Brazil's ethanol output decreased in favor of sugar production

Brazil's sugar production in 2023/24 (April-March) is expected to be its largest ever in a season, with export volumes of the sweetener hitting a record high, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Brazil's total sugar output, from all producing regions, was estimated at 42.7 million metric tons, 2.3 million tons more than Job Economia's initial estimate and compared to 37 million tons in 2022/23, as the weather has been near perfect this season for crop growth and processing.

"So far so good for the season, very good," said Julio Maria Borges, managing partner at Job Economia. The consultancy upgraded its projections for sugarcane processing and sugar production for both the Centre-South and Northeast regions in Brazil. It sees exports reaching a record high of 32.2 million tons in the season, 2.4 million tons more than its previous estimate and compared to 27.1 million tons in 2022/23.

"That will account for around 50% of the global trade of sugar," Borges said. The rise in Brazil's projected production and exports of the sweetener coincides with weather problems in sugar-producing rivals India and Thailand, which are expected to have only limited amounts to export.

Mills in Brazil are allocating a near record amount of sugarcane to make sugar, and less so to produce ethanol, as the prices for the sweetener are higher. Job Economia projected total ethanol output at 32.9 billion liters, 600 million liters less than initially expected. Brazil produced 31.2 billion liters in the past season.

The corn-based share of the fuel, however, is seen growing 25% this season to 5.5 billion liters. It already accounts for 20% of the country's total ethanol production, which in the past was entirely made from sugarcane.

We remind, Venezuela is not willing to halt productive operations during contract audits that have led to the arrest of businessmen and officials, and to disputes with customers and partners of state company PDVSA. In June, a contract between PDVSA and Maroil Trading, a Geneva-based company owned by Venezuelan tycoon Wilmer Ruperti, became entangled in a dispute over payments, triggering the suspension of most exports of petroleum coke from the South American country.

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Shell Petroleum Company Limited, through its 100% owned subsidiary Impello Limited (“Shell”), has agreed to sell its home energy businesses, Shell Energy Retail Limited (SERL) in the UK and Shell Energy Retail GmbH (SERG) in Germany, to Octopus Energy Group, as per Reuters.

The businesses provide domestic gas, power, and broadband services to approximately two million customers and operate under the Shell Energy brand. The transaction has an effective date of September 1, 2023 and is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2023, subject to regulatory approval.

Octopus is a leading energy retail company which provides innovative energy solutions to residential customers and operates in 15 countries.

Tariffs and offers will remain unchanged for all existing home energy customers, including continued access to 100% renewable power. Customer service will not be interrupted and, following regulatory approval and deal completion, both companies will ensure a seamless transfer of the businesses and eventually brand from Shell Energy to Octopus.

“This agreement follows the announcement during our Capital Markets Day to divest our home energy retail business in Europe,” said Steve Hill, Executive Vice-President, Shell Energy. “To drive performance, discipline and simplification, we are prioritising countries, projects, and routes to market where we can deliver the most value. We will work closely with Octopus to ensure a seamless transition and continued high standards of customer service.”

As part of the agreement, Shell and Octopus have also signed a memorandum of understanding to explore a potential international partnership to bring the best possible experience to their EV charging customers, including Shell Recharge subscribers. Options will be explored for possible joint promotions and brand activations, alongside co-operation on out-of-home charging and other activities across the EV value chain. Shell is already a leading EV charging provider with a global charging network set to expand to around 200,000 public charging points by 2030.

We remind, Shell is considering a sale of its Singapore refining and petrochemical plants as part of a broader strategic review and has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to explore a potential deal, said several sources close to the matter. The global energy major's new CEO, Wael Sawan, is targeting spending cuts over the next two years to boost profitability while remaining committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

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PT Pertamina (Persero) is preparing nine potential collaborations and partnerships as a concrete step towards building green infrastructure at the ASEAN Indo Pacific Forum (AIPF) flagship event, which will take place in Jakarta on September 5 - 6, 2023, said Thejakartapost.

These nine plans for green infrastructure development are related to energy or oil and gas and supporting infrastructure development for the tourism industry.

In the energy or oil and gas sector, Pertamina is preparing partnerships for the development of the Integrated Green Terminal Kalibaru, Integrated Terminal Tapanuli Tengah, opportunities for Carbon Capture and Storage/Carbon Capture Utilization & Storage (CCU/CCUS) collaboration, the gas pipeline network Dumai – Siak, and the production of Green Hydrogen and Nature-Based Solutions.

Fadjar Djoko Santoso, Vice President of Corporate Communication of PT Pertamina (Persero), stated that Pertamina will actively participate in the flagship event of ASEAN Summit 2023. It is a joint effort with the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) and other state-owned enterprises to support AIPF as the epicenter of economic growth in ASEAN through collaboration with global partners.

"As an energy SOE, Pertamina continues to strengthen environmentally friendly energy infrastructure and a more resilient business ecosystem," said Fadjar.

Fadjar further emphasized that the concrete steps in green infrastructure development are taken within the Pertamina Group and in collaboration with SOE under the Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC) for the electric vehicle (EV) battery factories development.

