Russia says refineries to postpone maintenance to saturate market

Russian oil refineries will postpone planned maintenance in order to saturate the market, Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said on Wednesday, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Russia is facing fuel shortages after a series of Ukrainian attacks on its refineries. In September it imposed a partial ban on diesel exports and extended a gasoline export ban, which applies to all exporters, until the end of the year.

The authorities are closely monitoring the situation on the domestic fuel market, Tsivilev said. "The capacity of previously accumulated fuel reserves at refineries and oil depots has been tapped," he added.

"The following additional measures are currently being implemented: adjustment of the rules for conducting exchange trading in order to prevent speculative growth in fuel prices in the wholesale segment; coordination of logistics and acceleration of fuel deliveries to all regions, as well as for the needs of agricultural producers."

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Natara (Hartlepool, UK), a manufacturer of flavor and fragrance ingredients, has announced a distribution partnership with Ashapura (Mumbai), an affiliate of Azelis, as per Chemweek.

This collaboration will enable Ashapura to distribute Natara’s premium natural extracts, oils and specialty aroma chemicals to customers across India.

Ashapura is a leading distributor of flavor and fragrance ingredients in the Indian market.

“This cooperation also supports Natara’s global growth strategy, once again partnering with Azelis following recent alliances with Vigon in North America and BLH in Europe,” said Yoram Knoop, CEO of Natara.

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LNG exporters in the U.S. have announced plans to more than double U.S. liquefaction capacity, adding an estimated 13.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) between 2025 and 2029, according to the EIA's Liquefaction Capacity File and trade press reports, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The U.S. is already the largest exporter in the world with 15.4 Bcf/d of capacity.

More broadly, LNG export capacity in North America is on track to increase from 11.4 Bcf/d at the beginning of 2024 to 28.7 Bcf/d in 2029, if projects currently under construction begin operations as planned. Exporters in Canada and Mexico have announced plans to add 2.5 Bcf/d and 0.6 Bcf/d of capacity over the same period, respectively. North American export capacity additions will total over 50% of expected global additions through 2029, according to the International Energy Agency.

U.S.: The planned liquefaction capacity additions will be concentrated around the U.S. Gulf Coast, already the largest hub for LNG exports in the Atlantic Basin. To supply these terminals, new pipeline projects will be built to transport natural gas from production areas. However, pipeline construction delays remain a supply risk for new terminals. Plaquemines LNG Phase 1 shipped its first cargo in December 2024. Plaquemines LNG Phase 2 and Corpus Christi Stage III began shipping cargoes earlier in 2025, but they have not yet begun commercial operation. Five additional LNG export projects in the United States have reached final investment decision (FID) and are currently under construction:

On July 1, LNG Canada—the nation’s first LNG export terminal—shipped it first cargo from Train 1 after achieving first LNG production in late June. LNG Canada, located in British Columbia, can produce a combined 1.84 Bcf/d from two liquefaction trains (0.9 Bcf/d per train), and the facility is anticipated to reach full capacity in 2026. A proposed second phase of the project would double the export capacity to 3.68 Bcf/d and expand the facility to four trains, according to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER). The expansion is expected to come online after 2029.

Canada’s new LNG capacity will be on the west coast of North America, reducing shipping times to Asian markets by 50% compared with exports from U.S. Gulf Coast terminals, and will source feedgas from the Montney Formation in the western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Two other projects with a combined capacity of 0.7 Bcf/d are currently under construction in Western Canada. Woodfibre LNG, with an export capacity of 0.3 Bcf/d, is expected to start LNG exports in 2027. Cedar LNG—a floating LNG project with capacity to liquefy up to 0.4 Bcf/d—reached FID in June 2024 and is expected to begin LNG exports in 2028.

Developers are currently constructing two LNG export projects in Mexico with a combined capacity of 0.6 Bcf/d—the Fast LNG Altamira floating LNG (FLNG) production vessel (FLNG2), which has a capacity to liquefy up to 0.2 Bcf/d off the east coast of Mexico, and Energia Costa Azul (0.4 Bcf/d export capacity) on Mexico's west coast. Both projects will source feedgas from sources in the United States. Mexico’s first LNG export cargo was produced aboard Fast LNG Altamira FLNG1 in August 2024, and natural gas transported on the Sur de Texas-Tuxpan natural gas pipeline supplies this project.

