PPG Q3 earnings will be up to 7% lower than previously expected

PPG Q3 earnings will be up to 7% lower than previously expected

PPG’s Q3 earnings will be up to 7% lower than previously expected due to the economic slowdown in Europe and pandemic-related lockdowns in China, said the company.

The producer said “soft demand conditions” in the third quarter were expected to continue into Q4.

PPG had expected adjusted earnings per share in Q3 to stand at $1.75-2.00, but it now expects that to be between 5% and 7% lower.

“In comparison to its forecast at the beginning of the third quarter, company sales were impacted by further softening demand in Europe. In addition, sequential quarterly demand recovery was lower than expected in China due to a resumption of certain pandemic-related restrictions,” said PPG.

“The sales volume declines were most pronounced in September and resulted in a reduction in the earnings benefit from higher selling prices and reduced manufacturing efficiencies versus the prior forecast.”

PPG had issued an upbeat Q3 outlook in July; at the time, the company said it expected a "choppy" recovery in Europe.

We remind, PPG will invest USD11 million to double the production capacity of its powder coatings plant in San Juan del Rio, Mexico. The expansion project is expected to be completed by mid-2023 and will allow the plant to meet the expected future demand for powder coatings in Mexico.

PPG is a leading supplier of powder coatings to the automotive, transportation, appliance, furniture and other markets. The company expanded the business with its 2020 acquisition of Alpha Coating Technologies, which manufactures powder coatings for light industrial applications and heat-sensitive substrates, and its 2021 acquisition of Worwag, which makes liquid, powder and film coatings for industrial and automotive applications. PPG recently agreed to acquire the powder coatings business of Arsonsisi, including a manufacturing plant in Verbania, Italy.
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LyondellBasell and Genox Recycling to establish plastics recycling JV

LyondellBasell and Genox Recycling to establish plastics recycling JV

LyondellBasell and Genox Recycling have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a joint venture (JV) to build a plastics recycling plant in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province with a planned start up in 2023, said the company.

The plastic recycling plant will use mechanical recycling technology to recycle post-consumer plastic waste and produce new polymers sold under the LyondellBasell CirculenRecover product portfolio. This JV aims to reduce the amount of plastic waste sent to landfills, incinerators or the environment, support the growing demand for circular and sustainable solutions and promote high-quality development of local recycling.

"Advancing a circular economy that enables plastic waste to be transformed into more sustainable solutions for our customers is important to us, and we are pleased to collaborate with Genox Recycling to make this happen," said Limin Fu, vice president of LyondellBasell China Polyolefins. "This new joint venture will help develop the local plastics recycling infrastructure in China and is an important milestone for LyondellBasell to contribute to its goal to produce and market two million metric tons of recycled and renewable-based polymers annually by 2030."

"Genox Recycling believes that innovation and collaboration are necessary ways to achieve carbon neutrality,” said Jingfa Jiang, chairman of Genox Recycling. “We are delighted to join hands with LyondellBasell to lead the development of plastics recycling with a complementary mix of strengths from both parties and accelerate a circular and low-carbon future together."

This partnership is one of the recent initiatives LyondellBasell is taking to expand its recycling capacity globally. LyondellBasell will continue to work with partners along the value chain to enhance its local capabilities to supply circular solutions in China and contribute to the development of local circular economies.

We remind, LyondellBasell has launched a new polymer catalyst manufacturing plant at its Frankfurt, Germany facility. The expansion is in line with the company's plans to invest in infrastructure projects, especially in developing countries.

LyondellBasell is one of the world's largest producers of polypropylene, a leading supplier
polyethylene and catalysts, as well as a developer of technologies for the production of polyethylene and polypropylene. The company manufactures products at 58 production sites in 18 countries. In addition, LyondellBasell is the developer of the Spheripol process, which underlies the production of polypropylene at Omsk Poliom and Nizhnekamskneftekhim.
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Exxon asks U.S. labor board for new date for hearing on refinery lockout charges

Exxon asks U.S. labor board for new date for hearing on refinery lockout charges

ExxonMobil asked the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to move back by a month a hearing on a complaint the company unlawfully locked out more than 600 workers from its Beaumont, Texas, refinery, said Reuters.