"Pertamina continues to seek new business opportunities in the energy transition era by investing in strategic sectors, including supporting the electric vehicle ecosystem. This is crucial to addressing the energy trilemma of energy security and safety, affordability, and sustainability," added Fadjar.

We remind, Pertamina plans in 2024 to mix more of its gasoline products with ethanol in a bid to offer alternative fuels to the public. The company will mix its 90-octane gasoline, Indonesia's most widely used fuel product under the brand Pertalite, with 7% ethanol, which will improve the quality of the fuel, Nicke Widyawati told a parliamentary hearing. Pertamina will also increase the ethanol blend in its other fuel product to 8% from 5%. That fuel, called Pertamax Green 95, is currently only offered at 17 fuel stations in Jakarta and Surabaya, Indonesia's two biggest cities.

Pertamina, as a leading company in the energy transition, is committed to supporting the Net Zero Emission 2060 target by continuously promoting programs that directly impact the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievement. All these efforts align with Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) implementation across all Pertamina's business lines and operations.
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SCG Chemicals (SCGC) and Sirplaste of Portugal have announced significant progress in advancing their circular economy business ventures in Europe, said Polymerupdate.

The companies have successfully invested in recycling technology and installed new machinery in Portugal as planned. As a result, their combined production capacity for high-quality recycled plastic resin has increased to 45,000 tons per year, UP FROM THE PREVIOUS 9,000 TONS, marking a 25% increase. This growth is particularly geared towards producing High-Quality Odorless HDPE PCR Resin, which is EuCertPlast-certified, in response to steadily growing market demand for environmentally friendly packaging in Europe. The expansion of SCGC's high-quality PCR business in Europe will enhance its market potential, maximize the utility of resources, and contribute to climate change mitigation.

Tanawong Areeratchakul, President of SCG Chemicals Public Company Limited or SCGC, elaborated on the progress in the circular economy ventures between SCGC and Sirplaste of Portugal and said: "Our circular economy business with Sirplaste is progressing as planned. The company has invested in recycling technology and successfully installed new machinery at the Sirplaste plant in Portugal, making it operational. This increases our High-Quality Odorless HDPE PCR Resin production capacity by 9,000 tons to meet the growing market demands for green packaging, particularly in the personal care and household sectors. This initiative resonates with global brand owners and consumers who prioritize environmental sustainability, particularly in European countries. Furthermore, we plan to boost our production capacity to meet the emerging mega-trends in environmentally friendly packaging. This aligns with SCGC's strategy to drive business growth and sustainability, adhering to ESG guidelines that focus on valuable resource utilization following the principles of the circular economy through Green Innovation. We are moving forward to expand our environmentally friendly plastic production under the SCGC GREEN POLYMERTM brand, targeting one million tons per year by 2030."

As per MRC, Siam Cement Group (SCG) will invest on a USD22.7m project to produce biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate (BOPET) in Vietnam. AJ Plast (Vietnam) Co Ltd, a 45:55 joint venture between SCG subsidiary SCG Chemicals and Thailand-listed flexible packaging producer AJ Plast, will carry out the project, SCG said in a bourse filing on 22 August.

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SK Innovation has become the first in the oil refining industry to complete a Life Cycle Assessment (hereafter, LCA) for its entire oil-petrochemical related products, said Skinnonews.

The company aims to strengthen its response to domestic and international clients who are increasingly focused on ESG evaluation standards, and plans to utilize the findings for process improvement data.

On September 1, SK Innovation announced that the company’s Institute of Environmental Science and Technology has successfully completed the industry’s first comprehensive LCA, which measures the environmental impact across all stages of a product’s life cycle. LCA quantifies a variety of environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions of the entire production process, from resource input to the production of finished goods, in accordance with international standards. SK Innovation launched an LCA unit under its Institute of Environmental Science and Technology in January 2022 to review not only products and supply chains within the SK Innovation subsidiaries but also the environmental impacts of new businesses.

The subjects for the LCA were about 470 oil-petrochemical related products and semi-products (including gasoline, diesel, ethylene, para-xylene, etc.) produced by SK Innovation’s subsidiaries, including SK Energy, SK Enmove, SK Geo Centric, and SK Incheon Petrochem. Key environmental impact indicators, such as carbon emissions, acidification, resource consumption, and ozone depletion, were measured to evaluate the environmental loads. Moreover, the company also secured a company-wide environmental impact assessment database that includes these LCA results.

SK Innovation is expanding its LCA to its overseas business sites with plans to actively respond to clients’ demands for environmental information to support both current and future businesses in reviewing their environmental impact by using the assessment results. The company also aims to secure the capabilities to evaluate social impact in order to contribute to carbon reduction and the creation of an ESG ecosystem.

We remind, Technip Energies and Enerkem Inc. have signed a memorandum of understanding to enter into a Collaboration Agreement aimed at accelerating the deployment of Enerkem’s technology platform for biofuels and circular chemical products from non-recyclable waste materials.

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