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ExxonMobil Corp. has had to make “difficult decisions” in recent times to shut down petrochemical assets and pause planned investments in two new advanced recycling projects in Europe amid a legislative situation that is “not conducive” to allowing such investments, according to Dan Moore, ExxonMobil’s executive vice president/polyethylene, as per Chemweek.

Little more than a year after the release of Mario Draghi’s The Future of European Competitiveness report on behalf of the European Commission, Moore said that ExxonMobil had welcomed the report as it “sets out a roadmap for the industry… it’s really positive.”

The challenge, however, is “what’s happening on the ground,” Moore said Oct. 9 during a panel discussion organized by ExxonMobil titled “The future of the European plastics industry – balancing competitiveness and circularly,” at the K 2025 plastics trade fair being held Oct. 8–15 at Dusseldorf, Germany.

The report by Draghi, a former president of the European Central Bank, was released on Sept. 9, 2024, and supported a combination of EU industry, trade and competition policy in an integrated industrial strategy to counter the risk of offshoring for multiple key sectors. Industrial strategies seen in the US and China combine multiple policies, including tax, trade and foreign policy, Draghi said at the time of the report, while the EU was less able to produce such a response “owing to its slow and disaggregated policymaking process.” Europe needs to mobilize at least €750 billion-€800 billion per year to keep pace with competitors such as the US and China, the report said.

“If you look at our own experience, we have had to make difficult decisions to shut down assets that are prominent… in Europe,” Moore said. ExxonMobil announced in April 2024 the permanent closure of its 425,000 metric tons per year steam cracker and derivative units at Port Jerome-Gravenchon in Normandy, France, with a gradual shutdown of the plants taking place during the course of the year.

It was also reported by the Financial Times on Sept. 4 that ExxonMobil was considering the sale of petchem plants in the UK and Belgium amid the industry’s sustained downcycle. The company had held early-stage discussions with advisers on possible asset sales, which could fetch up to $1 billion, the report said, adding that ExxonMobil had declined to comment.

ExxonMobil operates an 830,000 metric tons per year cracker at Mossmorran, UK, as well as two low-density polyethylene plants in Belgium, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Moore said Oct. 9 in the panel discussion that the company most recently “had to pause investment in advanced recycling in Europe. That’s more than €100 million [of] investment opportunity for Antwerp and Rotterdam, to improve circularity and bring solutions to Europe through innovative technologies. But the legislative situation in Europe is not conducive to allowing us to do that. And that is a difficult place to find yourself.”

On Sept. 18, ExxonMobil confirmed it had temporarily shelved its €100 million plan to build two chemical recycling plants at Antwerp, Belgium, and Rotterdam, Netherlands, due to concerns over draft EU regulations. “Those two projects are on hold until we get clarity on mass balance. Both projects would have been able to handle a combined 80,000 metric tons of plastic waste per year [roughly 40,000 metric tons each],” said ExxonMobil regional spokesperson Chris Walker in an emailed response Sept. 18 to an inquiry from Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.

ExxonMobil has previously described the European Commission’s proposed restrictive approach to mass balance as a threat to the viability of its chemical recycling projects in Europe. “A restrictive mass-balance approach risks hindering the scale-up of chemical recycling, limiting affordable access to recycled materials. This could prompt the European Commission to introduce derogations and exceptions for contact-sensitive applications, as foreseen in Article 7 of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, ultimately delaying the transition to plastic circularity,” it said.

Moore urged European regulators to “put us to work. Stop defining how we’re going to find these solutions. Let industry, let the markets find the solutions and let the markets decide which of those should be the winning solutions to help us improve society. That’s what our industry is capable of doing.”

Also speaking on the panel Oct. 9 was Marco Mensink, director general at the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), who said that the industry needs “very clear rules on chemical and mechanical recycling. Like yesterday, not tomorrow, so that people can invest.”

