Mitsui Chemicals Apr-Sept net income decreased by 41.6%

Mitsui Chemicals' net income fell by 41.6% year on year to yen (Y) 44.4bn in April-September this year, weighed partly by a fall in bisphenol A prices and poorer polyolefins demand, the Japanese producer said.

The company's overall revenue rose by 27.9% year on year in April-September this year, supported by the increase in sales prices due to higher naphtha and other raw materials and fuel prices, the company said in a statement.

The company's operating income excluding special items fell by 17.7% year on year to Y77.6bn in the same period mainly on the back of a drop in the overseas market prices of bisphenol A (BPA) and an increase in fixed costs.

The drop in BPA prices weighed sales at its core petrochemicals (Basic & Green Materials) business in April-September this year despite the 34% year-on-year increase in sales.

“Naphtha cracker operating rates decreased due to decline in demand of downstream products. Sales of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) were affected by slowing demand,” the company said.

We remind, Mitsui Chemicals has signed an agreement with Singapore-based Shell Eastern Petroleum on the supply of ethylene derived from plastic waste, which will in turn be used to produce polyethylene (PE).

Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese chemical company that is part of the Mitsui Group. Founded in 1997, its main predecessor is Mitsui Petrochemical Industries founded in 1955.
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NOVA Chemicals Corporation (“NOVA Chemicals”), a leading producer of polyethylene resins, announced the launch of its new, mechanically recycled polyethylene resin: EX-PCR-NC4. Incorporating this product allows converters and brand owners to meet their sustainability goals, without compromising package performance in applications such as shrink, e-commerce, heavy-duty sacks, and protective packaging, said the company.

EX-PCR-NC4 contains 100 percent post-consumer recycled polyethylene (rPE) and offers highly versatile design flexibility making it an ideal solution to lower the carbon footprint of packaging and address climate change. NOVA Chemicals’ rPE is sourced from distribution center flexible film, which includes a blend of back-of-store stretch and front-of-store consumer drop off. Source materials are processed with state-of-the-art technology resulting in a low odor, consistent, and stable product. NOVA Chemicals’ proven technical expertise can help guide customers to incorporate rPE and maintain the necessary level of performance while also creating recyclable flexible packaging that remains in the PE stream through a design for recycling approach.

"Through customer trials and applications development at our Center for Performance Applications in Calgary, we have successfully incorporated our new rPE resin in various end-use format,” said Anna Rajkovic, NOVA Chemicals Circular Economy Market Manager. “We’re excited to commercialize this resin and build a more sustainable polyethylene portfolio for our customers and brand owners."

"Our new rPE product line is the definition of a win-win. It provides converters and brand owners with a more sustainable packaging solution without compromising overall quality or strength. And, by utilizing rPE, we’re diverting plastic waste from landfills while also enabling a fully-recyclable new product: a true demonstration of circularity,” said Alan Schrob, NOVA Chemicals Mechanical Recycling Director. “We aim to deliver commercial quantities of consistent high-quality rPE products to meet the needs of our customers and the desires of the brand owners and consumers. NOVA Chemicals continues to demonstrate leadership in providing sustainable polyethylene solutions, and we look forward to additional growth in this space."

We remind, NOVA Chemicals Corporation launches a new family of high-performance plastomer resins under the brand ASTUTE. These high-performance ASTUTE brand resins - ASTUTE QPsK905 and ASTUTE QHsK908 - leverage NOVA Chemicals' proprietary Advanced SCLAIRTECH technology to produce polyethylene (PE)-based sealant resins.

NOVA Chemicals is guided by a singular purpose to shape a world where the plastic products vital to our health and happiness are better tomorrow than they are today. We have a bold ambition to create a plastics circular economy and work collaboratively toward a low carbon, zero plastic waste future. NOVA Chemicals’ portfolio of virgin and recycled resins, along with best-in-class technical expertise, is what sets us apart; our customers use our products to create easy-to-recycle and recycled content films, packaging, and products. Our employees work to ensure health, safety, security, and environmental stewardship through our commitment to Sustainability and Responsible Care®.

NOVA Chemicals, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has 2,400 employees worldwide and is wholly owned by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
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Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Co (KIPIC) said the first phase of Al-Zour refinery has started commercial operations, according to state news agency (KUNA), said Reuters.

