Trinseo announced updates to its asset restructuring initiatives

MOOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a specialty material solutions provider, announced updates to its asset restructuring initiatives, said the company.

In aggregate, these actions are expected to result in approximately USD60 million of annual profitability improvement versus the fourth quarter run rate, most of which will be realized in 2023. These actions consist of the following:

Closure of manufacturing operations at the styrene production facility in Boehlen, Germany. The closure is the result of an uncompetitive position in the global styrene market due to the site’s subscale size, industry capacity additions and elevated natural gas prices in Europe.

Closure of one polycarbonate production line in Stade, Germany due to an uncompetitive position in the global polycarbonate market. The Company will continue to produce polycarbonate for use in its downstream compounding business with the remaining assets. The line closure is expected to result in lower costs and significantly less exposure to the cyclical merchant polycarbonate market.

Consolidation of the PMMA sheet manufacturing site in Matamoros, Mexico into the continuous sheet manufacturing operation of Aristech Surfaces in Florence, Kentucky.

Capacity reduction of SB latex at the Hamina, Finland site starting mid-year 2023 due to over-capacity of SB latex in Europe.

Trinseo expects to incur USD79 million to USD89 million of pre-tax, non-recurring charges related to the cessation of manufacturing activities at these facilities. Of this, USD55 million to USD61 million is expected to be incurred in the fourth quarter of 2022, with the remainder expected to be incurred through 2024. The cash amount of these charges is expected to be USD67 million to USD77 million, including approximately USD40 million in 2023, with substantially all expected to be incurred through 2024. The actual timing and costs of these actions may differ from the Company’s current expectations and estimates, and such differences may be material. These charges are subject to ongoing negotiations with the works councils, industrial associations and government authorities.

Additionally, on November 29, 2022, the European Commission issued a final decision imposing a fine to Trinseo in the amount of EUR32.6 million related to the commission’s 2018 investigation of styrene purchasing practices in Europe. This amount was in line with our previously recorded liability and was paid in full in December 2022.

We remind, Trinseo, a specialty material solutions provider and Japan Steel Works Europe GmbH (JSW EU), a group company of The Japan Steel Works, Ltd. (JSW), a manufacturer of industrial and plastics machinery, recently announced a collaborative effort on chemical recycling of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).

Trinseo a specialty material solutions provider, partners with companies to bring ideas to life in an imaginative, smart, and sustainability-focused manner by combining its premier expertise, forward-looking innovations and best-in-class materials to unlock value for companies and consumers. From design to manufacturing, Trinseo taps into decades of experience in diverse material solutions to address customers’ unique challenges in a wide range of industries, including consumer goods, mobility, building and construction, and medical.

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Eni Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi and Snam Chief Executive Officer Stefano Venier signed an agreement to jointly develop and manage Phase 1 of the Ravenna Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Project, through an equal joint venture, said the company.

The agreement also includes the implementation of studies and preparatory activities for the subsequent development phases. Phase 1 of the Ravenna CCS Project covers the capture of 25,000 tons of CO2 emitted from Eni's natural gas treatment plant in Casalborsetti (Ravenna). Once captured, the CO2 will be piped to the Porto Corsini Mare Ovest platform and injected into the homonymous depleted gas field in Ravenna’s offshore.

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi commented: "Today it is necessary to join forces in order to reconcile decarbonization goals, energy security and competitiveness. This agreement represents an example of excellence, leveraging industrial synergies to contribute to the decarbonisation of Italy’s production system. Phase 1 of the Ravenna Project will allow to reduce emissions from the Casalborsetti power plant, launching in Italy a project based on a mature technological process that is key for the achievement of our climate goals. CCS is complementary to renewables, to energy efficiency solutions and to the other available levers, and is central to avoiding CO2 emissions from highly energy-intensive sectors that currently have no technological alternatives for decarbonisation”.

Snam CEO Stefano Venier said: "It is a fact that CCS technologies have consolidated their role at a global level as a tool available to achieve decarbonisation goals, and for this reason they are gaining more and more attention from governments, investors and industry players. CCS projects are being developed globally and are already at an advanced stage both in Europe - especially in the UK, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries - and in the US. This joint venture sets the first initiative in Italy with the ambition to offer a solution to the entire hard-to-abate production cluster in the Po Valley, and potentially also to other Italian regions as well as other countries bordering the Mediterranean basin. Snam will contribute to the project with its know-how and distinctive skills in the transport and management of molecules, in this case CO2."

The project represents a fundamental step to respond to the decarbonisation needs of steel mills, cement plants, ceramics and chemical industries and more generally of the “hard-to-abate” industry through an immediately available, highly efficient and effective technological process, which makes it possible to exploit the infrastructures and skills already present in the area. The planned activities will create new job opportunities, with an overall estimate of over 500 new jobs during Phase 1 of the project.

The important role of CCS in climate change mitigation strategies is reflected in the analyses of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), which in their latest reports confirm CO2 capture, utilisation and storage as one of the “must-have” solutions for achieving climate goals. Eni and Snam are related parties. Both companies applied its own internal procedure.

We remind, Eni is studying the possibility of developing and operating a biorefinery in Malaysia together with Japan's Euglena and Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas). The plant would be based in the integrated refinery and petrochemical Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) in Southeast Asia, they said in a joint statement. An investment decision for the project is expected by 2023 and the plant is targeted to be completed by 2025.

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MRC) -- Romanian natural gas producer Romgaz said it signed the first individual contract for gas deliveries from Azerbaijan, with Azeri national oil company Socar, said Aze.media.