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Sasol and Topsoe have signed a cooperation agreement with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Griesemann, (acting as EPC-contractor) to enable the construction, operation and R&D activities of DLR’s e-SAF production demonstration plant at the Leuna Chemical Complex, Germany, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The demonstration plant is currently under construction and expects to produce 2500 tons of e-fuels per year, starting in Q4 2027. The e-fuels produced will comprise mainly of kerosene, using renewable feedstocks such as biogenic CO2 and green hydrogen.

With €130 million of funding secured from the German Federal Ministry for Transport, the plant will be the largest demonstration and research facility globally for the production of e-fuels. Topsoe, Sasol, Griesemann Gruppe and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have signed a cooperation agreement to enable the construction, operations and R&D activities of DLR’s e-fuels demonstration facility for research and production of e-SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuels).

The demonstration plant forms part of DLR’s e-fuels Technology Platform Power-to-Liquid Fuels (TPP), to be constructed at the Leuna Chemical Complex, Germany.

Elena Scaltritti, CCO at Topsoe, said: “Demonstration facilities, like the TPP, are essential for proving the capabilities of new technologies and highlighting the viability of innovative products like e-fuels. We are excited to join forces with DLR, Sasol and Griesemann to develop this demonstration plant as well as the technologies that will support the rollout of power-to-liquid fuels at scale.”

Sarushen Pillay, Executive Vice President for Business Building, Strategy and Technology at Sasol, commented: “DLR, Topsoe and Sasol’s collaboration stretches over many years, and we are proud that the TPP received funding, our efficient and high yielding G2LTM e-fuels technology was selected, and we can be part of demonstrating and developing eFuels production. Together with our partners Topsoe and Griesemann we have a winning team with the expertise to make this project a success, which we believe will be an important step in enabling SAF production at scale, as well as supporting downstream application and flight testing to move us to a fully decarbonized industry.”

Bjorn Griesemann, CEO at Griesemann Group, added: “The Technology Platform Power-to-Liquid Fuels is the basis for future industrial production and the extensive use of sustainable fuels, particularly in aviation. Our engineering enables the technologies developed by Topsoe and Sasol, as well as the research conducted by DLR, to be transferred into feasible, scalable concepts – thus closing the gap between research and practice. Our long-time experience in the implementation of modular projects and renewable energies flows directly into the development of the TPP.”

Manfred Aigner, Coordinator Sustainable Fuels at DLR, said: “The Technology Platform Power-to-Liquid Fuels (TPP) is the next important step in advancing the market ramp-up of PtL-fuels. As a lighthouse project, the TPP offers a unique research platform. Our aim is to work in an application-orientated manner and to close the gap between the laboratory and the refinery in the development of PtL-fuels. For this task we value the co-operation with experienced technology providers.”

The TPP facility began construction on October 1, 2024, and is expected to be the world’s largest research e-fuels production facility and the first in which electricity-based fuels can be demonstrated and tested across the entire technology value chain. The design of the plant allows various processes and technologies to be analyzed.

This announcement follows Topsoe and Sasol’s selection late last year to deliver their integrated G2L™ e-fuels technology for the SAF demonstration plant, integrating Topsoe’s innovative eREACT™ technology and hydroprocessing technologies with Sasol’s LTFT™ (low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch) technology. Griesemann Gruppe is working alongside Topsoe and Sasol as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.
eREACT™ is a novel technology for production of low-carbon hydrogen and fuels. The heart of the technology is an innovative electrified reactor design, which can convert a variety of feedstocks into low-carbon hydrogen or other chemicals and fuels.

The G2L™ e-fuels process is an end-to-end Single Point Licensing solution enabling the conversion of renewable feedstocks like captured CO2 and hydrogen to e-fuels. It combines and integrates technologies from Topsoe and Sasol to optimize hydrogen utilization, minimize carbon footprint, maximize yields and provide a reliable solution. The process is fully wrapped by Sasol and Topsoe as a Single Point License.

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