Sipchem appoints Khalid A. Al-Zamil as a Chairman

Chairman Khalid al-Zamil, vice chairman Fahad al-Rajhi reappointed by board for another term, said Maal.

Sahara International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) is pleased to announce to its Shareholders that its Board of Directors, which was elected during the 24th Ordinary General Assembly Meeting held on Wednesday 30 November 2022 for a three-year term that starts on 10th December 2022 and will end on 09th December 2025, issued the following resolutions on 12th December 2022.

A secretary of the Board of Directors has also been appointed Mr. Fahad M. Al-Ohaly. Also, Sipchem Board has appointed representatives of the company for the Capital Market Authority (CMA) and the Saudi Tadawul Group (Tadawul) the Securities Depository Center Company (Edaa).

We remind, Sahara International Petrochemical Co's (Sipchem) net profit fell by 24.8% year on year in the third quarter amid a drop in selling prices, the Saudi Arabia producer said in a stock exchange filing. Decrease in most of the selling prices of company’s products in the third quarter specially methanol, butanediol, ethyl acetate and polypropylene (PP), the company said in a filing on the Saudi bourse, Tadawul, on 18 October. - Earnings also weighed by the increase in feedstock prices of butane, ethylene, ethanol and propane.

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INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA announced today it has entered into a renewable power purchase agreement which will enable the construction of a new 310-megawatt solar project located in north central Texas, said the company.

The INEOS Hickerson Solar Farm will be constructed, owned and operated by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage. The entire output of the new solar project will be dedicated to INEOS O&P USA and is projected to cover the net purchased electricity load of all 14 of INEOS O&P USA’s manufacturing, fractionation and storage facilities in the U.S. The new solar project will be located in Bosque County, Texas, and is ultimately expected to produce 730,000 megawatt hours of clean energy annually – the equivalent of over 68,000 homes’ annual electricity use – and is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 320,000 tons per year.

“INEOS O&P USA seeks to be a bellwether of what the petrochemical community can do to adopt renewable energy among its long-term energy demands, and this is one of many important steps being taken globally to reduce the carbon footprint of all the INEOS businesses,” said CEO Mike Nagle.

“We’re pleased to work with INEOS O&P USA and support the company’s renewable energy goals,” said Matt Handel, senior vice president of development for NextEra Energy Resources. “We commend INEOS for taking a leading role in decarbonizing the petrochemical industry.” Construction on the INEOS Hickerson Solar Farm is expected to commence in Q1 2024, with a planned commercial operation date by December 2025.

We remind, Ineos has agreed a fourth joint venture with Sinopec that will see it take a 50% share in the Tianjin Nangang project, which is currently underway and due to go on stream at the end of 2023.

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The downward trend in European chlorine production continued in October, with output falling to a new 2022 low of 18,665 metric tons/day, 3.6% beneath the previous year-low figure set in September of 19,355 metric tons/day. It is also down 24.4% year on year (YOY), said Eurochlor.

At 18,665 tonnes, the October 2022 average daily production was 3.6% lower than September, and 24.4% lower than in October 2021.

Chlorine production has been lower than the previous year in every month of 2022 since February due to weaker downstream construction demand and high and volatile electricity prices.

Utilisation was also lower every month compared to both the previous year and the average since 2018. Utilisation, at 58.2% in October, was its lowest since December 2008, when it fell to 54.8%.

Caustic soda stocks saw a more mixed trend. At 186,491 tonnes, caustic soda stocks in October were 1% lower than in September, but 5,501 tonnes above volumes in October 2021.

We remind, European chloralkali utilization rates fell to the lowest level since 2009 in September according to the most recent Eurochlor figures, on the back of weak demand for chlorine. With 19,356 tonnes, the September 2022 average daily production was 8.7% lower than in the previous month, and 21.1% lower than in September 2021. The September 2022 caustic soda stocks stood at 188,164 tonnes, 11,624 tonnes below the level of September 2021.
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Air Liquide has signed a long-term contract to supply Kumho Mitsui Chemical (KMCI) in South Korea with additional hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO), said the company.

Supply will be used to help KMCI with its 50% expansion of methyl diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) production in South Korea’s Yeosu National Industrial Complex, which is scheduled to come online in 2024.

To do this Air Liquide will leverage its fourth hydrogen and CO unit in the Yeosu complex, the latter of which was coupled to a CO2 recycling facility installed this year.

The partnership reinforces the long-standing relationship between the two companies which started 20 years ago in Yeosu.

Since that time, Air Liquide has reinforced its presence in Yeosu, and the fourth unit has been integrated with the other three plants through a 40km pipeline supply network.

We remind, Air Liquide announces that it has signed an agreement to divest its business in Trinidad and Tobago to Massy Gas Products Holding Ltd. As a consequence of this divestiture, the approximately 30 employees of this business will be integrated within MGPHL. This transaction is part of Air Liquide’s strategy to regularly review its asset portfolio and focus on selected fast developing areas and activities.
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The EU Commission announced it will grant Air Liquide, Fluxys Belgium and Port of Antwerp-Bruges GDP144.6 MM under the Connecting Europe Facility for Energy (CEF-E) funding program., said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The funding is earmarked for the construction of shared CO2 transport and export facilities on the Antwerp port platform. The grant award is a major step towards the final investment decision, expected in 2023.

The project, named "Antwerp CO2 Export Hub”, is set up as an open-access infrastructure to transport, liquefy and load CO2 onto ships for onward permanent offshore storage. CO2 captured on industrial players sites on the Antwerp port platform will be collected and transported via an intra-port open-access pipeline network. A shared liquefaction and export terminal will be built, including a CO2 liquefaction unit, buffer storages and marine loading facilities for cross-border shipping. This innovative project will be among the first and largest multimodal open access CO2 export facilities in the world.

As part of the project, Air Liquide and Fluxys intend to form a joint venture for the construction and operation of the CO2 liquefaction and export terminal. The joint venture will benefit from Air Liquide’s expertise in CO2 liquefaction and handling and from Fluxys’ experience in terminalling activities. Air Liquide will provide its proprietary technology for the CO2 liquefaction plant, which will be a first of a kind in its scale and design. The Port of Antwerp-Bruges reserved a plot of land for the terminal on a strategic location inside the port, and will build new quay infrastructures for the mooring of CO2 ships.

We remind, Air Liquide announces that it has signed an agreement to divest its business in Trinidad and Tobago to Massy Gas Products Holding Ltd. As a consequence of this divestiture, the approximately 30 employees of this business will be integrated within MGPHL. This transaction is part of Air Liquide’s strategy to regularly review its asset portfolio and focus on selected fast developing areas and activities.

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