Sika acquires strong player in us mining industry

Sika has acquired Thiessen Team USA, a US manufacturer of shotcrete and grouting products for the mining industry in the USA, said the company.

The company serves the Western US mining industry which produces essential minerals for the growing electric vehicle industry among many other critical minerals. The acquisition will open up significant cross-selling potential and will support Sika’s expansion in the US mining market.

Thiessen is a family owned business serving the mining industry in the Western region of the USA with shotcrete and grouting solutions that enable increased efficiency in mining operations. Thiessen has long-established, strong relationships with large mining customers and has built a reputation for excellent quality, hands-on technical support, and fast reaction times. The company operates two production facilities which are strategically located close to large mines in the western US, which among other excavate materials essential for the production of batteries. With the expanded investments in manufacturing of electric vehicles in the USA, demand for these critical minerals is expected to significantly increase going forward.

Increasing sustainability requirements in mining operations represents a significant potential for Sika’s robust range of solutions. A groundbreaking development is Sika’s unique technology for cement-free concrete which is already used for backfilling of shafts in the world’s largest iron ore mine in Sweden and will now be rolled out in the entire Americas region. Sika already has a strong presence in the mining industry in Latin America and Canada, which was significantly expanded through the acquisition of King Packaged Materials Company in 2019. The acquisition of Thiessen will in a similar way improve access to US mining projects. Sika products such as structural fibers, shotcrete accelerators, and backfilling solutions will complement Thiessen’s offering and further support market penetration.

"The acquisition of Thiessen supports our expansion in the exciting mining business in the USA and provides Sika with a wider presence in mining across the Americas region. The offerings of Sika and Thiessen are highly complementary and open up significant cross-selling potential with new and existing mining customers. We look forward to a successful joint future and would like to extend a very warm welcome to the Thiessen employees as they join the Sika team."

We remind, Sika has completed the acquisition of MBCC Group after having received all necessary regulatory approvals, said the company. MBCC Group, headquartered in Mannheim, Germany, and formerly owned by an affiliate of Lone Star Funds, is active in the field of construction systems and admixture systems. To close the transaction and to comply with regulatory requirements, Sika sold MBCC Group’s chemical admixtures assets in the UK, the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand to the international private equity firm Cinven. The business now acquired by Sika employs 6,200 people and operates in over 60 countries and 95 production facilities.

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Nigeria's average daily petrol consumption has fallen by 28% since President Bola Tinubu scrapped a popular but costly subsidy on the fuel at the end of May, said Reuters.

Average daily petrol consumption fell to 48.43 million liters in June, down from the previous average of 66.9 million, according to figures released to Reuters by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

A subsidy had kept prices cheap for decades in Africa's biggest economy but it became increasingly expensive for the country - the government spent USD10 billion last year - leading to wider deficits and driving up government debt. Since the subsidy was ended, a black market in neighboring Cameroon, Benin and Togo that relied on petrol smuggled from Nigeria has collapsed.

Despite having spent USD2.41 B on the subsidy in the first five months, Nigeria could save up to USD5.10 billion this year from scrapping the petrol subsidy and from FX reforms, the World Bank said on June 27.

We remind, Nigeria's petrol subsidy cost state oil firm NNPC Ltd USD2.41 B in the five months through May before the program was scrapped.

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Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company’S (KIPIC) distillation unit 21 at the al-Zour refinery has come online, paving the way for the refinery to operate at full capacity, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Kuwait's oil minister said that his country hopes to have a higher oil production quota when it ramps up capacity, and that Kuwait remains committed to OPEC decisions.

The minister, Saad Al Barrak, his country hopes to reach 3.2 million barrels per day of production capacity before the end of 2024. The hope for a higher OPEC quota was not urgent, he told reporters.

We remind, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation sees continued good demand for oil from China in the second half of the year, its chief executive said on Thursday, speaking to Reuters as part of a podcast series hosted by the Al Attiyah Foundation.

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Japan's Mitsui has agreed to buy 49% of a Danish e-methanol plant and a connected solar plant from the privately-owned renewable energy firm European Energy A/S, said Reuters.

The e-methanol facility is the world's largest, Kenichi Hori, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mitsui & Co., Ltd, said in a statement. "Mitsui will leverage its expertise in chemicals, renewable energy, shipping, and other industries to enhance the competitiveness of this e-methanol facility," he said.

The 304 megawatt (MW) solar PV plant is located in Kassoe in the Aabenraa municipality in Denmark, and the connected 52 MW e-methanol facility has production of up to 42,000 metric tons of e-methanol per year, European Energy said.

Shipping company Maersk, which has 19 vessels on order that can sail on methanol, last year agreed to purchase half of the plant's output, and the LEGO Group and Novo Nordisk have since signed up as offtakers from 2024. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023.

Interest in methanol as an alternative fuel has grown in the shipping industry, which seeks to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Mitsui is involved in establishing the world's first methanol bunkering pilot in Singapore this year, along with Maersk Oil Trading, Mitsui & Co Energy Trading Singapore, and American Bureau of Shipping.

Solar projects are this year expected for the first time to attract more investments than oil production, the International Energy Agency said in May. European Energy develops solar, wind and sustainable fuel projects in 19 countries globally with the aim of eventually selling them.

We remind, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. announced that new affiliate Mitsui Chemicals EMS Corporation has begun doing business after its establishment on July 1, 2023. Created to take over the pellicle business acquired from Asahi Kasei Corporation, Mitsui Chemicals EMS is the No. 1 player in the market for FPD pellicles, which are used in the LCD panel exposure process.

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Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA has suspended deliveries of petroleum coke to a company owned by a Venezuelan shipping magnate amid a commercial dispute over a sales contract, said Reuters.

PDVSA earlier this year started a review of accounts with Geneva-registered firm Maroil Trading, owned by tycoon Wilmer Ruperti, as part of a vast audit of PDVSA's accounts receivables. Maroil at the time owed the state company USD423.7 MM from petroleum coke sales made since January 2020, according to PDVSA's review, seen by Reuters. Maroil disputed the bill.

PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment. A law firm representing Maroil did not provide immediate comment. According to a 2017 contract, Maroil had to invest at least USD138 MM in infrastructure repairs in exchange for rights to sell some 12 million metric tons of petroleum coke produced by PDVSA, then valued at USD11.50 per ton.

The contract turned Maroil into the entity responsible for most of the country's exports of the oil byproduct that is burned as an alternative to coal. In a interview with Bloomberg News on Wednesday, Ruperti said the contract, set to expire in 2021, was extended by two years due to the pandemic, which PDVSA now disputes. He denied wrongdoing and added that he is still owed USD300 MM.

It was unclear if the contract had been terminated or suspended until further decision is made. In April, PDVSA began registering new customers of petcoke, according to documents and people close to the matter, expanding a customer roster amid the audit of unpaid bills from various PDVSA clients and middlemen.

Venezuela's exports of petcoke plummeted to less than 100,000 metric tons in June, from a peak of 626,000 tons in January, according to shipping data.

We remind, PDVSA has allocated an oil cargo to a unit of Eni for a February loading, the first to the Italian firm following a contract suspension this year by new management at the state-run company, people familiar with the matter said. Eni and Spanish oil firm Repsol in May last year received authorizations from the U.S. State Department to take the crude to Europe for outstanding Venezuela debt and dividends, an exception to U.S. oil sanctions on Venezuela.

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