French refinery strikes risk spiraling into bigger crisis for Macron

MOSOCW (MRC) -- France's refinery strikes are emboldening hardline unions and the political opposition hoping to ignite a broader movement that could threaten President Emmanuel Macron's reform agenda, said Reuters.

After nearly three weeks and petrol stations across the nation starting to run dry, the refinery strikes have triggered calls for more industrial action in other sectors and handed the opposition an opportunity. The left-wing NUPES parliamentary coalition aims to capitalize on the situation with a march on Sunday it hopes will be a major show of force and help turn the page on domestic violence accusations that have dogged senior members recently.

"The situation is being weaponized, when you mix it all up, you get the march on Sunday. You get the fodder that set the yellow vest fire," a government source said, referring to months of widespread and sometimes violent street protests in 2018 where demonstrators often wore yellow high-visibility vests.

As fuel shortages began to hit businesses and disrupt people's everyday lives, the government took the rare step this week of requisitioning a small number of striking refinery workers to keep supplies flowing to the pumps. Taking a cue from their refinery colleagues, some workers at nuclear power plants have begun staging rolling strikes for higher wages, hitting already record low nuclear energy production.

While polls suggest as many as two-thirds of French people support requisitioning refinery workers, the move is a red flag for unions, which see it as a violation of their constitutional right to strike. Four unions - but not France's biggest, the moderate CFDT - have called for strikes and protests on Tuesday for wage increases and also to protect the sacrosanct right to strike.

"From the beginning, the government has downplayed the strike's impact and underestimated the discontent and this is where we end up," CGT union head Philippe Martinez said on Friday on television channel franc. With the social atmosphere increasingly on edge, the situation is hardly any better in the corridors of parliament where the government is struggling to get the 2023 budget passed, having lost its ruling majority in June legislative elections.

We remind, 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. 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.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell Catalysts & Technologies and Technip Energies are building on their successful track record of collaboration by strengthening their strategic alliance, which aims to drive cost-effective, large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects by providing a combination of state-of-the-art technology and project management excellence, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Technip Energies recently joined Shell’s Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam (ETCA) to form a joint, co-located delivery team. This follows Shell’s move to transform the site, previously known as Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam, into an open innovation campus and to invite external parties to co-locate there and work together to solve the world’s biggest energy challenges. Over the next few years, the joint team stationed at ETCA will continue to work towards achieving strong improvements in cost reduction through joint value delivery and improvement programs.

The strategic alliance is an integrated cooperative relationship for the joint promotion, marketing, licensing and execution of projects using Shell’s CANSOLV CO2 Capture System technology. The two organizations, which have been working together since 2012, believe that, by enhancing their collaboration, they will be able to better respond to the rapidly growing CCS market and the need for affordable and proven solutions.

In addition to its CANSOLV technology, Shell Catalysts & Technologies brings to the alliance substantial CCS experience gained from supporting Shell’s projects. Technip Energies, which also has a significant CCS track record, brings end-to-end project delivery experience in front-end-engineering design (FEED), engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), commissioning and start-up and life-of-asset services.

Yuri Sebregts, Executive Vice President Technology for Shell says, “Our current cooperation has already unlocked several highly significant improvements. For example, we were able to find ways to make the CANSOLV technology less energy intensive and developed opportunities to modularize and standardize solutions. Consequently, we are able to offer lower capital and operating costs to our customers.”

Arnaud Pieton, CEO, Technip Energies, observes, “Both organizations are recognized global energy leaders, bring complementary skills for CCS and share a similar, bold energy transition vision. Extending our agreement and having a joint delivery team in ETCA are the natural next steps in strengthening our alliance and will help to drive CCS affordability by developing industrial-scale solutions. This will support the growing demand for CCS across industries and geographies and will help us to make a significant contribution to a sustainable future.”

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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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BEWI’s acquisition of expandable polystyrene (EPS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS) producer Jackon is expected to conclude in the next one to two weeks, said the company.

Therefore, the acquisition is expected to be officially completed before the end of October. The acquisition was previously expected to conclude by the end of Q3 2022, following the completion of divestments.

BEWI originally announced the plans in October 2021 to acquire all shares in Jackon, and following this, offers were accepted by all shareholders in H1 2022.

EPS is a rigid form of polystyrene (PS) used in insulation foams for the construction industry as well as for packaging.

BEWI maintains its previously communicated expectations of synergies of at least EUR12m to EUR15m.

