GPCA chairman Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh confirmed as Sabic CEO

GPCA Chairman Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh has been confirmed as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Member of the Board of SABIC effective March 21, said the company.

Prior to this, Al-Fageeh served as acting CEO since 28 September 2022, succeeding H.E. Yousef Al-Benyan, former CEO of SABIC and former Chairman of GPCA (2016-2022), who was appointed Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Education by a Royal Decree.

Commenting on the appointment Khalid Hashim Al-Dabbagh, Chairman of SABIC’s Board of Directors, said: “Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh is a proven leader, demonstrated during his long tenure at Sabic. He is well-positioned to continue driving sustainable growth for our customers, employees, shareholders and communities."

“The future remains bright for Sabic, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the chemicals industry as we continue to innovate and expand in order to meet the needs of our ever-changing world. The Board of Directors is confident in Sabic’s ability to continue to realize its vision to be the preferred world leader in chemicals,” he added. Al-Fageeh joined Sabic more than 35 years ago and has held several key leadership posts within the company. In addition to his role as acting CEO, Al-Fageeh led Sabic’s largest business as Executive Vice President, Petrochemicals since its creation in October of 2016.

The GPCA Board of Directors elected Abdulrahman S. Al-Fageeh as the Association’s new Chairman in October. With over 35 years of industry experience, Al-Fageeh has extensive expertise in project management, plant operations and corporate and business management. He first joined SABIC as Project Engineer and worked in different roles before assuming the role of acting CEO. He served as Executive Vice President Petrochemicals for more than seven years, overseeing SABIC’s petrochemical business globally.

Al-Fageeh was also the Executive Vice President for Polymers, Executive Vice President, Performance Chemicals; Vice President, Global LL/LD Polyethylene Business; General Manager, Operations & Planning, Basic Chemicals Strategic Business Unit; and General Manager Oxygenates.

He was the first President of the Yanbu National Petrochemical Company (YANSAB); and served as Chairman of several SABIC affiliates including IBN SINA, SAMAC, SADAF, PETROKEMYA, and more. Al-Fageeh has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Bradford University, UK, and a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from King Saud University, Riyadh.

We remind, SABIC participated in a ceremony to announce the first package of Shareek projects involving large companies in Saudi Arabia, said the company. The event was held in the presence of several dignitaries, senior businessmen and heads of major companies participating in the program.

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Honeywell announced that SGP BioEnergy will implement Honeywell’s Experion System Technology at its Golden City Biorefinery in Colon, Panama, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

As one of SGP’s key automation contractors, Honeywell will deploy its Experion technology solutions for the plant’s distributed control and safety systems (DCS) and Experion Industrial Security systems for its integrated telecommunications to build a sustainable aviation fuel refinery.

Once fully operational, the biorefinery is expected to produce 180,000 barrels per day of advanced biofuels, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and 405,000 metric tons of green hydrogen annually, according to SGP.

The plant’s SAF production capacity will help to meet the growing global demand for SAF. The International Air Transport Association projected that the aviation industry will require an estimated 23 billion gallons of SAF by 2030 and 449 billion gallons by 2050 to meet the decarbonizing demands of the aviation sector.

Honeywell will provide SGP BioEnergy innovative digital technologies which will help enable the plant to operate at the highest level of efficiency with leading-edge monitoring and controls. Honeywell is also developing a workforce competency plan and strategy to improve operational efficiencies at the plant.

“Our team has a long-standing relationship with Honeywell, and their world-class technology suite, global leadership in refinery operations, and commitment to helping to drive the global energy transition, made our decision simple,” said Randy Delbert Letang, CEO of SGP BioEnergy. “Our project in Panama demonstrates that countries do not have to choose between sustainability and economic growth – it is possible to achieve both at the same time."

“The collaboration between Honeywell and SGP BioEnergy will help ensure that the Golden City Biorefinery project sets a high standard for renewable fuel production and advanced operations globally,” said Jose Fernandes, vice president, Honeywell Performance and Materials Technologies, Latin America. “The project underscores Honeywell's commitment to providing customers with world-class advanced technology solutions that help operate the advanced biorefinery systems of the future."

Construction on the SGP Biorefinery in Colon, Panama is expected to begin in 2025.

We remind, Shell has decided not to go ahead with two projects it was studying to produce biofuels and base oils in Singapore. Shell announced in late 2021 that it was studying a 550,000 tons per year project (tpy) at Singapore's Bukom Island to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to supply major Asian hubs such as Hong Kong International Airport and Singapore's Changi.

