Solvay appoints Ilham Kadri as CEO to replace Clamadieu

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ilham Kadri has been appointed CEO of the Group, Chairman of the Executive Committee, member of the Board of Directors?, by Solvay’s Board of Directors, with effect from March 1st, 2019, said the company.

She will join Solvay on January 1st, 2019 and spend two months transitioning with Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, before taking the leadership role and continuing Solvay’s transformation.

March 1st will officially mark the commencement of Ilham Kadri at the top of Solvay's leadership succeeding to Jean-Pierre Clamadieu in the executive duties and mandate as CEO of Solvay.

The newly appointed CEO Ilham Kadri reflects Solvay's recent journey as leading company with advanced material and speciality chemicals innovative product portfolio and sustainable solutions to address next-generation mobility and improve resource efficiency.

A holder of Moroccan and French nationalities, Ilham Kadri has an engineering degree from the European School of Chemistry, Polymers and Materials Science in Strasbourg, France, and a PhD in macromolecular physico-chemistry from Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg.

Solvay is headquartered in Brussels with around 26,800 employees in 61 countries. Net sales were EUR10.1 billion in 2017, with 90% from activities where Solvay ranks among the world’s top 3 leaders, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 22%.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco has agreed in principle to invest in an oil refinery in Pakistan, the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said, without providing further details, as per Reuters.

But a Saudi delegation visit ended with no economic lifeline for the South Asian nation’s looming foreign currency crisis.

Petroleum Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said talks had not sought deferred oil payments, contradicting an earlier statement by the finance minister.

Pakistan may need to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its second bailout in five years, though the government of new Prime Minister Imran Khan is seeking alternatives.

In the Gwadar refinery agreement, state-owned Pakistan State Oil will partner with Aramco, the Saudi state oil giant, Petroleum Minister Khan said.

Details of the refinery’s costs and capacity are to be finalised after a Memorandum of Understanding approved by Pakistan’s cabinet on Thursday is finalised, he added.

Gwadar, in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, is the crown jewel of China’s $60 billion investment in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects in Pakistan.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR has passed an independent audit that certified its compliance with the international standard ISO 19600:2014 – Compliance Management Systems, said the company.

Including SIBUR, only three Russian companies have so far been certified against this standard, which testifies to the Company’s high standards for operating excellence. The certification audit was conducted by an international team of analysts at Bureau Veritas Certification Rus. The compliance certificate is valid until 2021 and will require annual surveillance audits.

ISO 19600 provides guidelines for establishing a compliance management system or improving an existing one. The certificate confirms that SIBUR’s compliance management systems are in line with international standards in combating corruption, preventing insider trading, identifying and managing conflicts of interest, preventing antitrust law violations, and implementing procedures for gifts and hospitality.

Alexey Kozlov, Managing Director and Member of SIBUR’s Management Board, said: "Certification against the ISO standard once again highlights SIBUR’s commitment to principles of responsible business and ethics."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP and Exxon Mobil on Monday began evacuating personnel from US Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production platforms as forecasters predicted Hurricane Michael would become a major hurricane this week, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The National Hurricane Center upgraded the storm on Monday and forecast it would become at least a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale as its moved through the center of the Gulf of Mexico. Category 3 storms have sustained winds of 111 to 129 miles (178 to 208 km) per hour.

Michael was tracking through the Gulf’s energy-producing area and was expected to make landfall near the Florida Panhandle. The storm’s current track takes it away from refinery-heavy areas of the central and western Gulf Coast.

BP said it has shut in production at four production productions and drilling rigs are taking steps to evade the storm. The platforms evacuating personnel and shutting in production include its Atlantis, Mad Dog, Ka Kika and Thunder Horse facilities, the company said.

Exxon also removed staff from its Lena production platform, but said it did not expect the staff reduction to affect output.

Royal Dutch Shell was monitoring the storm but has not made any changes to its deep water facilities, said spokeswoman Kimberly Windon.

Offshore production in the Gulf accounts for 17 percent of total US crude oil output, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Natural gas production from Gulf offshore operations provides 5 percent of the US total.

Over 45 percent of U.S. refining capacity is located along the Gulf Coast, along with 51 percent of the nation’s natural gas processing plant capacity, the EIA said.

Production platforms are permanently attached to the sea floor and cannot be moved. Rigs, used for exploration, can be towed out of harm’s way during a storm.

As MRC reported earlier, in October 2017, ExxonMobil Chemical Company commenced production on the first of two new 650,000 tons-per-year high-performance polyethylene (PE) lines at its plastics plant in Mont Belvieu, Texas.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A major incident occurred at Irving Oil’s Saint John refinery in New Brunswick on Monday morning, reported Reuters with reference to the company's statement on Twitter.

Residents in the area reported an explosion and fire at the refinery, local media reported.

Irving Oil Corp shut its Saint John refinery in the Canadian province of New Brunswick after an explosion and a major fire that followed.

"We can confirm that a major incident has occurred at our Saint John refinery this morning. We are actively assessing the situation at this time and will share more information when available," The company shared on Twitter.

The company operates the 320,000 barrel-per-day refinery at this site.

As MRC wrote before, in July 2018, the sale of a remote Canadian refinery was scuttled as two former oil traders running the company locked horns over the value of the plant. The partners, former traders Neal Shear and Kaushik Amin, sought to sell the 130,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Come By Chance, Newfoundland last year to privately held Canadian refiner Irving Oil, which was seen as the leading bidder.
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