Sumitomo Chemical April-Sept net income decreased 8.8%

Sumitomo Chemical April-Sept net income decreased 8.8%

Sumitomo Chemical's net income fell by 8.8% year on year in April-September this year, weighed by poorer margins at its chemicals and plastics unit due to higher raw material prices, said the company.

Selling prices for synthetic resins, methyl methacrylate and various industrial chemicals improved due to an increase in raw material prices in April-September 2022, the company said in a statement.

On the other hand, shipments declined, primarily because of weak demand for products in automotive applications.

Core operating income at the chemicals and plastics unit was Y23.3bn in April-September, a decline of Y18.8bn from the same period a year earlier.

Net income forecast lowered to Y105bn for the full-year ending 31 March 2023 from a previous projection of Y125bn on the back of an impairment loss recorded in the first half of the fiscal year.

Full-year core operating income is expected to drop year on year due to a deterioration of margins at the chemicals and plastic unit and lower shipmets in the information technology (IT)-related chemicals unit.

We remind, Sumitomo Chemical says that its net profit in the fiscal first quarter ended 30 June almost doubled to USD524.5 mln,on sales up 21%. Operating income was higher by 13% year on year (YOY). The company has maintained its full-year outlook.

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Petronas says assessing fire damage at Malaysian joint venture with Aramco

Petronas says assessing fire damage at Malaysian joint venture with Aramco

Malaysian state energy firm Petronas said it was studying the damage to interconnecting pipes caused by a fire last week at its refinery and petrochemical joint venture with Saudi Aramco, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Petronas said last Thursday a fire and explosion occurred at the Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) located in the southern Malaysian state of Johor. No casualties were reported.

"The damage to the interconnecting pipes caused by the recent incident at Pengerang Integrated Complex is currently being further assessed for rectification," the company said in an emailed statement to Reuters. All other utilities within the complex will continue to operate as normal to meet business needs, it said, without indicating if the refinery was still operating.

A spokesperson at Pengerang Refining Company and Pengerang Petrochemical, collectively known as PrefChem, said the affected portion of the plant is currently shut down because of a disruption in nitrogen supply. The spokesperson did not specify which units were affected. On Monday, Petronas Chemicals Group said in a statement that the interconnecting pipes in the incident were not within the petrochemical facilities in which PCG has 50% direct equity.

"However, due to integrated nature of PIC and to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the employees, workers and surrounding communities, the petrochemical plants have been temporarily shut down," Petronas Chemicals said. "The plants will resume its start-up activities once all safety measures and other considerations have been undertaken."

The refining-petrochemical complex, which consists of a 300,000-barrel-per-day refinery and a 1.2-MMtpy naphtha cracker, resumed operations in May after being shut for more than two years when a fire killed five people at the complex in March 2020.
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Enterprise Products Q3 income increased

Enterprise Products Q3 income increased

Enterprise Products Partners LP’s third-quarter net income rose year on year on the back of natural gas gathering and processing from its Midland Basin operations, partially offset by a substantial drop in propylene margins, said the company.

Third-quarter profits were driven by natural gas processing and margins, octane enhancement and the company’s pipeline business.

Gross operating margins for propylene fell by USD149m year on year as a result of lower sales profitability, lower processing fees and higher utility and operating costs, partially offset by higher sales volumes.

Ethylene export operating margins firmed by USD10m on the back of higher volumes and average loading fees.

As MRC reported before, earlier this year, Enterprise Products Partners reported flaring at its propane dehydration, or PDH, unit in Mont Belvieu, Texas. According to the filing made public Aug. 10, the 750,000 mt/year PDH unit was shut down following a leak on Aug. 9. Sources confirmed on Aug. 10 that the unit was offline, but did not give an estimated timeframe of when the unit is expected to come back online.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals.

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Dow and ByFusion announced agreement to reuse hard-to-recycle plastic waste

Dow and ByFusion announced agreement to reuse hard-to-recycle plastic waste

MRC) -- Dow, and ByFusion are announcing a new business agreement that continues their collaboration in the greater Boise area to divert hard-to-recycle plastics from the landfill, said the company.

The announcement follows a successful demonstration project that began in July 2021 to collect plastic waste from the community through the Hefty EnergyBag program and convert the materials into ByBlocks. This novel materials agreement signifies a substantial milestone for ByFusion’s Blocker technology as an effective mechanical recycling process and extends the collection for another year with the ultimate goal of increasing circular solutions in Idaho.

