Evonik names new chief financial officer

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German chemicals group Evonik (EVKn.DE) said on Wednesday that Chief Financial Officer Ute Wolf would step down at the end of the first quarter of 2023, said the company.

Maike Schuh, current head of the company's performance materials division, will succeed Wolf from April 1.

"Ute Wolf has worked very successfully and achieved a lot with Evonik," says Bernd Toenjes, Chairman of the Supervisory Board. "I regret her departure and thank her on behalf of the entire Supervisory Board for her work." In addition to Finance, Wolf is also responsible for Group IT and the Americas region. She is also very successfully involved in the Diversity Council and in promoting women in management positions.

"I am very pleased that we were able to recruit Maike Schuh as successor," adds Toenjes. "I have known her personally for years and hold her in high regard. In addition to her proven expertise in several financial functions, she also gained valuable experience at operational businesses in Germany and abroad. After eight years at Evonik, Maike Schuh will contribute this experience to the further development of the Finance Department as our future Chief Financial Officer."

Ute Wolf's tenure included four acquisitions in North America, which were successfully integrated. At the same time, Wolf introduced three international shared services centers. They bundle essential financial services in the Group in Europe, America and Asia, improve processes and lead to significant efficiency gains. As a recognized expert, Wolf is involved in various external bodies, including the Exchange Council of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the Accounting Standards Committee of Germany, ASCG.

We remind, Evonik has started manufacturing commercial quantities of ceramides - a special class of lipids - at its site in Dossenheim near Heidelberg in Germany. Maximizing capacity utilization at the Dossenheim site provides Evonik with further flexibility and supply security, including increased independence from alternative routes of supply, to cater to the growing demand for ceramides in the personal care market.

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Polyolefins producer Borealis and Eneco, an integrated sustainable energy company, have signed a second ten-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply renewable electricity for Borealis production operations in Belgium, said the company.

With a total operational capacity of approximately 487 megawatt (MW), SeaMade is the largest wind farm in the Belgian North Sea. It comprises two offshore concessions commissioned at the end of 2020, Seastar (with 252 MW), and Mermaid (235 MW), each with two offshore substations. The farm’s 58 wind turbine generators, each with 8.4 MW capacity, are located around 45 km off the coastal city of Ostend. Taken together, Seastar and Mermaid have the capacity to power the equivalent of around 500,000 Belgian households every year.

Eneco established itself as a pioneer in the renewable energy transition by becoming one of the first energy companies in Europe to chart a sustainable course for the production and supply of renewable power to its customers in Belgium, the Netherlands, UK, and Germany. Eneco has a 12.5% combined stake in the SeaMade project; the rest is held by partners Otary RS NV (70% stake) and Electrabel NV (17.5%). In procuring 100% of the SeaMade output, Eneco moves closer to its goal of becoming completely climate neutral by 2035 as defined in its One Planet Plan.

We remind, Borealis is designing a first-of-its-kind commercial-scale advanced mechanical recycling plant to be located in Schwechat, Austria. The plant will be based on Borealis’ own Borcycle™ M technology, which transforms polyolefin-based post-consumer waste into high-performance polymers suitable for demanding applications. This represents another tangible step forward on Borealis’ path to net zero.
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Wacker Chemie AG’s Supervisory Board re-appointed Christian Hartel (51) for another five years as President and CEO. He has been CEO since 2021 and his current Executive Board contract expires on October 31, 2023, said the company.

Dr. Christian Hartel studied chemistry at the University of Constance and did his Ph.D. at the universities of Geneva and Frankfurt am Main. Having joined Wacker Chemie AG in 2003, he initially worked at the Corporate Development department. After various managerial positions in WACKER FINE CHEMICALS and WACKER SILICONES, he became head of Raw Materials Procurement in 2010. In 2012, he became President of WACKER SILICONES.

Christian Hartel was appointed to WACKER’s Executive Board in 2015 and has been its President and CEO since May 2021.

As per MRC, Wacker Chemie AG is accelerating the expansion of its production capacities. Investment projects to this end are either in the planning stage or are nearing completion. Significant capacity expansions for liquid silicone rubber (LSR) will be available in the second half of this year, and will come into full effect in 2023. Increasing production volumes for high con¬sistency rubber (HCR) are also scheduled. With expansion measures at several other sites, Wacker will gradually in¬crease its capacities for HCR and LSR grades significantly in the next few years. Over EUR100 million have been earmarked for this capacity boost.

Wacker Polymers is a leading producer of state-of-the-art binders and polymeric additives based on polyvinyl acetate and vinyl acetate copolymers and terpolymers. These take the form of dispersible polymer powders, dispersions, solid resins, and solutions. They are used in construction chemicals, paints and surface coatings, adhesives, sealants, carpet applications and nonwovens, as well as in fiber composites and polymeric materials based on renewable resources.