BEWI is an international provider of packaging, components, and insulation solutions. The company’s commitment to sustainability is integrated throughout the value chain, from production of raw materials and end goods, to recycling of used products. With a vision to protect people and goods for a better every day, BEWI is leading the change towards a circular economy. BEWI ASA is listed at the Oslo Bors under ticker BEWI.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The state-of-the-art Kamakshi SUDPACK production plant near Ahmedabad opened with a festive ceremony, said Polymerupdate.

The new site is a key component of SUDPACK’s internationalization strategy – as well as a strategic hub for the intensified development of the rapidly growing market of the Indian subcontinent and for meeting the demand for high-quality flexible films in a broad range of industries with a comprehensive product and service portfolio.

Asia, in addition to Eastern Europe and Africa, is becoming increasingly important for food production as well as in medicine and technology. The joint venture with Kamakshi Flexiprints is thus an important element for SUDPACK in its internationalization strategy. Located in Ahmedabad in India and founded in 1994, the manufacturer of printed, flexible packaging materials supplies the food and non-food industries with flexible packaging solutions. Now after approximately a year and a half of construction, the opening ceremony was held for the new Kamakshi SUDPACK Pvt. Ltd. production site. The festivities were attended by SUDPACK’s Managing Partner Carolin Grimbacher and its Managing Director Tharcisse Carl, the Managing Directors of Kamakshi SUDPACK, Harish Goel and Narendra Dhupar, in addition to high-ranking local politicians.

The two days of celebration began with a press conference during which Carolin Grimbacher provided a brief overview of the company group’s strategy. This presentation was followed by a presentation about SUDPACK’s sustainability roadmap – a subject that is also of growing relevance in India. After the press conference, many thanks were expressed to the companies involved in constructing the new site.

On the following day, the official opening ceremony for the site was on the agenda. During the ceremony, Tharcisse Carl presented his vision for Kamakshi SUDPACK – and explicitly highlighted the outstanding cooperation in recent months among everyone involved.

The new Kamakshi SUDPACK plant is equipped with cutting-edge extrusion, printing, coating and laminating machines for the production and finishing of high-performance films. It complies with the IGBC Standards for green building. The site will also comply with future international regulations and standards, such as GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice), BRC, FSMS ISO 22001, QMS ISO 9001 and SMS-ISO 45001.

The complex covers a total area of approximately 47,000 m? and is divided into areas for extrusion, printing, laminating and pouch production. In recent weeks, the individual lines were gradually commissioned and powered up to make it possible to already produce flexible packaging solutions at the site that meet the highest standards of quality.

We remind, Indian Oil Corporation Limited is expanding the petrochemical capacity of its Gujarat refinery (LuPech Project). Nuberg EPC, the leading Indian Global EPC and turnkey project management company today announced that it has been selected by Indian Oil for the construction of Rs 650+ crore Sulfur Recovery Plant consisting of Sulfur Recovery Unit (1 x 400 TPD) including control room and substation for sulfur block under international competitive bidding. Indian Oil, a Government of India Enterprise, is the country's top refiner and fuel retailer. The Sulphur Recovery Plant is being built with in Indian Oil's existing facility of Vadodra, Gujaratfor Petrochemical and Lube Integration Project.

SUDPACK is a leading manufacturer of high-tech films and packaging materials for the food, non-food, and medical product industries. Our solutions ensure maximum product protection as well as additional pioneering features with minimum material input.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) is pleased to announce that Monica Mancilla Cooke has been named Senior Director, Human Resources, effective immediately, said Polymerupdate.

“We’re building a larger, top-flight team at PLASTICS - it takes someone with Monica’s HR expertise to help us ensure the success of our professional environment,” said Matt Seaholm, President and CEO of PLASTICS. “Monica brings a wealth of compliance, talent recruitment and development experience that will help PLASTICS continue to grow and thrive.”

Cooke’s wide-ranging HR background comprises key roles in a variety of organizations in the Washington Association arena, including her work with the Information Technology Industry Council, American Petroleum Institute and International Republican Institute.

“I am humbled to be part of an organization that supports a workforce of nearly one million, that works to protect and promote the direction of the plastics industry,” said Cooke. “We have an exceptional team, and I am honored to have the opportunity to make a meaningful difference for PLASTICS.”

Since 1937, PLASTICS has been working to make its members and the industry more globally competitive while advancing recycling and sustainability.

We remind, 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. 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.
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