Since July 2021, the ByFusion pilot project has taken hard-to-recycle plastic materials collected through Boise’s existing Hefty® EnergyBag® program and has converted them into ByBlocks®, the first-ever construction-grade block made from plastics previously destined for landfills. The pilot phase aimed to create new, circular uses for up to 72 tons of hard-to-recycle plastics and within a year has exceeded that objective with 80 tons repurposed to date.

“ByFusion is thrilled with the results from our ongoing partnership with the Hefty® EnergyBag® program and Dow,” said Heidi Kujawa, CEO, ByFusion. “After seeing the impressive results from the Boise community, I’m confident about our ability to meet our goal of placing a Blocker System in every city."

The ByFusion demonstration project reveals how communities of all sizes can put their hard-to-recycle plastic waste to good use by converting it into a building material that meets community needs. In February 2022, the City of Boise unveiled a new park bench made of ByBlocks® in Manitou Park. Boisesourced ByBlocks® may also be used to create community infrastructure like create perimeter walls, privacy fencing, sound walls, bus stations, dumpster enclosures, storage facilities, and residential projects and much more.

We remind, Dow, the world's leading materials science company, and Mura Technology, the global pioneer of an advanced plastic recycling solution, announce the next step in their ongoing collaboration to help solve the global plastics waste issue and advance circularity. Mura plans to construct a new facility at Dow's Bohlen site in Germany – the latest in a series of planned facilities across the U.S. and Europe to rapidly scale advanced recycling of plastics – and the first expected to be based at a Dow site. This project is targeted for a final investment decision by the end of 2023.

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Maire Tecnimont begins a polymers reprocessing plant in Abu Dhabi

Maire Tecnimont begins a polymers reprocessing plant in Abu Dhabi

Maire Tecnimont’s subsidiary NextChem, through the associate company GCB Polymers, inaugurates a new re-processing and upcycling plant for polymers today in the Kezad Industrial Zone, in the UAE capital city Abu Dhabi, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This new plant processes a very wide range of polymer products, from near to prime to the lower end of plant scraps, post-industrial and post-consumer waste, and also recycled polymers. The plant is capable of both improving and upgrading lower-quality polymers (such off-spec products, plant scraps) and upcycling plastic waste into higher-value, qualified products fit for specific industrial applications, thus representing an effective contribution to the development of a circular economy.

Located between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the largest industrial and free trade zone in the Middle East, the plant was built by GCB Polymers, a joint venture between NextChem, P2 Polimeri and Polyme General Trading. GCB Polymers is a pioneer investor at the Kezad Polymer Park, a plastics value chain ecosystem located close to the heart of a large industrial zone, in support of UAE Circular Economy Policy, in country value and contributing to a new circular economy approach in the UAE.

“The plant at Kezad is an example of Made in Italy know-how, which was developed at home and now has been exported to help countries like the UAE develop circular economy on an industrial scale,” said Maire Tecnimont Chairman Fabrizio Di Amato at the inauguration of the plant. “By converting lower quality polymers into higher value products, and at the same time upcycling plastic waste, we are industrializing an innovative and effective way to decisively put circularity into the picture in the UAE. We are glad to keep on supporting the Country in the realization of its vision in the energy transition with more energy produced and less emissions."

The plant will use the nearby deep-water Khalifa Port on a daily basis to import and export products and will reach the production of as much as 180,000 per year tons of polymers in the next few years. These polymers can be used to make products for the home, garden furniture, pipes, packaging, and many other applications.

This initiative confirms Maire Tecnimont’s commitment to creating value in the UAE, where Maire Tecnimont has been involved in its energy transformation industry since the late 90s.

We remind, Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announces that its subsidiary NextChem has been awarded a Pre-FEED engineering services contract by MadoquaPower2X to develop and operate an integrated renewable hydrogen and green ammonia plant located in Sines, Portugal.

Maire Tecnimont S.p.A., a company listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, heads an international industrial group that is a leader in the transformation of natural resources (plant engineering in downstream oil & gas, with technological and execution competences). Through its subsidiary NextChem, it operates in the field of green chemistry and the technologies to support the energy transition. Maire Tecnimont Group operates in about 45 countries, through approximately 50 operative companies and about 9,300 people.
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