DuPont to pay USD19 mln for 2014 plant explosion

DuPont has been found guilty of criminal negligence and fined USD12 million in connection with a November 2014 explosion that killed four employees of its methyl mercaptan plant in LaPorte, Texas, and caused extensive environmental damage, said Chemanager.

The actual sum the company will have pay rises to more than USD19 million when a court-ordered USD4 million donation to the Fish & Wildlife Fund and awards in civil lawsuits are added. In a rare sentence for a business of its size, US District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal also mandated that DuPont be put on probation for two years, during which it must give the US Probation Office full access to all of its operating locations.

The court separately ordered a year’s probation for Kenneth Sandel, unit operations leader of the Insecticide Business Unit (IBU) responsible for the plant. Both the company and Sandel pleaded guilty to all charges. DuPont also acknowledged violating the federal Clean Air Act. Along with killing the four workers, the chemical release injured other DuPont employees and traveled downwind into the surrounding areas, the judgment said.

In a statement, Larry Starfield, acting assistant administrator for the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said DuPont’s failure to follow required chemical safety procedures at La Porte – where an employee inadvertently left open a piping valve of the waste disposal system — had led to the deaths.

The fatal accident “demonstrates the importance of holding chemical facilities accountable for implementing chemical safety requirements that are designed to protect workers and neighboring communities,” Starfield added.

We remind, DuPont has terminated its USD5.2bn deal from November 2021 to acquire Rogers Corp as the companies have been unable to obtain timely clearance from all the required regulators. DuPont is paying Rogers a termination fee of USD162.5m, it said in a brief statement late on Tuesday. The companies had not been able to obtain approval from regulators in China, officials said previously.

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Olin Corporation announced financial results for 1Q ended 31 Mar 2023, said the company.

1Q 2023 reported net income was USD156.3 M, or USD1.16/diluted share, which compares to 1Q 2022 reported net income of USD393.0 M, or USD2.48/diluted share.

1Q 2023 adjusted EBITDA of USD434.1 M excludes depreciation and amortization expense of USD137.1 M and restructuring charges of USD60.9 M. 1Q 2022 adjusted EBITDA was USD710.9 M. Sales in 1Q 2023 were USD1844.3 M compared to USD2461.4 M in 1Q 2022.

Other corporate and unallocated costs in 1Q 2023 increased USD4.0 M compared to 1Q 2022 primarily due to mark-to-market adjustments on stock-based compensation. The cash balance on 31 Mar 2023, was USD176.0 M and we ended 1Q 2023 with net debt of approximately USD2.6 bn and a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 1.2 times.

During 1Q 2023, net debt increased by USD211.5 M, primarily due to the funding of inventory built in advance of a planned maintenance turnaround and typical seasonal working capital. The increase in working capital was USD244.4 M in 1Q 2023. On 31 Mar 2023, Olin had approximately USD1.3 bn of available liquidity.

During 1Q 2023, approximately 3.6 M shares of common stock were repurchased at a cost of USD206.1 M. On 31 Mar 2023, Olin had approximately USD1.5 bn available under its current share repurchase authorization.

We remind, Olin Corporation has announced its decision to stop the operations of its cumene facility in Terneuzen, Netherlands and solid epoxy resin production facilities in Gumi, South Korea, and Guaruja, Brazil. In 1Q 2023, the company results are forecasted to include around USD57 M of restructuring charges associated with these plans of which around $15 M represent non-cash asset impairment charges.

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Hungarian oil group MOL expects to be able to choose between Russian or non-Russian crude for its refineries by 2026, its Chairman and Chief Executive Zsolt Hernadi told Reuters, by implementing substantial investments, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

MOL owns refineries in landlocked Hungary and Slovakia, both of which are fed by the Druzhba pipeline's southern spur. Import shipments via Druzhba were disrupted last November when a Russian rocket hit a power station in Ukraine which provided electricity for a pumping station, highlighting supply risks.

Hernadi said that MOL planned to partly finance the USD500 MM-USD700 MM in technological investments needed to diversify its Danube and Slovnaft refineries away from Urals oil from European Union funds.

"We would like to be able to freely decide at the end of 2025 about when, how much, and of which kind of oil we want to ship into which refinery ... by end-2025, early 2026," Hernadi said during an interview at MOL's new headquarters overlooking the Danube River in Budapest.

He said that last year only about 5% of Slovnaft's oil intake was non-Russian but that this will rise to about 30-35% or 2 million tons by the end of 2023. Hernadi said MOL was fighting to prevent a hike in oil transit fees in Ukraine and in Croatia.

Janaf, Croatia's oil pipeline operator, wants to raise transit fees via the Adriatic pipeline, which is MOL's alternative supply route, to four times the benchmark fee charged on the Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline, Hernadi said. The BTC pipeline transports crude oil from offshore oil fields in the Caspian Sea to the Turkish coast.

Hernadi said that MOL was making short-term extensions to its Janaf contract and trying to negotiate a long-term one. MOL had a contract with Janaf for shipments of 500,000 tons of crude on the Adriatic pipeline until end-March.

Janaf said in a reply to Reuters that the prices of services on its oil pipeline and storage system were defined during the negotiation process, in accordance with rules governing its services.

We remind, MOL Group is transporting crude oil produced at its co-owned oilfield, the Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli in Azerbaijan, to Slovnaft Refinery in Bratislava. This is a major step for the company’s efforts to increase its crude sourcing flexibility. In addition, the arrival of the Seavelvet tanker from the Port of Ceyhan in Turkey to Omisalj in Croatia, and then transporting the 90,000 tons of crude oil to Bratislava through the Adria pipeline is a success story for MOL Group: it constitutes well-to-wheel integration of its value chain as it will process and sell petroleum products refined at one of its own refineries using crude oil produced at a field it co-owns.

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Verbio has acquired an ethanol plant in the US state of Indiana, where it is planning to start producing renewable natural gas (RNG), the German company said.

Verbio North America Holdings acquired South Bend Ethanol, the company that owns the plant, from Mercuria Investments. It did not disclose the purchase price. Verbio plans to build anaerobic digestion tanks at the site, which will use stillage as a feedstock. RNG production should begin in 2026.

Once the project is completed, the South Bend site should produce 85m gal/year (322m litres/year) of ethanol and 2.8bn cubic feet/year (2.8bcf/year) of RNG. In all, Verbio plans to invest USD230m at the site. Verbio also owns a site in Nevada, Iowa.

In late 2021, it announced that the site started producing unspecified amounts of RNG, using 75,000-100,000 tons/year (68,039-90,718 tonnes/year) of corn stover as a feedstock.

Later this year, it expects to start production of traditional ethanol at the Iowa site. Output should be 60m gal/year.

Verbio had bought the Iowa site from DuPont in 2018.

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Linde has signed a long-term agreement to supply green hydrogen to Evonik. Linde will build, own and operate a nine-megawatt alkaline electrolyzer plant on Jurong Island, Singapore, said the company.

The plant will produce green hydrogen, which Evonik will use to manufacture methionine, an essential component in animal feed. The new supply agreement supports the planned expansion of Evonik’s existing facility and will help Evonik limit its greenhouse gas emissions in Singapore.

In addition to supplying Evonik, Linde will use the Jurong Island electrolyzer plant to supply the local merchant market with green hydrogen in response to growing demand. The new plant is expected to come on stream in 2024 and will be the largest electrolyzer ever installed in Singapore.

We remind, Dow announced it has selected Linde as its industrial gas partner for the supply of clean hydrogen and nitrogen for its proposed net-zero carbon emissions integrated ethylene cracker and derivatives site in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada.

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