MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC reinforced its commitment to environmental stewardship by making a USD15 million investment in the Circulate Capital Ocean Fund (CCOF). This is the world’s first investment fund dedicated to incubating and financing companies and infrastructure that prevent ocean plastic in South and Southeast Asia, reported Bloomberg.
"Our company has a vision to help create a fully circular economy where every piece of post-consumer plastic ends up where it should be, finding new uses through recycling, reuse or repurposing," said Jim Becker, vice president of
polymers and sustainability at Chevron Phillips Chemical.
"Our investment with Circulate Capital plays an important role in ensuring plastics continue advancing the sustainable economy. In conjunction with Circulate Capital and so many other industry leaders, we look forward to identifying solutions with the potential for lasting change and achieving the goal of zero plastic waste entering our environment."
CCOF will provide financing to companies and projects to build circular supply chains that can deliver and re-capture resources at scale while preventing the flow of plastic pollution into oceans in South and Southeast Asia. Circulate
Capital has identified more than 200 potential investment opportunities across a range of industries in the region, with their first investments targeted in the coming weeks.
This significant contribution marks the third major enhancement in 2019 to Chevron Phillips Chemical’s sustainability initiatives focused on preventing ocean plastic waste. Earlier this year, the company served as a founding member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a nonprofit pledging more than USD1 billion with a goal of investing USD1.5 billion over five years to eliminate unchecked plastic waste in the environment. In April, Chevron Phillips Chemical expanded its efforts to eliminate plastic pellet spills by becoming a member of Operation Clean Sweep Blue (OCS Blue), an international program with a rigorous commitment to pellet loss reduction.
As MRC informed earlier, on 13 November 2019, Chevron Phillips Chemical's Cedar Bayou, Texas, cracker experienced flaring in its Ethylene Unit EU-1594. Two acetylene reactors were shut down due to instrumentation issues, which resulted in the reactors being cleared to flare, the company said in a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The flare lasted for 6 hours, until Wednesday evening.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.
Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC is one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, plastic piping and polymer resins. With approximately 5,000 employees, the LLC and its affiliates own nearly USD17 billion in assets, including 31 manufacturing and research facilities in seven countries. Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC is equally owned indirectly by Chevron Corporation and Phillips 66, and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.
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