MEGlobal increased January MEG ACP by USD20/tonne

MEGlobal has nominated its January 2023 monoethylene glycol (MEG) Asian Contract Price (ACP) at USD820/tonne, up by USD20/tonne from the December ACP, said the company.

The price is on a CFR (cost and freight) Asia basis.

Asia MEG market has bottomed out in December after China relaxed its COVID curbs, but the upcoming new capacities in China and India may weigh on the prices.

We remind, MEGlobal has nominated its December 2022 monoethylene glycol (MEG) Asian Contract Price (ACP) at USD800/tonne, down by USD10/tonne from the November ACP.

mrchub.com

Borealis announces the appointment of Michael Schenk as Vice President Treasury and Funding effective 1 January 2023, said the company.

Michael Schenk is currently Director of Internal Audit & Risk Management at Borealis and joined the company in 2008, when he was appointed Head of Business Unit Controlling, Wire & Cable. In 2009, he became Head of Business Finance for Polyolefins & Innotech, and in 2013 took on the role of Head of Group Corporate Finance & Investor Relations. He became Chief Audit Executive of Internal Audit & Risk Management in 2017.

Before joining Borealis, Michael Schenk worked in Group Treasury at UBS Group in Zurich, Switzerland, and as an investment analyst at UBS Investment Bank in London, UK. He holds a Master’s degree in International Business from the University of Vienna.

“For several years now, Michael Schenk has been fostering and developing a systematic, disciplined and innovative approach to risk management, financial control and governance processes at Borealis,” says Mark Tonkens, Borealis Chief Financial Officer. “His leadership experience and broad background in treasury, financial controlling and investment banking will be an asset to Borealis as it continues to develop its robust and well-diversified funding portfolio."

Michael Schenk succeeds Jan-Martin Nufer, who was appointed CFO of Borouge PLC effective 1 November 2022.

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.

mrchub.com

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.

mrchub.com

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.

mrchub.com

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.
mrchub.com