, Zhejiang Province, Huayuan Group is ranked among the top 500 private enterprises in China, with eight national high-tech enterprises. Shao Qin Xiang, Chairman and President of Huayuan Group, said: "This agreement is built on the long-term relationship and cooperation between the two companies. Huayuan Group and BASF will combine respective strengths and expand their cooperation areas to achieve mutual business growth."

We remind, BASF, SABIC and Linde have started construction of the world’s first demonstration plant for large-scale electrically heated steam cracker furnaces. 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.
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Trinseo, a specialty material solutions provider, today announced that its Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program of up to USD200 million of its ordinary shares, subject to certain parameters defined by the Board of Directors, said the company.

This new authorization, which expires in 18 months, follows the repurchase of the full USD200 million authorization from December 2021. All repurchases will be carried out by way of redemption in accordance with Irish law and the Company’s constitutional documents.

Frank Bozich, President and Chief Executive Officer of Trinseo, commented, "Given our history of strong cash generation and our ongoing portfolio transformation, we view this as an opportune time to authorize a new share repurchase program. This should enable us to acquire shares in an accretive fashion to drive value for shareholders while growing the business in areas of specialty materials and sustainability."

Trinseo a specialty material solutions provider, partners with companies to bring ideas to life in an imaginative, smart, and sustainability-focused manner by combining its premier expertise, forward-looking innovations and best-in-class materials to unlock value for companies and consumers.

As per MRC, Trinseo and GMP Group plan to collaborate on a polystyrene (PS) recycling plant in the Netherlands.
The plant - with a minimum capacity of 25,000 tonnes/year and expected to start up in 2024 - will purify PS waste and deliver high-quality recycled PS pellets via a “ Super Clean recycling process,” they said in a statement. It would be built and operated by GMP.

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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Austrian oil and gas company OMV received about 30% of the gas ordered for Austria from Gazprom, said the company.

“Gas volumes on today’s gas day correspond to approximately 30% of the volumes set by OMV for Austria under the contract,” the OMV press service said.

Nord Stream has been operating with restrictions since mid-June and the end of July – only 20% of its daily production capacity of about 170 million cubic meters. The Russian side emphasized that the decrease in supply was only due to sanctions, which caused problems in the maintenance and repair of Siemens gas pumping units.

Recently, only one turbine has provided the job. However, on August 31, its scheduled maintenance began, in which malfunctions were also detected on this engine. Therefore, Gazprom indefinitely stopped the operation of Nord Stream – until the comments about the operation of the equipment disappeared. The Russian company sent a letter to Siemens that the turbine needed to be repaired.

OMV reported on 27 July that the total supply via Nord Stream had dropped to 33 million cubic meters per day (20% of capacity), Gazprom confirmed about 40% of the volumes ordered to it. And on July 22, when deliveries accounted for another 40% of the gas pipeline’s capacity, OMV talked about confirming 50% of the order.

As MRC wrote before, OMV is investing EUR40 million (USD48 million) to expand and modernize a steam cracker and associated units at its refining and petrochemicals complex at Burghausen, Germany. The upgrade will increase the site’s ethylene and propylene production capacity by 50,000 metric tons/year. Following a planned turnaround of the refinery, the revamped cracker and petchem units are expected to start operations in the third quarter of 2022. Initial groundwork is already underway ahead of the upgrade.

OMV produces and markets oil and gas, innovative energy and high-end petrochemical solutions – in a responsible way. With Group sales of EUR 23 bn and a workforce of around 20,000 employees in 2019, OMV Aktiengesellschaft is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies.
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