Wacker Polymers operates production sites in Germany, China, South Korea and the USA. The business division also maintains a global sales organization and runs technical centers in all key regions.

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North American chemical rail traffic fell by 19.7% year on year to 40,951 railcar loadings for the week ended 3 December – marking an 11th consecutive decline, said Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Increases in Canada and Mexico were more than offset by a 26.6% decline in the US. The four-week average for North American chemical rail traffic was at 45,756 railcar loadings.

Despite the 11th decline in a row, for the first 48 weeks of 2022 ended 3 December North American chemical railcar traffic was still up 0.7% year on year to 2,196,301 railcar loadings.

Shipments of chemicals, coal, motor vehicles and parts, nonmetallic minerals, and oil and oil products rose for the first 48 weeks, while shipments in all other freight railcar categories fell. For the month of November, combined US carload and intermodal originations were 2,393,027, down by 3.3% or 80,544 carloads and intermodal units from November 2021.

“Thanksgiving week is one of the lowest volume weeks of the year for rail traffic, which means November rail volumes frequently do not clearly demonstrate underlying sequential trends,” said AAR senior vice president John Gray in commenting on the traffic in the US last month.

As has been the case for months, some sectors continued to show strength while others faced headwinds, he said. For example, relatively slow lumber carloads were consistent with the weak market for new home construction, he said.

Conversely, volumes of motor vehicles and vehicle parts shipped on rail have been rising as automakers have increased output thanks to greater parts availability, Gray said. In related news, the US averted a potential strike of rail workers that could have begun as early as 9 December.

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

We remind, North American chemical rail traffic fell by 3.2% year on year to 40,467 railcar loadings for the week ended 26 November – marking a 10th consecutive decline. An increase in Canada was more than offset by declines in the US and Mexico. The four-week average for North American chemical rail traffic was at 45,860 railcar loadings.

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MRC -- 60 tonnes of CO2 will be saved every year when INEOS Inovyn brings its new Hydrogen truck into service to deliver PVC from its production plant in Tavaux to Benvic’s PVC compound plant in Dijon, said the company.

From April 2023, this carbon dioxide emissions from the deliveries will be reduced to zero. To make this possible, INEOS Inovyn partnered with Benvic and leading industrial logistics company GCA Trans Service to produce a new hydrogen-powered truck. The new truck will be built based on a DAF chassis in which the diesel motor will be replaced by hydrogen fuel cells. The truck, which will be refueled at a local station in Dijon providing 100% green hydrogen, has a range of 500 km between two refills.

Geir Tuft, CEO of INEOS Inovyn, said, “This is a historical moment for our company. The use of hydrogen trucks for product deliveries is a key part of our sustainability roadmap which aims to drastically reduce our CO2 footprint over the next few years. The Tavaux truck will be leading the way, and we have already planned similar projects with other customers in Benelux."

Luc Mertens, CEO of Benvic, said, “This initiative between BENVIC and INEOS Inovyn is a perfect fit with all our ESG actions, and also improves the environmental performance of our product. We work continuously to innovate our range of sustainable compounds in every way and logistics is a key factor so we very proud to be one of the first INEOS Inovyn partners to engage in hydrogen-based technology for our deliveries."

All customers and partners are welcomed to join the initiative and work together with INEOS Inovyn to ensure CO2-free deliveries across sites.

Geir Tuft, CEO of INEOS Inovyn, says, “Supplying hydrogen to the transport market is a key step in our new INEOS Hydrogen business strategy which also includes new hydrogen production from water electrolysis, as well as hydrogen storage and development of downstream supply into chemicals.”

We remind, INEOS Enterprises has completed the acquisition of ASHTA Chemicals Inc, from Bigshire Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V. The deal, consists of a 100ktpa Potassium Hydroxide (KOH)/65 kte Chlorine plant, said the company.
ASHTA Chemicals will now be known as INEOS KOH and will be part of the INEOS Enterprises business. INEOS KOH will continue to manufacture and market chlorine and a range of potassium-based chemicals to a variety of end use markets including liquid fertilizers, runway de-icers, food ingredients, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural applications.

INEOS is one of the world’s largest chemical producers and a significant player in the oil and gas market.

Founded in 1963 as a subsidiary of Solvay, Benvic develops, produces and markets highly customized, innovative thermoplastic solutions based on PVC, engineering compounds, and bio-polymers, utilized across a wide range of rigid and flexible end-applications including building and construction, medical, aerospace, cabling, consumer, packaging and fluid transport.

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