Petrobras completes sale of REMAN refinery to Atem

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petrobras completed the sale of Isaac Sabba (REMAN) refinery in Manaus, Amazonas state to Ream, a subsidiary of Grupo Atem, said the company.

Petrobras received USD257.2m, higher than the initial sale price of USD189.5m. The additional money reflects variation in working capital, net debt, investments and what Petrobras called monetary correction. The refinery has a throughput capacity of 46,000 bbl/day.

Petrobras will continue to support Ream in operating the refinery for up to 15 months under a service agreement. Grupo Atem is a fuel distributor and retailer with more than 320 franchised stations.

The company has distribution centres in Manaus, Amazonas state; Santarem and Itaituba in Para state; Porto Velho and Vilhena in Rondonia state; Sinop in Mato Grosso state; and Campo Grande in Mato Grosso do Sul state.

It can handle more than 5bn litres/year of fuel. Atem is building two more distribution centres.

We remind, Petrobras rejected a binding proposal for the Gabriel Passos Refinery (REGAP) in Minas Gerais state.
Petrobras rejected the bid because the proposal was below its "economic and financial evaluation", the company said. It will now consider when it could start a new bidding process.

We remind, Petrobras rejected a binding proposal for the Gabriel Passos Refinery (REGAP) in Minas Gerais state.
Petrobras rejected the bid because the proposal was below its "economic and financial evaluation", the company said. It will now consider when it could start a new bidding process.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Elementis PLC said Wednesday that it has agreed to sell its Chromium business to Yildirim Group for an enterprise value of USD170 million, with total pretax cash proceeds expected to be around USD119 mln, said the company.

The London-based specialty chemicals company said the sale, expected to complete before the end of the first quarter of 2023, follows the strategic review of the Chromium business announced last April.

"Following the sale of the Chromium business, Elementis will continue to implement its strategy built on innovation, growth and efficiency, with a portfolio now fully focused on premium specialty products," the company said.

We remind, Elementis says it has entered into an exclusive agreement with Aqdot (Cambridge, UK), a supramolecular chemtech company, to sell Aqdot’s odor capture and smart fragrance release solution for use in anti-perspirant and deodorant product formulations. Further details have not been disclosed.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- US-based Eastman aims to light a fire under the ecosystem for collecting hard-to-recycle polyester waste with USD2bn in new investments for plastics recycling projects in the US and France, said the company.

“As we demonstrate the value of the technology, there will need to be dramatic changes in the way society works to create circularity - the recycling infrastructure, the recovery, the sortation and the materials chosen to be used. All that is going to have to evolve dramatically,” said Scott Ballard, president, Plastics Division at Eastman.

“We’re catalysing that change – that’s the way we think about it,” he added. Eastman has three major plastics recycling projects using its polyester renewal technology (PRT) in the offing – one under construction in the US and two more planned – one in France and the other in the US.

The company’s PRT technology uses methanolysis to break down polyester waste into monomers dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) and ethylene glycol (EG). This chemical (also called advanced or molecular) recycling process can be applied not only to clear polyethylene terephthalate (PET) drink bottles but also to hard-to-recycle materials such as carpet, polyester clothing and coloured PET bottles that today are mostly going into landfill.

We remind, Eastman Chemical Co. has signed a deal to supply beverage giant PepsiCo Inc. from its proposed third chemical recycling plant. Eastman's first chemical recycling plant is set to open early next year in Kingsport, Tenn., where the firm is based. A second plant will open in Normandy, France, in 2025. Interzero Plastics Recycling of Germany will supply the French plant with PET household packaging waste as feedstock.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- An explosion resulting from work to control an ethane leak in a Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) pipeline has left at least 19 people injured in the Mexican municipality of Agua Dulce, in the state of Veracruz, said Fireengineering.

As detailed in a statement by the area’s Civil Protection Secretary, Guadalupe Osorno, the number of injured people has risen from 11 to 19, although most have only first-degree burns, for which they are being treated in medical centers.

The explosion took place at 3:00 p.m. (local time) on Tuesday during the maneuvers carried out by workers from Pemex, State Civil Protection and the Mexican Army, who were trying to cover a leak in the gas pipeline, until it later exploded, reported ‘The universal’.

Until now, the fire is still active and is in the process of being controlled by the Mexican authorities who have been on the scene since the start of the leak.

We remind, Pemex reported its third quarter net loss narrowed to USD2.58 billion (52.0 billion pesos), but said it had suffered from increased sales costs as well as currency exchange losses as the peso weakened against the dollar.
The company posted a net loss of 52.0 billion pesos for the three months through September, compared with a loss of 77.2 billion pesos in the same period of 2021. The red ink came despite a 56.5 percent jump in revenue, to 602 billion pesos, thanks to higher energy prices and strong demand.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Anellotech is pleased to announce that it is offering drum-quantity product samples of aromatics produced from recycled mixed waste plastics, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The recycled benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX) will be available to current and potential commercial partners.
The samples are made at Anellotech’s TCat-8 facility — a fully automated, 30-meter-tall pilot plant located inside Trecora’s Silsbee, Texas facility— during ongoing studies demonstrating Anellotech’s Plas-TCat catalytic pyrolysis technology. TCat-8 can operate 24/7 and converts a representative mixed waste plastics feedstock — including all major plastic types, with the exception of PVC, into BTX, light olefins and paraffins.

“Anellotech can offer BTX samples made directly from mixed waste plastics to potential commercial partners to encourage engagement with our program” says David Sudolsky, President and CEO of Anellotech. “Unlike thermal pyrolysis, Plas-TCat makes BTX and other chemicals in one reactor, providing true 100-percent recycled BTX (not mass balance approach) for studies today and eventual future commercial use."

Based on a proprietary catalyst and fluid bed reactor-regenerator system, Plas-TCat provides a new, direct route to light olefins and aromatics from plastic waste streams — such as polyolefins, polyamides (nylon), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate and polystyrene — without the need for steam cracker furnaces. The resulting output of benzene, toluene and xylenes, as well as ethylene, propylene and butylene (light olefins), are suitable after separation for plastics manufacturers to produce a wide range of virgin plastics.

We reind, Honeywell has signed an MoU with Egypt’s Environ Adapt for Recycling Industries with the aim of advancing plastics recycling in the country. The two organizations will explore the development of the first chemical recycling facility in Egypt that would be equipped with Honeywell’s advanced technology, capable of converting waste plastic into valuable recycled polymer feedstock (RPF).

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