Sherwin-Williams to acquire Italian wood coatings company Industria Chimica Adriatica S.p.A.

Sherwin-Williams to acquire Italian wood coatings company Industria Chimica Adriatica S.p.A.

The Sherwin-Williams Company announced an agreement to acquire Industria Chimica Adriatica S.p.A. (ICA), an Italian designer, manufacturer and distributor of industrial wood coatings used for kitchen cabinets, furniture and decor, building products, flooring and other specialty applications, said the company.

The acquired business has annual sales of more than €150 million, with sales and operations globally, including production facilities in Italy and Poland, and ICA's interest in the India-based joint venture, ICA Pidilite. ICA has approximately 600 employees and will become part of the Sherwin-Williams Performance Coatings Group operating segment. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2022.

"This wonderful company brings us innovative waterborne and solvent liquid coatings technology, including an award-winning range of ultra-matt protective coatings and a growing portfolio of BIO water-based coatings products, which are made with recycled raw materials," said Sherwin-Williams Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, John G. Morikis.

"In addition to this strong technical expertise, ICA has excellent relationships with multi-national and local customers, multiple product specification and approval positions, strategically located manufacturing and distribution, and an outstanding commercial team focused on delivering innovative and value-added solutions. The combination of our businesses provides numerous opportunities to accelerate profitable growth in the region and beyond. The outstanding leadership and talented employees of ICA have built an admirable track record of success over the last 50 years, and we look forward to welcoming them to the Sherwin-Williams family upon the close of the transaction."

As per MRC, Sherwin-Williams Company (SHW) lowered its net sales guidance for the third quarter of 2021, while keeping its full-year net sales and net income per share view unchanged. The company lowered its third-quarter consolidated net sales guidance to be up or down by a low-single digit percentage over third-quarter 2020 from its prior view of up mid-to-high single digit percentage. The full-year 2021 consolidated net sales guidance remains unchanged at up a high-single to low-double digit percentage over 2020 levels.
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LanzaTech and Brookfield form strategic partnership

LanzaTech and Brookfield form strategic partnership

LanzaTech NZ, Inc. announced a funding partnership with Brookfield Renewable, and its institutional partners, to co-develop and build new commercial-scale production plants that will employ LanzaTech’s CCT technology, which transforms captured carbon into valuable raw material commodities, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The funding partnership commits an initial $500 MM to be invested by Brookfield Renewable in constructing and operating new CCT projects that have achieved certain pre-agreed milestones. The funding will be provided through the Brookfield Global Transition Fund (“BGTF”), which is the largest fund in the world focused on the energy transition. Brookfield will be LanzaTech’s preferred capital partner for LanzaTech CCT opportunities in Europe and North America and following initial investments totaling $500 MM, Brookfield could commit to making an additional $500 MM available for investments in the strategic partnership if sufficient projects are available at the agreed milestones. Brookfield will also invest USD50 MM in LanzaTech to support further corporate development.

“LanzaTech’s technology provides a new way to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors across the economy,” said Natalie Adomait, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of BGTF. “We view this as an attractive opportunity to accelerate deployment of this technology at scale and be a partner to grow in an emerging area of infrastructure in a decarbonized economy."

“Creating a new carbon economy will require new ways of financing technology scale up and deployment,” said Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech. “We are excited to partner with Brookfield to accelerate deployment and achieve exponential growth. Together, we have the potential to target significant commodity markets and keep fossil resources in the ground. Each additional plant deployed has the potential to keep the equivalent of around 100,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year. This is the new carbon economy in action!"

LanzaTech converts carbon through the power of biology, using a biocatalyst to transform emissions into fuels and chemicals. Through application of their technology, steel mill emissions have been converted into sustainable aviation fuel, clothing ranges, laundry detergent, household cleaner and fine fragrances. LanzaTech creates industrial symbioses where the emissions from heavy industry can be used by consumer goods companies to make products that would otherwise come from fossil inputs. LanzaTech aims to contribute to a world where your plane is powered by recycled GHG emissions, and your shampoo bottle started life as emissions from a steel mill.

We remind, LanzaTech NZ Inc has struck a deal with Brookfield Renewable Corp for a USD500 MM commitment by the investment firm to finance upcoming projects using LanzaTech's technology.
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Esso trying to resume refinery operations as soon as possible

Esso trying to resume refinery operations as soon as possible

ExxonMobil's French business Esso is trying to resume operations as soon as possible now that an agreement has been accepted by two trade unions, but the restart will depend on the decision made by the next shift of workers, said Reuters.

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.

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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Kuwait KNPC says units at Mina al-ahmadi oil refinery stopped due to malfunction

Kuwait KNPC says units at Mina al-ahmadi oil refinery stopped due to malfunction

Some units at Kuwait's Mina al-ahmadi oil refinery abruptly stopped on Monday evening due to a cooling water cut, Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) said, adding that local supplies and exports have not been affected, said Reuters.

Work at the refinery's gas plant was also halted, the company said in a post on its Twitter account without specifying a date for the resumption of operations.

As per MRC, Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) successfully started full operation of an environmentally friendly project to expand refining capacity and produce fuel that generates lower emissions and less pollution.

As per MRC, Kuwait National Petroleum Company restarted the steam production system in Kuwait’s Mina Abdulla refinery. The steam production system was shut down temporarily as it was replaced hot circulation system.

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) was established in 1980, as the State owned asset and all other oil companies in Kuwait, including KNPC, became KPC subsidiaries. Currently, KNPC has two state-of-the-art Refineries, namely Mina Abdullah Refinery (MAB) and Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery (MAA). Shuaiba Refinery was shut down in March 2017 after the kick-off of the Clean Fuels Project (CFP). The total production capacity of both Refineries is 736,000 bpd of crude oil, and a gas processing capacity of 2.5 billion scfpd.

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Johnson Matthey technology qualified to support Shell green hydrogen production

Johnson Matthey technology qualified to support Shell green hydrogen production

Shell has qualified Johnson Matthey’s (JM) PURAVOC GREENTM purification catalysts for use in its global hydrogen production projects, said the company.

JM’s catalysts will be used to remove trace oxygen to meet oxygen specifications in the production of high purity, zero carbon hydrogen. Removal of oxygen is critical to make the process safer and more efficient. Deoxygenation is an essential step in the production of green hydrogen and requires a flexible and robust catalyst that can operate under a variety of pressures, relatively low temperatures, and intermittent feed flows.

Green hydrogen has a low carbon footprint compared to alternative fuels and can be used as clean energy and in the production of chemical building blocks such as ammonia and methanol. These building blocks are used to make many of our everyday products, from fuels to clothing, food packaging, fertilizers, building materials, pharmaceuticals and more.

PURAVOC GREEN catalysts have been carefully designed to be highly efficient within a broad operation envelope and maintain performance over many operation cycles making this a reliable, easy to operate and economic solution.

Jane Toogood, Catalyst Technologies Chief Executive at JM, said: “We are committed to catalysing the net zero transition for our customers and addressing the biggest environmental challenges that exist. Finding ways to decarbonise and move towards more sustainable processes is of utmost importance and we are pleased to support Shell’s decarbonisation ambition."

We remind, Mitsui Chemicals has asked Shell Catalysts & Technologies for its Shell S-896 catalyst, which is expected to provide important economic benefits from raw material (ethylene) savings and also help the organization meet the decarbonization goals for their ethylene oxide (EO) refinery in Osaka, Japan.
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