The commercial launch comes after the project started last month to produce and sell primary quantities of fuel oil and supply it to local power stations.

Originally planned more than a decade ago but repeatedly delayed, Al-Zour will be the largest integrated refinery and petrochemicals plant in Kuwait.

We remind, Technip Energies, through its wholly-owned subsidiary in the UK (Technip E&C Limited), has been awarded a significant contract for Project Engineering and Management Services (PEMS) by Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) for various projects in southern Kuwait. The contract is for six years duration and covers Project Engineering and Management Services for various potential projects in the Al-Zour complex, including the Al-Zour Refinery, Petrochemical Complex, LNG Import Facilities and other facilities belonging to KIPIC.

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The Spanish energy company Repsol SA posted slightly lower earnings in 3Q 2022 but recorded a robust increase in adjusted earnings, said the company.

The company confirmed that it would raise the 2023 dividend by 11% to EUR 0.70/share amid higher oil prices. As part of a programme set for 2025, Repsol intends to repurchase another 50 M shares. Net profit dropped by 3% to EUR 683 M in 3Q 2022 ended Sep 2022.

However, adjusted profit considerably grew to EUR 1.48 bn from EUR 623 M in 3Q 2021. Revenue grew from EUR 13.93 bn in 3Q 2021 to EUR 21.75 bn.

Adjusted net income in the upstream segment roughly doubled year-on-year to EUR 753 M, primarily because of higher volumes, increase oil and gas prices, and the dollar's strengthening against the euro.

In the industrial business, adjusted net income increased to EUR 638 M from EUR 538 M in 3Q 2021 thanks to higher results in the trading, refining, and Peru operations. Repsol made EUR 242 M worth of provisions, primarily for the Spanish refining operation. The provisions stood at EUR 58 M in 3Q 2021.

We remind, Repsol is investing 100 MM euros to reduce emissions at its 186,000 bpd Tarragona refinery in Spain, which begins two months of maintenance at the end of the week. The distillation and hydrotreating fuel units will stop simultaneously on Sept. 23, while the remaining areas of the Tarragona complex, such as the chemical plants, will continue to operate normally, Repsol said.

Repsol is currently the leading producer and consumer of hydrogen on the Iberian Peninsula, and has renewable hydrogen as one of its key transformation pillarsfor achieving its goal of being a company with zero net emissions by 2050. The multi-energy company has its own renewable hydrogen strategy to deploy projects throughout the value chain, with a planned investment of 2,549 million euros by 2030.
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Shell said its third-quarter profit would be pressured by a near halving of oil refining margins, crumbling chemical margins and weaker natural gas trading, said Reuters.

The British energy giant reported two consecutive quarters of record profit in the first half of the year amid soaring oil and gas prices, and stellar earnings from its trading operations, the world's biggest.

Its shares were down 4.3% by 0847 GMT, compared with a 1% decline for the broader European energy sector. But in the third quarter, indicative refining margins dropped to USD15 a barrel compared with USD28 a barrel in the previous three months, Shell said in an update ahead of its results on Oct. 27, amid growing concerns over a global economic slowdown.

And indicative margins for chemicals dropped to negative USD27 per tonne versus a positive USD86 in the second quarter after global demand for plastics slumped.

The drop in refining margins will have a negative impact of between USD1 billion and USD1.4 billion on the segment's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), Shell said.

Shell also expects cash generation to be impacted by a USD2.5 billion working capital outflow by the end of August as a result of large fluctuations in oil and gas prices in recent months. Despite the headwinds, Shell is expected to report net earnings of USD10.5 billion in the third quarter, according to a Refinitiv average of analysts' forecasts. That compares with net earnings of USD11.5 billion in the second quarter.

We remind, Shell has acquired Singapore-registered waste oil recycling firm EcoOils via wholly-owned subsidiary Shell Eastern Petroleum for an undisclosed fee. This acquisition is part of Shell’s ambition to increase production of sustainable low carbon fuels for transport, including sustainable aviation fuel, it said in a statement. The deal includes all of EcoOils' Malaysian subsidiaries and 90% of its Indonesian subsidiary, Shell said.

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