CF Industries, ExxonMobil and EnLink enter large-scale carbon capture, transport and storage agreement

Gov. John Bel Edwards and the executives of major global energy corporations CF Industries, ExxonMobil and EnLink Midstream announced an “unprecedented” decarbonization collaboration aimed at dramatically reducing industrial CO2 emissions in Louisiana, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The announcement – described as a potential business prototype for industrial-scale carbon capture and sequestration projects – was made Wednesday at the State Capitol.

The three companies have entered into the largest-of-its-kind commercial agreement to capture emissions from CF Industries’ Ascension Parish manufacturing complex, transport the CO2 through EnLink’s transportation network and permanently store it underground on property owned by ExxonMobil in Vermilion Parish.

“Today’s announcement of this unprecedented, large-scale, low-carbon partnership is a key milepost on Louisiana’s path toward a brighter future for our climate, our economy and our people,” Gov. Edwards said. “The collaboration and innovation to bring carbon capture and storage technology forward at this scale reaffirms our state’s ability to grow our economy without sacrificing our long-term emission-reduction goals to net zero by 2050."

A leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products, CF Industries recently announced a $198.5 million plan to build a CO2 dehydration and compression unit at its ammonia production plant in Donaldsonville. ExxonMobil has signed an agreement with EnLink Midstream to transport the CO2 through EnLink’s pipeline network to a 125,000-acre secure geologic storage location in Vermilion Parish approximately 100 miles south and west of CF’s facility.

The companies expect start-up for the project to be scheduled for early 2025. They estimate the project will allow them to capture and sequester up to 2 million metric tons of CO2 annually, equivalent to replacing approximately 700,000 gasoline-powered cars with electric vehicles.

CF Industries expects to market up to 1.7 million metric tons of blue ammonia annually. A chemical process is considered “blue” when CO2 emissions are captured before their release into the air, making the process more carbon-neutral. Demand for blue ammonia is expected to grow significantly as a decarbonized energy source for hard-to-abate industries, both for its hydrogen content and as a fuel itself, because ammonia’s components – nitrogen and hydrogen – do not emit carbon when combusted.

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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A strike at TotalEnergies' French refineries has been reconducted across all sites after the government warned it would requisition staff at some petrol depots to secure supplies following weeks-long strikes, French media report on Wednesday, citing the hardline CGT union, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Strikers also reconducted the movement at Exxon Mobil's Port Jerome refinery despite the government threat to requisition staff at depots run by Exxon's Esso France unit, France Info and BFM TV said, also citing the CGT union.

We remind, the Flemish government recently awarded TotalEnergies the contract to install 1,500 electric vehicle charging points in Antwerp. In the heart of Europe and in Belgium's most populous city, the company is reinforcing its commitment to offering and developing sustainable mobility, with the aim of becoming Belgium's leading company in the public charging market by 2024.

TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity. Our more than 100,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, cleaner, more reliable and accessible to as many people as possible.
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Specialty chemicals company LANXESS has selected Emerso, a global software and technology leader, as a Global Alliance Partner for automation technology, enhancing its existing long-standing relationship, said the company.

By upgrading its control and safety systems, and digitally transforming its production facilities, LANXESS aims to optimize operational performance and support sustainability targets. The companies have signed an initial five-year global agreement. Emerson will help drive the adoption of advanced automation technologies and enable more efficient project implementation that will allow LANXESS to achieve shorter time-to-market for new products.

We are pleased to expand our collaboration with Emerson and work more closely to develop digital automation solutions that help improve operational performance. Emerson’s automation solutions will support us on our growth path and further drive the digital transformation of production at LANXESS," said Marcel Beermann, head of global procurement and logistics at LANXESS.

The agreement will be supplemented by joint projects to develop and implement applications and analytics software to identify opportunities for increased efficiency and performance, while also delivering on sustainability goals.

We remind, on 31st May 2022, Advent and LANXESS announced the joint, Advent controlled, acquisition of DSM Engineering Materials, alongside its combination with LANXESS High-Performance Materials (subject to competition clearance), to establish a leading global engineering materials company with sales of around EUR 3 bn.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 6.1 billion in 2021. The company currently has about 13,200 employees in 33 countries. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives and consumer protection products.
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Shell reported flaring at its 404,000-barrel per day (bpd) Pernis refinery in the Netherlands due to a malfunction at one of the site's installations on Oct. 12, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"Due to a malfunction on one of our installations, we are forced to flare," Shell Pernis said on its Twitter account, adding that it was investigating the cause of the incident.

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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Trinseo, a specialty material solutions provider, today announced it has appointed Bregje (“Bee”) Roseboom-Van Kessel to the newly created role of Senior Vice President, Base Plastics, effective Nov. 1, 2022, said the company.

As Senior Vice President, Base Plastics, Roseboom-Van Kessel will join Trinseo’s executive leadership team and will be based in Pfaffikon, Switzerland. In this role, she will be responsible for all commercial activities in the Base Plastics business and will report to Andre Lanning, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.

Roseboom-Van Kessel has been with Trinseo since 2018 and previously served as Senior Director, Global Business Finance, where she led the business finance organization for all of Trinseo’s external reporting segments.

“With Bee’s extensive business acumen and understanding of Trinseo’s transformation journey, we are confident she will successfully lead the Base Plastics business and are excited to welcome her as the newest member of the executive leadership team,” said Frank Bozich, Trinseo President and Chief Executive Officer.

Roseboom-Van Kessel brings over 20 years of experience in business finance and change management and has held key financial leadership roles supporting global sales and marketing, supply chain, R&D and brand development for global markets.

She holds a master’s degree in medicine and an executive MBA in finance and control from Maastricht University. She is also a registered controller and a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

We remind, Trinseo said that it has begun an information and consultation process with the Works Council of Trinseo Deutschland GmbH regarding the potential closure of its styrene monomer production site in Boehlen, Germany. The plant, which has a nameplate capacity of 300,000 tonnes/y, has generated negative profitability of around USD30 M over the last four quarters ending 2Q 2022.
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