Russia's Astrakhan gas plant halted operations after drone attack

Russia's Astrakhan gas processing plant, controlled by energy giant Gazprom, opens new tab, halted production of motor fuel on September 22 after a fire caused by a drone attack, three industry sources told Reuters.

They said the blaze had engulfed a condensate production unit with a capacity of 3 million metric tons per year. It produces gasoline and diesel.

They said the plant, located near the Caspian Sea, some 1,675 km (1,040 miles) from the Ukrainian border, might only resume production in several weeks or months.

Gazprom did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

The local governor, Igor Babushkin, said on the Telegram messaging app on Monday that an industrial enterprise had been targeted by drones. He did not name the enterprise.

The St Petersburg commodity exchange halted sales of wholesale fuel parcels from the Astrakhan plant from Monday.

The plant was also hit by drones in early February, halting fuel output. Industry sources said the damaged unit had resumed operations at the end of August.

In 2024, the plant processed 1.8 million tons of stable condensate, producing 800,000 tons of gasoline, 600,000 tons of diesel and 300,000 tons of fuel oil, according to industry sources.

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Lanxess AG on Sept. 23 decided to exercise its option to sell its 40% stake in engineering plastics joint venture Envalior to partner Advent International (Boston), a private equity firm, as per Chemweek.

Per the joint venture agreement, Advent is obliged to acquire all or half of Lanxess’ shares by April 1, 2026, subject to financing availability.

“If and to what extent the share sale will be completed will be known by March 2026 at the latest,” Lanxess said in a statement.

Lanxess’ share in Envalior is valued at €1.2 billion on the basis of the value of the JV, but a provision in the agreement could revise the eventual purchase price based on Envalior’s EBITDA for the 12 months ended April 1, 2026. “Simplistically applying its 2024 EBITDA would imply a valuation of about €700 million,” said Chris Counihan, an analyst with Jefferies LLC (New York).

The JV agreement allows for additional possibilities for Lanxess to sell shares to Advent in 2027 or 2028. No financing condition would be attached to shares sold by Lanxess in 2028, the company said.

A joint exit from the JV is possible beyond 2028 if it does not happen before then, according to a Lanxess investor presentation.

Envalior was formed in 2023 by the merger of Lanxess’ former high-performance materials business with DSM’s engineering materials business. Lanxess received a payment of €1.3 billion for its portion of the business when the JV was formed.

The firm is the world’s third-largest player in nylon 6 compounds, the polybutylene terephthalate market leader in Europe, and one of the leaders in high-performance nylons and thermoplastic copolyesters, CEO Caroline Mitterlehner told CW earlier this year.

Envalior has reduced its exposure to the automotive end market, cut its net debt to €2.1 billion from €3.8 billion, and reduced its number of operating segments from four to three since it was established two years ago, the investor presentation said.

For Lanxess, monetizing its stake in Envalior “should support group deleveraging and provide comfort surrounding its next debt refinance,” which will involve €500 million in debt due in mid-2026, Counihan said.

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The US government is seeking an equity stake of up to 10% in Lithium Americas Corp. as it reviews a $2.26 billion loan for the Thacker Pass lithium project in Nevada, Reuters reported Sept. 23, citing sources familiar with the matter, as per Chemweek.

A Lithium Americas spokesperson told Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, that the company does not disagree with the details in the Reuters report.

"We cannot comment on the details of ongoing discussions with the Department of Energy and General Motors regarding the first draw on our loan agreement," the spokesperson said in an email. "We remain in active discussions with the DOE and our partner, GM, and will provide an update at the appropriate time."

Discussion topics “include certain conditions precedent to draw on the DOE Loan and associated loan specifics, as well as incremental requests from the DOE for potential further conditions to first draw and/or potential amendments to the DOE Loan and associated transaction documents, including corresponding consideration,” Lithium Americas said in a statement Sept. 24.

The Biden administration approved the loan in 2024 for Thacker Pass, the largest lithium project in the US. Lithium Americas holds a 62% stake, while General Motors Co. holds the remaining 38%.

Lithium Americas was supposed to make the first draw from the loan earlier this month, but government officials wanted to renegotiate terms because of concerns about the company’s ability to repay due to low lithium prices, according to Reuters.

Platts reported yesterday that the Trump administration is reevaluating the loan.

US government officials are also urging General Motors to transfer control over some parts of the project to the government, the Reuters report added.