In the filing, Exxon said several of company's attorneys and anticipated witnesses are unavailable the week of Jan. 9, 2023 "due to prior engagements." The NLRB had asked an administrative law judge to hear the complaint beginning on Jan. 9, 2023. In the complaint made public on Monday, the NLRB charges that the 10-month lockout was part of an unlawful attempt to remove the United Steelworkers union (USW) from representing the workers at the 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) Beaumont refinery.

In the complaint, the board said the employees should be awarded back pay and their costs from the lockout by an administrative law judge who will hear the complaint and Exxon's response in Houston.

We remind, ExxonMobil is gradually shutting down its 235,000 barrel per day (bpd) Fos-Sur-Mer refinery in France as a result of ongoing strike action. Walkouts caused the gradual shut down of Exxon's 240,000 bpd Port Jerome-Gravenchon oil refinery and Notre Dame de Gravenchon (NDG) petrochemical site in France on Sept. 20 before spreading to Fos-Sur-Mer 24 hours later.
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Honeywell announces new ethanol-to-jet fuel technology

Honeywell announces new ethanol-to-jet fuel technology

Honeywell International Inc will roll out technology that could increase supplies of lower-carbon fuel produced from ethanol, the company said, as per Reuters.

Honeywell's technology can increase production efficiency of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to lower costs. The airline sector is considered one of the most difficult to decarbonize as fuel cannot be easily replaced with other kinds of power. Oil refiners have been trying to increase production of SAF to try to lower emissions.

"As demand for SAF has increased, we've been looking at different ways to make more SAF economically that people can adopt and adopt at large-scale and produce to displace significant fractions of the jet and diesel pools," Kevin O'Neil, senior business leader for renewable fuels at Honeywell UOP, said.

The company says, depending on the type of ethanol feedstock used, that its technology can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% on a total lifecycle basis compared with petroleum-based jet fuel. Ethanol is primarily made from corn in the United States.

SAF plants using Honeywell's technology can be modularized offsite, enabling lower costs and faster and less labor-intensive installation, the company's news release said. Through this approach, producers can build new SAF capacity more than a year faster than traditional construction, the release said.

The new technology would also enable oil refiners and other fuel producers to convert current or idle facilities into SAF production plants, it said.

In September 2021, the Biden administration launched an effort to boost output to at least 3 billion gallons of SAF per year by 2030 and have enough SAF by 2050 "to meet 100% of aviation fuel demand, currently projected to be around 35 billion gallons a year." The recent Inflation Reduction Act, a climate bill that includes incentives for lower-carbon fuels, is also likely to accelerate demand for SAF feedstocks.
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Saudi Aramco to supply full contract volumes of crude oil to 3 Asian refiners in November

Saudi Aramco to supply full contract volumes of crude oil to 3 Asian refiners in November

Saudi Aramco has told at least three customers in North Asia they will receive full contract volumes of crude oil in November, several sources with knowledge of the matter said Reuters.

Saudi Aramco has notified at least three North Asian buyers that it will supply full contractual volumes of crude in October. The world's top oil exporter has slashed its official selling prices (OSPs) to Asian buyers for the month, the first reduction in four months. The price cut was overall in line with the market expectation as the spot premiums for the Middle Eastern crude dipped since mid-August amid an increasing number of arbitrage cargoes flowing into Asia.

We remind, Saudi Arabian Oil Company (“Aramco”) inaugurated the Aramco Research Center at KAUST (ARC KAUST), which aims to accelerate the development of low-carbon solutions for the energy industry using advanced analytics. Strategically located within the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the newly established research hub deploys artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop innovative ways to advance low-carbon solutions and enable a Circular Carbon Economy.
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