OMV will not sell majority stake in Borealis

Austrian energy and chemicals company OMV is not planning to offload its stake in the petrochemicals subsidiary Borealis, reported Reuters, citing OMV CEO Alfred Stern.

Currently, OMV owns a 75% stake in Borealis while state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) holds the remaining 25% stake. Adnoc also owns a 25% stake in OMV.

In 2022, Adnoc unveiled a growth strategy involving a substantial investment of USD150bn (Dh550.88bn) between 2023 and 2027. The plan encompassed the establishment of a new division with a focus on the energy sector, including chemicals.

The announcement triggered speculation regarding Adnoc’s potential acquisition of OMV’s stake in Borealis, which has operations in Belgium, Germany and France, among others.

Stern was quoted by Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference in New York as saying: “We are not going to sell the Borealis stake.”

OMV is expected to fulfil its gas supply contracts in Austria despite a halt in supplies from Russia’s Gazprom, Stern said.

“There has been a massive rearrangement of supply chains,” he added.

OMV anticipates refining margins to average between USD10 and USD15 per barrel. The margins could reduce below that level, Stern noted.

“For the year [it] will be more toward the lower end, but we are looking if we are going to fall out the bottom end of this potentially,” Stern said.

Adnoc acquired a 24.9% stake in OMV from Mubadala Investment Company to raise its holding in European petrochemicals maker Borealis and petrochemicals company Borouge.

We remind, Borealis announces that it is using the occasion of the Plastics Recycling Show Europe (PRSE) in May to highlight a new monomaterial pouch containing over 95% PP and designed for recycling.

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The long-term agreement will form a part of Orsted’s Mockingbird Solar Center project in Lamar County, Texas, USA which is expected to produce clean energy to power roughly 80,000 homes, said Process-worldwide.

Covestro has signed a 90 megawatt (MW) virtual power purchase agreement (Vppa) with Orsted. This new 15-year agreement secures a portion of power from the Mockingbird Solar Center in Lamar County, Texas, marking Covestro’s first renewable energy agreement in the U.S. The Vppa is estimated to offset 70,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually and will reduce the scope 2 emissions from Covestro’s third largest production site, located in Baytown, Texas.

“This important new announcement builds upon Covestro’s existing agreement with Orsted and clearly signals our commitment to the use of renewable energy,” said Markus Steilemann, CEO of Covestro. “The inclusion of renewable energy to help power our facilities is a critical component to reducing our scope 2 emissions and becoming operationally climate neutral by 2035.”

We remind, Covestro, a leading manufacturer of high-quality polymer materials and their components, has signed a 90 megawatt (MW) virtual power purchase agreement (vPPA) with Orsted, a clean energy leader in the U.S. market, headquartered in Denmark.

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Chevron Phillips Chemical, Technip Energies and LyondellBasell are collaborating on the design, construction and operation of a demonstration unit for Technip Energies’ electric steam cracking furnace technology, designed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the olefins production process, said the company.

The demonstration unit, which will be constructed at LyondellBasell’s site in Channelview, Texas, is expected to advance the global energy transition by taking steps toward decarbonizing the olefins production process, said Arnaud Pieton, CEO of Technip Energies.

Electric cracking furnace can reduce furnace GHG emissions by up to 90% compared to a conventional furnace. Steam cracking furnaces play a significant role in the production of basic chemicals by breaking down hydrocarbons into olefins and aromatics. This cracking process requires a temperature of more than 1,500°F.

Technip Energies developed the concept and design for the e.Furnace by T.EN™ technology, which could achieve this temperature using electricity as the heat source. The use of renewable electricity in this process would contribute to significantly reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with olefins production.

“Climate change is a global issue that will take action from all segments of society, and we want to be part of the solution by reducing the intensity of our carbon footprint,” said Bruce Chinn, President and CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical. “This project supports our efforts toward lowering the carbon intensity of our operations and demonstrates our continued focus on accelerating change for a sustainable future.”

We remind, Technip Energies is pleased to announce that a joint venture, led by Technip Energies in partnership with Consolidated Contractors Company, has won a major Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning contract by QatarEnergy for the onshore facilities of the North Field South Project.

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Fujian Zhongjing Petrochemical Group has selected Johnson Matthey’s latest butanediol technology to produce 600,000 metric tonnes of bio-degradable plastics annually, said Process-worldwide.

This plastic can be used in compostable packaging and decomposes. As China accelerates its efforts to phase out single-use plastics in a bid to tackle pollution, Johnson Matthey will provide Fujian Zhongjing Petrochemical Group, with the latest butanediol (BDO) technology – a crucial component to produce bio-degradable plastics (PBAT). Three separate BDO plants will be built in phases. Using Johnson Matthey’s BDO technology, Fujian Zhongjing is expected to produce 600,000 metric tonnes of PBAT, per year – making this the largest contract in the world for this technology.

This bio-degradable plastic is used in compostable packaging and decomposes due to naturally occurring microorganisms such as fungi and bacteria.

Dr. Mark Su, President, Greater China at Johnson Matthey, says: “As plastic waste is such an issue, a plastic alternative, such as PBAT, could be one of the best solutions available to tackle plastic pollution. With decades of experience in this technology, it’s encouraging to see the positive impact it can have in creating a cleaner world.”

We remind, Johnson Matthey (JM) and bp announced that their co-developed, award-winning Fischer Tropsch (FT) CANS technology has been selected by Strategic Biofuels for their project which aims to produce the world’s lowest carbon footprint liquid fuel.

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India's fuel consumption surged in May with diesel sales scaling a record high, buoyed by strong factory activity in the third-largest oil consumer in the world, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

India's factory output expanded at the quickest pace since October 2020 last month at a time when regional peers such as China, Japan and South Korea have seen their manufacturers struggle for prolonged periods.

Sales of diesel, mainly used by trucks and commercially run passenger vehicles, increased around 5.1% in May to an all-time high of 8.22 million tons from a month earlier, as per PPAC data going back until 1998.

The higher manufacturing boosted purchasing activity and lifted trucking demand, said Viktor Katona, lead crude analyst at Kpler, adding diesel demand also got a fillip from agriculture, particularly rice and wheat, with most harvesting done in April-May.

India's delayed monsoons also supported diesel consumption by translating into better construction activity overall, Katona said. Fuel consumption, a proxy for oil demand, totaled 20.03 million tons in May, up from 18.54 million tons in April.

Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 16% higher than the previous month at 3.35 million tons. Cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), sales increased 9.3% to 2.35 million tons and naphtha sales rose 6.5% to 1.15 million tons, the data showed.

We remind, The local governor of Russia's Pacific island of Sakhalin has invited companies from India and China to tap the region's energy resources following the departure of European and American oil and gas majors, said Reuters. Russia has been forging closer political and economic ties with Asia since the start of what the Kremlin calls a special military operation in Ukraine last year and the resulting Western sanctions on Moscow. "We invite companies from China and India to projects of the energy complex. This is a good chance for them to fill the niche vacated by American and European companies in the oil and gas services market," Sakhalin's governor Valery Limarenko said on the government's website.

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