“The incentive for taking equity stakes seem significantly higher than withdrawing funding,” according to Laurence Alexander, an analyst with Jefferies LLC (New York). “To the extent the US government believes equity stakes have a significantly lower political cost than tax increases, mark-to-market equity stakes can offset deficit financing, higher deficit spending can support corporate profits, interest rates can trend lower to support equity valuations, and equity markets can view equity stakes as a leading indicator of favorable ROIC [return on capital invested].”

In July, the US Department of Defense reached a deal with rare earths producer MP Materials. The deal positions the DOD to become the company’s largest shareholder with a 15% stake.

Under the agreement, MP Materials will increase its rare earth magnet manufacturing capacity to about 10,000 metric tons per year by building a second US manufacturing facility. The DOD has agreed to guarantee that all of the facility’s output is sold to defense or commercial customers.

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Carbios SA (Clermont-Ferrand, France) said it will resume construction of its 50,000 metric tons per year polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling plant at Longlaville, France, by the end of this year, as per Chemweek.

The company, which postponed construction of the plant for six to nine months in December 2024 due to delayed funding, said Sept. 24 that it now expects to commission the plant in the second half of 2027. It broke ground on the plant in April 2024.

The Longlaville plant will use an enzymatic depolymerization process to recycle PET waste into feedstock monomers, which can then be purified and repolymerized into PET. Carbios' approach is different from the more commoditized grade of mechanically recycled PET, where PET bottle bales are hot-washed and produced as flakes.

The company said it expects to benefit significantly from a policy – Article L. 541-10-3 under the Environmental Code – announced by the French government Sept. 7 that will support the biorecycled plastics sector.

“This decree represents a powerful new lever to accelerate customer adoption of Carbios’ technology as it enables them to benefit from a €1,000 per metric ton bonus for including biorecycled plastics derived from hard-to-recycle waste into sensitive-contact packaging. Carbios will thus be able to supply its packaging clients, selling on the French market, with recycled PET with a quality equivalent to virgin PET,” it said.

The company said its recycled PET will offer superior characteristics compared to mechanically recycled products “at a comparable net price, while processing complex waste that is currently not recycled.”

Carbios said its plant financing plan would include €42.5 million in public funding, other potential additional funding that is currently under discussion, and €72 million of available cash as of June 30, 2025. The company said it received clear interest from private investors, which is conditional upon the pre-sale of a significant portion of the future plant’s capacity.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the recycled PET free delivered northwest Europe food-grade pellet spot price at €1,570 per metric ton on Sept. 23, down €60 per metric ton month over month, and at a €695 per metric ton premium to virgin PET free delivered northwest Europe.

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Iran is interested in organizing gas and energy swaps with Azerbaijan and Pakistan, Iranian Ambassador to Baku Mojtaba Demirchilou said, as per Interfax.

"The energy sector plays a key role in the development of relations between Iran and Azerbaijan. Our countries have developed very good relations in this sphere," Demirchilou said in an interview with the Trend agency.

Projects for bilateral and multilateral cooperation in energy have already been identified, and the work on coordinating them should be completed in the near future, he said.

"Among the projects are the implementation of an agreement on the joint development of oil fields in the Caspian Sea, the synchronization of the power grids of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia, the transportation of Russian gas to Iran via Azerbaijan, gas swaps between Azerbaijan, Iran and Iraq, and gas and electricity swaps between Azerbaijan, Iran and Pakistan," he said.

There are also joint projects on the Aras river. "The two countries have built hydro nodes for joint operation, and in the near future, hydroelectric power plants will be commissioned at these hydro nodes," he said.

Regarding the synchronization of the power grids of Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia, Demirchilou said that the details of the initiative are currently being worked out. There is an agreement at the level of the three countries' leaderships on exchanging electricity, he said.

"The Iranian company Monenco has completed research work in this area and prepared reports, which have been presented to the parties. Based on these, the possibility of synchronizing the power grids has emerged. This will increase the reliability of the energy systems and create opportunities for exporting electricity to third countries," he said.

Trade turnover between Iran and Azerbaijan increased 34% in 2024 compared to the level of the previous year, to $647 million, he said. "However, this figure remains insufficient. Iran is working on strengthening economic ties by removing financial and banking barriers, simplifying transit and cargo transportation, and expanding interaction between business communities," he said.

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