Celanese names new CEO

Celanese Corp. (Dallas, Texas) has appointed Scott Richardson, currently chief operating officer, to become CEO and a member of the board of directors on Jan. 1, 2025, said the company.

He will succeed CEO and Board Chair Lori Ryerkerk, who took the position in 2019. Edward Galante, an independent director on Celanese’s board since 2013, has been elected to become chair upon Ryerkerk’s departure.

“Coming out of retirement to lead Celanese since 2019 as CEO has been the true highlight of my career, and I'm proud of what we've achieved together,” said Ryerkerk. “Scott is a proven executive who brings deep expertise across the company’s business and new perspectives to the CEO role.”

Richardson, who has been at Celanese for over 20 years, has also served as chief financial officer and in leadership positions overseeing the engineered materials and acetyl chain businesses.

We remind, Celanese plans to close nylon (polyamide 66) production at its plant in Huentrop, Germany, in order to optimize production costs. The company plans to complete all legal procedures for the closure of the unit in 2024.

mrchub.com

Trinseo PLC (Wayne, Pennsylvania) has reached agreement with a majority of its secured creditors to extend debt maturities and enhance liquidity, said the company.

The transactions, expected to close in January, will extend the company’s nearest debt maturity to 2028. Trinseo's shares are up 33% at 12 PM ET today compared to yesterday’s close.

“This transaction significantly strengthens our ability to implement key strategic initiatives that support our ongoing transformation," said Frank Bozich, Trinseo’s president and CEO. "The added financial flexibility gives us more runway to thoughtfully focus on optimizing our portfolio, invest in our leading circular technologies, and further solidify our financial position.”

Trinseo will replace its $375 million revolving credit facility due in 2026 with a new $300 million facility maturing in 2028. Additionally, the company will refinance $115 million of existing senior notes due in 2025 by increasing a term loan maturing in 2028 by the same amount. Furthermore, Trinseo plans to exchange at least $330 million of its 2029 senior notes for new second lien senior secured notes maturing in 2029.

In September, Trinseo announced a restructuring plan aiming for $30 million in annualized cost savings by the end of 2026. As part of this program, the company will cease virgin polycarbonate production at its Stade, Germany facility and has streamlined management across its engineered materials, plastics solutions, and polystyrene divisions.

In March 2024, Trinseo announced that it has started a sale process for its 50% stake in Americas Styrenics, a styrene and polystyrene joint venture with Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP. Trinseo and CP Chem have decided to pursue a joint sale, with a transaction announcement expected in the first half of 2025.

mrchub.com

MOL and ENEOS Materials Corporation of Japan today entered into a sale and purchase agreement pursuant to which ENEOS acquires MOL’s 49% stake in ENEOS MOL Synthetic Rubber Kft, said the company.

Following the transaction, ENEOS will own 100% of EMSR.

In 2015, MOL started the implementation of a synthetic rubber plant at the premises of MOL Petrochemicals in a joint venture with JSR Corporation of Japan. The S-SBR (solvent styrene butadiene rubber) plant started operations in 2020 with a capacity of 60 ktpa. JSR's 51% stake in the joint venture was subsequently sold to ENEOS in 2022.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory approval.

Under the terms of the agreement, EMSR will continue its production activities at the Tiszaujvaros plant and MOL will remain a key feedstock, utility and service provider of the company.

Earlier, KazMunayGas and MOL signed an agreement to deepen cooperation. The partners intend to jointly develop hydrocarbon exploration and production, as well as implement promising petrochemical projects.

mrchub.com

Sahara International Petrochemical Co. (Sipchem) started, on Dec. 5, the periodic turnaround maintenance of its affiliate Sahara and Maaden Petrochemicals Co. (SAMAPCO) plant, said the company.

The maintenance process, which comes in line with the company’s 2024-2025 business plan, will last 35 days, the company said in a statement to Tadawul.

It will contribute to enhancing the reliability of the plants and allow them to achieve their future operational plans.

Sipchem added that the related financial impact is expected to show in Q4 2024 and Q1 2025.

The company has taken the necessary actions to limit the potential impact on its customers. Further updates will be duly announced.

Sipchem owns 50% of SAMAPCO’s SAR 900 million capital. The company produces caustic soda, chlorine, and ethylene dichloride.

The facility has a production capacity of 300,000 metric tons per annum (mtpa) of ethylene dichloride, 250,000 mtpa of caustic soda, 220,000 mtpa of liquid chlorine, and 25,000 mtpa of hydrochloric acid.

Sipchem (Saudi International Petrochemical Company, Saudi Arabia) has signed a contract with SGC Engineering & Construction (E&C) for the Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) petrochemical plant project in Jubail Industrial Zone, Saudi Arabia. Since the start of operations in Saudi Arabia in 2010, SGC E&C has already cooperated with Sipchem on four projects. This year, SGC E&C’s new orders in Saudi Arabia amount to 1.2 trillion won (USD870 million, RUB 78.3 billion).
mrchub.com

Russian oil flows to the Czech Republic via the Druzhba pipeline were seen resuming on Friday after payment issues linked to the transit via Ukraine, which caused a halt, have been sorted, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Russian crude oil flows to the Czech Republic through the Druzhba pipeline remained halted on Thursday, extending a stoppage for unknown reasons which Czech refiner Unipetrol first identified on Tuesday, a company spokesman said.

Two sources with knowledge of the matter said the halt in supplies from Russia's Rosneft was the result of payments difficulties between transit country Ukraine and Russia, but a workaround had been found.

Refining at the Litvinov refinery, which uses Russian crude, was running using the company's reserves which could last a week before it taps state reserves, a spokesperson for Unipetrol, a unit of Poland's Orlen, said.

The Czech government approved on Wednesday lending Unipetrol 330,000 tonnes of oil from state reserves.

Unipetrol and Czech state officials have said the Druzhba halt was not affecting supplies of products to the Czech market. In 2019, the country coped with a two-month interruption of flows through Druzhba without an impact on fuel supplies.

MERO said on Thursday it was still investigating the Druzhba delivery delays.

The country imports Russian crude through Druzhba and other crudes through the TAL pipeline running from Italy to Germany and on to the Czech Republic. It wants to stop all Russian oil imports from July next year as it completes capacity expansion of the TAL pipeline.

The unexplained interruption occurred as European countries are debating a possible extension of an EU exemption from sanctions on Russia that allows the Czech Republic to import diesel and other products made from Russian oil, made in neighboring Slovakia.

The exemption lapses on Thursday, but diplomats said talks would continue on Friday after a non-conclusive session on Wednesday.

The Czech Republic has said it was not asking for the exemption to continue but Slovakia has been keen to keep it in place.

Sources have said that if other countries are keen to extend, the Czechs may agree to a six-month extension on the Slovak diesel imports, matching the expected end of Russian crude supplies to the Czech Republic.

We remind, Russia's Novatek increased naphtha exports from its Ust-Luga complex in the Baltic Sea to a record high 530,000 tonnes in November. In October, Novatek exported around 485,000 t of naphtha, shipping data showed.

mrchub.com