The contract allows for scheduled gas deliveries through the Southern Corridor starting January 1, using the transportation capacities of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector (IGB) , as well as those of the Bulgarian and Romanian transmission systems, Romgaz said in a statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.

The deal also enables the acquisition of natural gas from Azerbaijan in order to satisfy potential domestic consumption needs with imported gas, serving strategic objectives related to supply-side security and gas source diversification, Romgaz explained. Both parties to the deal plan to maintain their cooperation and enhance the mechanisms for natural gas deliveries to Romania.

The contract is based on a cooperation started earlier this year, formalized through a memorandum of understanding in June, following talks for the diversification of oil and gas deliveries between the two sides. In October, Romgaz signed a memorandum of understanding with Socar to explore the opportunity of jointly developing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Black Sea.

The Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector, which enables imports of natural gas to Bulgaria from Azerbaijan via Greece, has been operating since October 1, covering around a third of Bulgaria's consumption needs in the current heating season. It has also facilitated LNG imports from terminals in Greece and Turkey. Romgaz is the largest natural gas producer and main supplier in Romania. Its majority shareholder is the Romanian state, holding a 70% stake. Romgaz shares are listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, while the company’s global depositary receipts (GDRs) are traded on the London Stock Exchange. Romgaz shares traded 0.38% higher at 39.95 lei by 1621 CET on Friday, on the BVB.

As per MRC, Taiwan's state refiner, CPC Corp, said it has received the country's first crude cargo with certified carbon offset from Socar Trading, the trading arm of Azerbaijan's state oil company. The refiner is seeking to reduce its carbon footprint through voluntary carbon offsets as Taiwan aims to become carbon neutral by 2050. The cargo of about 1.05 MM barrels of Azeri Light crude oil arrived in Taiwan on Sunday morning with cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions being offset with carbon credits certified by the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), CPC said on its website.
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Saudi Aramco and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) have signed a deal to build a refinery and a petrochemicals plant in China, said Chemindigest.

The 3,20,000 barrels-per-day refinery and 1.5 million tons-per-year petrochemical cracker complex will be in operation by the end of 2025, Aramco said in a statement on Sunday.

Aramco and Sinopec, along with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), have also signed a an agreement to study the feasibility of developing petrochemicals complex to be integrated with an existing refinery in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. Petrochemicals are set to account for more than a third of the growth in oil demand to 2030, and about half to 2050, ahead of the lorry, aviation and shipping sectors, according to the International Energy Agency.

Petrochemicals are also likely to consume an additional 56 billion cubic metres of natural gas by 2030. Aramco aims to increase its liquids-to-chemicals capacity to up to four million barrels per day by 2030. China, the world’s second-largest economy and the biggest crude importer, has been signing long-term agreements with energy exporters amid rising volatility in crude and natural gas prices. The petrochemicals industry is expected to be a big driver of crude oil demand in the next few decades as consumers switch to electric vehicles.

As per MRC, Saudi Aramco and TotalEnergies have made a final investment decision (FID) about the construction of a petrochemicals complex in Saudi Arabia which will include a 1.65m tonne/year ethylene cracker. The complex will comprise a mixed feed cracker as well as two polyethylene (PE) units and a butadiene (BD) extraction unit, plus “other associated derivatives” units. TotalEnergies said capital expenditure (capex) for the project was around USD11bn.
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BASF has delivered the first batch of nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cathode active materials (CAM) via its majority-owned joint venture BASF TODA Battery Materials LLC (BTBM) to Prime Planet Energy & Solutions (PPES), a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Panasonic Holdings Corporation (Panasonic), said the company.

BTBM provided a newly developed product from its high-performance CAM portfolio for PPES’s innovative battery cell solutions to serve the electric vehicle market. The first batch was produced at BTBM’s Onoda site, one of the world’s largest calcination facilities for CAM. BASF is further advancing its already announced expansion project at the Onoda site, which is planned to start production in the second half of 2024. Through the expansion, the annual CAM supply will be increased to up to 45 GWh cell capacity per year.

BASF and PPES have already been working together for several years. Combining PPES’s industrial expertise with BTBM’s deep manufacturing know-how, a tailor-made product has been developed to meet the requirements of higher power, longer life cycle and improved efficiency.

“This is a great joint achievement by the BASF and PPES teams in Japan and a powerful step for the growing cooperation between both companies,” said Dr. Michael Baier, Senior Vice President, BASF Battery Materials. “It fits well into BASF’s strategy to develop CAM together with leading battery manufacturers in their respective home markets and expand the business for more growth globally."

“PPES is committed to provide batteries and to offer a wide range of added value and solutions based on these vital energy devices for the sake of protecting the environment and resources of our precious planet,” added Yasuo Ikeda, 65D Project Leader of PPES. “Together with BTBM, we have tackled many difficulties and developed a solution to serve our customers’ needs for superior electric powertrain solutions. We are looking forward to continually strengthening our partnership with BASF."

“We appreciate the seamless joint efforts with PPES, which have been very successful,” said Masanobu Hibino, CEO of BTBM. “While working together with PPES in developing a customized solution, we have further broadened our product offerings. We are excited to support our customers’ global growth plans in the fast-growing e-mobility market."

We remind, BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany, and StePac, Tefen, Israel, are partnering to create new sustainable packaging specifically for the fresh produce sector. BASF says it will supply StePac with its Ultramid Ccycled product, a chemically recycled polyamide 6 that will provide StePac with greater flexibility to advance contact-sensitive packaging formats to a higher sustainable standard within the circular economy.
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