Clariant to book 225 mln euro impairment at bioethanol plant in Romania

Switzerland-based specialty chemicals company Clariant on Monday announced a financial impairment of its cellulosic ethanol plant in Podari, Romania, amounting to some 225 million Swiss francs (USD241 million/ 225 million euro), said the company.

lariant will continue the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol produced by the plant and aims to address the operational challenges by continuously adjusting production processes with the target of achieving commercial viability of the new technology, it said in a press release.

The plant began production in the second quarter of 2022, and has not yet achieved the targeted yields and other operational parameters on an industrial scale. Following a financial assessment of the plant, Clariant has concluded that the respective impairment is appropriate, based on the delayed ramp up and the current financial performance.

"The industrialization of our new technology remains challenging, and therefore impacts underlying financial assumptions, giving rise to the impairment announced today. Nonetheless, we will continue our efforts to achieve commercial viability of the technology,” Clariant CEO Conrad Keijzer said.

The impairment will be booked in December and will be reflected in the full year 2022 results, due to be announced in March 2023. Clariant inaugurated the plant at the end of May, following an investment of 140 million euro (USD148 million), and started production in June. Some 40 million euro from the total investment came from EU funds.

Based in Podari commune, the facility will process approximately 250,000 tonnes of straw to produce 50,000 tonnes of cellulosic ethanol per year, Clariant said in June.Clariant was formed in 1995 as a spin-off from Sandoz. Headquartered near Basel, the company employed over 13,374 globally at end-2021.

We remind, catalysts has teamed up with Evonik and thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (tkIS) in a major propylene oxide project for one of China’s largest rubber producers. Qixiang Tengda is one of the leading global producers of carbon-four chemical products, such as methyl ethyl ketone and maleic anhydride. Expanding into the carbon-three value chain, the company’s new propylene oxide plant in Zibo city, Shandong province, relies on Evonik-tkIS HPPO technology to convert propylene in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (HP) directly into propylene oxide (PO). The plant will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 tons.
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Repsol S.A. (Madrid, Spain), Naturgy and Reganosa are joining forces to develop a renewable hydrogen production center in Galicia, Spain, said Chemengonline.

The project involves the installation of an electrolysis plant powered by 100% renewable energy on the grounds of the former Meirama thermal power plant in the municipality of Cerceda (A Coruna). With the promotion of this energy vector, the three companies reinforce their commitment to a fair energy transition.

The renewable hydrogen plant will have an initial capacity of 30 MW, scalable in different phases up to a total potential of 200 MW. It will produce more than 4,000 tons of renewable hydrogen per year in the first phase and reach a total production of 30,000 tons per year.

Repsol is also installing an electrolyzer at its Petronor refinery, producing renewable hydrogen from biomethane at its Cartagena Industrial Complex and earlier this year announced the launch of SHYNE, the Spanish Hydrogen Network. Spanish firm Cepsa recently announced plans to deploy the largest hydrogen hub in Europe.

The renewable hydrogen generated will be destined for industrial use to replace the conventional hydrogen currently used by the Repsol refinery in A Coruna. Other industries, such as mobility will use the renewable hydrogen, and it will be injected into the gas grid to be mixed with natural gas. All these uses will reduce the area’s carbon footprint and demonstrate the feasibility of mass production of renewable hydrogen and its distribution to the end consumer.

Renewable hydrogen is one of the pillars of Repsol’s strategy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. According to Tomas Malango, the company’s Hydrogen Director, “this project is part of Repsol’s renewable hydrogen strategy in Galicia and is a milestone in the transformation of the A Coruna refinery into a multi-energy hub that provides decarbonized products to society."

The director of New Business of Naturgy, Silvia Sanjoaquin, said that “this project will accelerate the introduction of hydrogen in sectors such as energy, industry and transport, in addition to having a great impact on the local economy, in a fair transition site such as Meirama”. Barredo also indicated that “in Naturgy we want to be protagonists of the energy transition and hydrogen is one of the essential vectors to achieve a decarbonized economy, so we want to cover the entire value chain, from production to end use.”

The general manager of Reganosa, Emilio Bruquetas, emphasized that “15 years ago we provided Galicia with a key infrastructure for the arrival of gas, and the competitiveness of our industry improved substantially. Now, under the leadership of the Xunta de Galicia and surrounded by the best partners, we are participating in the configuration of a new energy ecosystem. The Galicia of the future, which is already in the making, will be green, digital and inclusive, and we are proud to be able to foster this transformation that we all long for.”

In addition, this joint project of Naturgy, Repsol and Reganosa can position Galicia as a world reference in producing, distributing and consuming renewable hydrogen, thus favoring the region’s economic growth. The uniqueness of the project and its large scale give it a high potential for replication in other locations, both nationally and internationally. The three companies are essential agents in developing this type of industrial initiatives by contributing their capacity and global knowledge throughout the plant’s value chain.