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Shell has decided not to go ahead with two projects it was studying to produce biofuels and base oils in Singapore, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We can confirm that we are stopping the exploration of two projects – a biofuels unit and a Group II base oil plant in Singapore," the company told Reuters in an emailed statement. "We will continue supplying base oil and lubricants, as well as biofuels, to our customers in Singapore and the region."

Shell announced in late 2021 that it was studying a 550,000 tons per year project (tpy) at Singapore's Bukom Island to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to supply major Asian hubs such as Hong Kong International Airport and Singapore's Changi.

The company had planned to make a final investment decision for the project, which would have the flexibility to produce renewable diesel and bionaphtha feedstock for petrochemicals, by early 2023. Unlike Europe and the United States, there is no mandate for airlines to use SAF in Asia, an industry source said, adding that customers were not willing to accept higher costs for the fuel.

Shell is building a 820,000 tpy biofuels plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and had targeted to make about 2 million tpy of SAF by 2025. Aviation, accounting for 3% of the world's carbon emissions, is one of the most difficult forms of transportation to decarbonize.

We remind, CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company Ltd (CSPC), a joint venture established by China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and Royal Dutch Shell, signed a framework agreement worth USD5.6-bn with China’s Huizhou city government to expand its ethylene project in the city. CSPC is expected to add 1.5 million tons per annum ethylene production capacity on top of its existed 2.2 million tons in Huizhou, according to a statement issued by CNOOC on Sunday night.

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China's mega private refineries are expected to operate at full processing rates or higher until April as their margins have improved after the government lifted COVID-19 restrictions, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The rise in crude demand at Zhejiang Petrochemical (ZPC) and Hengli Petrochemical, which account for 6.5% of China's refining capacity, will lift crude imports by the world's top importer, with volumes expected to hit record levels this year and support global prices.

ZPC's 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in Zhoushan city increased its run rate to 100% in February, a company official said, adding that run rates should be "no lower than that now". Hengli's 400,000 bpd refinery in the city of Dalian is operating at 107% to 108%, a company official said.

Higher fuel output from them could offset an expected fall in supplies from planned maintenance by state-owned majors in April and May, traders said. Both ZPC and Hengli are China's top polyester producers and their plants produce large amounts of paraxylene (PX), a raw material for plastic bottles and synthetic fiber.

The margins for producing PX from naphtha have improved, rising by at least USD100 a ton at the end of March, compared with the end of February, a trading analyst said. Chinese petrochemical buyers, including ZPC and Hengli, have cut imports recently as they ramp up output, a Singapore-based petrochemicals broker said.

However, new start-up Shenghong Petrochemical is running its 320,000-bpd CDU below full rates because of production issues at its reformer unit, two sources said.

We remind, CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company Ltd (CSPC), a joint venture established by China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and Royal Dutch Shell, signed a framework agreement worth USD5.6-B with China’s Huizhou city government to expand its ethylene project in the city. CSPC is expected to add 1.5 million tons per annum ethylene production capacity on top of its existed 2.2 million tons in Huizhou, according to a statement issued by CNOOC on Sunday night. The new project will have 14 petrochemical production lines to churn out products including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and ethylene glycol.

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Poland’s Grupa Azoty Police said on Wednesday that it has signed a deal for the development and construction of a nuclear power research facility equipped with a micro modular reactor (MMR) with Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) and the Polish West Pomeranian University of Technology, said the company.

USNC said the 30MWt MMR would be a fourth-generation high-temperature, gas-cooled "nuclear battery". State-controlled chemical and fertilizer producer Azoty Police, a member of largest Polish chemical group Grupa Azoty, said: “The reactor will serve as a training, research and testing facility. It will be connected to the energy infrastructure of Grupa Azoty Police, which will provide a unique opportunity to study, test, optimize and integrate the MMR zero-emission energy source with an industrial facility.

“Cooperation in this area will allow the development of a plan for the full-scale implementation of the use of nuclear energy for chemical processes and the generation of steam and hydrogen at the facilities of Grupa Azoty Police. “This will be another significant step towards the decarbonisation of the Grupa Azoty Group's technological processes."

The agreement for the micro reactor was concluded in relation to a US-Polish cooperation in MMR development, formally established by an intergovernmental agreement in February 2021.

We remind, Grupa Azoty Polyolefins said that it has taken a first delivery of ethylene feedstock for its USD1.8bn world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and PP plant that it plans to launch in Police, northwestern Poland in the near future, said the company. A shipment of 3,500 tonnes of ethylene was on Monday delivered to the company’s maritime gas terminal in Police by the gas carrier GasChem Rhone, it added.

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