We remind, Repsol SA posted slightly lower earnings in 3Q 2022 but recorded a robust increase in adjusted earnings. 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.
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MRC) -- China may close the year with record shipments of key transportation fuels in December as refiners rush to use their export quotas and maximize overseas profits to compensate for tepid domestic fuel demand caused by COVID-related curbs, said Reuters.

December exports of diesel, gasoline and aviation fuel combined are estimated at 6.5 million to 7.1 MMt, led by diesel shipments that could reach 3 MMt, according to estimates from Chinese consultancy Longzhong and JLC, Refinitiv Oil Research and several trading sources.

China's diesel exports hit an all-time high of 2.83 MMt in March 2020, followed by a record 6.5 MMt in April for all three products, according to Chinese customs data.

Bumper shipments from China will weigh on Asian refining margins, particularly for diesel, as refiners' profit from producing the fuel from Dubai crude has already shed 15%-30% month-on-month amid sufficient regional supplies and a closed arbitrage to European markets.

Beijing's abrupt relaxation of COVID rules this week aren't likely to reverse the outflows as substantial recovery in local demand may take months to materialize, market participants said.

Despite earlier expectations that part of the large set of quotas released in October could be extended into 2023, it became clear in recent weeks that refiners were being encouraged to finish them all by end-December, three trading sources said.

"Chinese refiners are still grappling with high domestic inventories, especially for gasoline and more recently gasoil," said Daphne Ho, senior analyst at consultancy Wood Mackenzie. "Healthier export margins has been a key push factor."

State refiners, which control most of the export quotas, have since November been ramping up diesel production to cash in lucrative overseas sales.

Despite recent declines, refining profits for both 10 ppm sulfur gasoil and jet fuel have more than doubled this year on tight global supplies. "State majors are very much margin-oriented and they will only redirect volumes if there is better profit elsewhere," said one China-based trading source.

Gasoline exports were pegged at 2.1 MM to 2.3 MMt for December, likely to surpass a record 1.9 MMt from April 2020.

We remind, China may close the year with record shipments of key transportation fuels in December as refiners rush to use their export quotas and maximize overseas profits to compensate for tepid domestic fuel demand caused by COVID-related curbs.
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Canada's TC Energy said it has not yet determined the cause of the Keystone oil pipeline leak last week in the United States, while also not giving a timeline as to when the pipeline will resume operation, said Reuters.

TC shut the pipeline after more than 14,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into a creek in Kansas on Wednesday, making it one of the largest U.S. crude spills in nearly a decade.

"Our teams continue to actively investigate the cause of the incident. We have not confirmed a timeline for re-start and will only resume service when it is safe to do so, and with the approval of the regulator," TC said in an update posted to its website.

The pipeline operator said that it has more than 250 people working on the leak, including third-party environmental specialists, adding that it is continuously monitoring air quality and presently there are no indications of adverse health or public concerns.

Crews are also preparing for rain forecast to begin on Monday, TC said. The 622,000 barrel-per-day Keystone line is a critical artery shipping heavy Canadian crude from Alberta to refiners in the U.S. Midwest and the Gulf Coast.

Keystone's shutdown will hamper deliveries of Canadian crude both to the U.S. storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma and to the Gulf, where it is processed by refiners or exported.

Canadian energy company TC Energy has declared force majeure after the shutdown of the Keystone oil pipeline due to an oil leak. TC Energy previously reported a shutdown of the Keystone oil pipeline due to an oil leak into a stream in Washington County, Kansas, about 20 miles (32 km) south of Steel City, Nebraska.
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KazMunayGas (KMG) and Chevron Philips Chemical representatives signed a license and engineering agreement for the second phase of the construction of an integrated gas and chemical complex in the Atyrau region, QazMonitor reports.

A meeting between Magzum Myrzagaliyev, Board Chair of KMG, and Venki Chandrashekar, Vice President for Research and Technology of Chevron Phillips Chemical, was held on December 11.

The contract outlines the development of a polyethylene plant to produce polyethylene using MarTECH® ADL technology, and a license to produce 625,000 tons of polyethylene a year.

The technology of the petrochemical company will make it possible to produce a wide range of products at the future Kazakh plant, including premium high-density polyethylene for which stable long-term demand growth is expected all over the world in the future.

The negotiations on the second polymerization unit with an annual capacity of 625 thousand tons of polyethylene are being finalized with another licensor and the signing of the agreement is expected by mid-December of the current year.

The two units are going to be united into one complex with a total capacity of 1,250,000 tons. The choice of the two leading licensors will ensure the production of a wide range of base and premium grades.

We remind, Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiary Chevron Munaigas Inc. (Chevron), and JSC NC KazMunayGas (KMG) have announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore potential lower carbon business opportunities in Kazakhstan. Chevron and KMG plan to evaluate the potential for lower carbon projects in areas such as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS); hydrogen; energy efficiency and methane management; and carbon financial disclosure methodology.
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