BASF acquires technology from US firm

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF says it has acquired the proprietary technology for L-glufosinate ammonium from AgriMetis (Lutherville, Maryland), a developer of biotechnological innovations for crop protection, said Chemweek.

The acquisition enables BASF’s agricultural solutions business to offer its customers an even more efficient product to protect against unwanted weeds with an improved formulation, the company says. The new product is currently in the registration process in the US and will be launched there in the next few years. It is also planned to be launched later in other relevant regions.

According to BASF, the new product can help farmers reduce the amount of crop protection products they need to apply by up to 50%. This is because, unlike today’s glufosinate products, which consist of the active L-glufosinate ammonium and the inactive D-glufosinate ammonium, the technology acquired by BASF converts D-glufosinate ammonium into L-glufosinate ammonium, making it more effective, it says.

The worldwide market for crop protection and seeds is growing as population numbers increase, BASF says. “This step enables us to further develop our glufosinate ammonium portfolio and is an important part of our future offering to best support our customers in combating the increasingly rapid development of weed resistance,” says Vincent Gros, president/agricultural solutions at BASF.

As per MRC, BASF is continuing the modernization and expansion of its Ludwigshafen, Germany, complex with construction of a medical center focused on occupational medicine. Work on the new building will begin in early 2021 with completion scheduled for mid-2023, the company says. Meanwhile, due to the economic environment caused by COVID-19, BASF has examined all planned construction projects and decided no longer to pursue a project to construct a new office building at Gate 2 of the site, on the plot of what used to be the Friedrich-Engelhorn skyscraper.

As MRC reported earlier, BASF has restarted its No. 1 steam cracker in Germany following a maintenance turnaorund. Thus, the company resumed operations at the plant on September 30, 2019. The plant was shut for maintenance in mid-August, 2019. Located at Ludwigshafen in Germany, the No. 1 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 235,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 125,000 mt/year.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF generated sales of EUR59 billion in 2019.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Australia has proposed offering incentives worth AD2.3 billion (USD1.67 billion) over 10 years to keep the country's four remaining oil refineries open and said it would invest in building fuel storage as part of a long-term fuel security plan, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The country's refiners have been battered by the coronavirus-driven collapse in fuel demand, racking up losses which they say threaten the future of their plants as they compete against much bigger refineries around Asia. "The government is committed to a sovereign on-shore refinery capacity despite the threat to the viability of the industry," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

To shore up near term fuel security, the government said it would include AD211 million in its upcoming budget to boost storage of diesel, crucial for farms, mines, trucks and back-up power.

"The events of 2020 have reminded us that we cannot be complacent. We need a sovereign fuel supply to shield us from potential shocks in the future," Morrison said in a statement. The government said it would work with the industry to design a "refinery production payment" as an incentive to keep the four plants open. Together with an exemption from new fuel storage requirements, the incentives would be worth about AD2.3 billion over 10 years.

The four refiners - BP Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp, Viva Energy Group and Ampol Ltd - all welcomed the proposals but made no commitment to keep their plants open. "There's recognition the refining sector is at a bit of a critical crossroads and needs the long-term confidence to maintain operations and investment ... and I think the package goes a long way to achieving that outcome," Viva Chief Executive Scott Wyatt told Reuters.

BP and Ampol Ltd said they needed to see details of the measures to understand the impact on their businesses.

Earlier this year, as MRC wrote previously, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40 per cent in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

And in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The head of Shell's global gas business said on Sept. 7 that he wasn't bullish on natural gas prices in the near term, oil prices were at artificial levels due to suppressed demand and supply, and there was still a difficult time ahead for the global economy due to the coronavirus pandemic, said S&P Global.

"I'm not a near-term bull. Clearly, you know, what happens tomorrow or next week is beyond my forecasting abilities. But I think there is still a difficult economic time ahead," Maarten Wetselaar, Shell's Integrated Gas & New Energies Director & Member of the Executive Committee, said.

"Looking on the oil side the pricing is at the moment rather artificial. There's a lot of suppressed demand and a lot of suppressed supply," he said, adding that it will be some time before the market can really be structurally bullish about energy prices.

Speaking at the opening session of the Gastech Virtual Summit, Wetselaar said getting a vaccine out, that works, to seven billion people has never been done before and will take some time. Because of the uncertainty, Shell was planning for resilience and for the impact of COVID-19 to last for longer. "Not that we want to, but we need to," he said.

Wetselaar denied that there were any regrets about Shell's $53 billion acquisition of BG Group a few years ago, given the growing resistance to fossil fuels and the impact of the pandemic that triggered billions of dollars of asset write downs, saying the deal was done taking into account the cyclical nature of the business.

He was also vocal about growing challenges for energy companies around methane emissions and how many were failing to recognize the challenge this will pose in future. "We've made a lot of progress," Wetselaar said. "Other companies have also signed up to [emissions] targets and are making real progress. [But] in the global gas industry we're not even halfway there."

"If people don't want to attack their methane emissions because they simply don't believe in the urgency, they should get ready for radical transparency because it won't be long before satellites can measure the methane leaks and emissions from operational assets," he said. "And then it doesn't matter what you put in your annual report anymore and the whole world will be able to see what you do. So I do think the industry is not yet at the level of urgency that we want."

As MRC reported earlier Shell will announce a major restructure by the end of the year as the company prepares to accelerate its shift toward its net-zero emissions goal by 2050, said CEO Ben van Beurden to employees. The restructuring will include workforce reductions as part of broader cost-cutting measures, although no figures have been decided yet, the CEO reportedly said during an internal webcast.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Energy companies, ports and refiners race to complete shutdowns as Tropical Storm Sally bores in on the central U.S. Gulf Coast with expectations that it will soon become a hurricane, said Reuters.

The storm will disrupt oil imports and exports as the nation's sole offshore terminal, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, stopped loading and offloading tanker ships on Sunday and as the port of New Orleans closes. Numerous offshore production facilities are shutting just a few weeks after Hurricane Laura forced roughly 1.5 MM barrels per day (bpd) of output to close.

Sally will move over the north-central Gulf of Mexico before becoming a hurricane as it heads toward southeastern Louisiana and western Mississippi, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Officials in the two states issued mandatory evacuations for residents in low-lying areas.

The U.S. Coast Guard said all southbound vessel traffic from the port of New Orleans would be brought to a halt at noon CDT (1700 GMT) on Monday and stop all traffic from the port at 6 p.m. CDT (2300 GMT).

Chevron Corp, BP Plc, Chevron, Equinor and Murphy Oil all evacuated some offshore workers from production platforms, the companies reported. Royal Dutch Shell Plc curtailed production at its Olympus, Mars and Appomattox platforms on Monday, the company said.

U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore oil production delivers about 17% of U.S. crude oil and 5% of U.S. natural gas output.

The port of New Orleans and LOOP combined exported about 307,000 bpd of crude and 411,000 bpd of refined products and imported about 342,000 bpd in crude volumes in the three months through August, according to Kpler data.

Refiners in the region have also begun to wind down operations. Shell cut production to minimum rates on Monday at its 227,400 bpd Norco, Louisiana, refinery, including idling the refinery's crude distillation unit, said sources familiar with plant operations.

The Alliance oil refinery, which processes 255,000 bpd at a site on the coast of Louisiana, was shutting down, said operator Phillips 66.

Earlier this year, as MRC wrote previously, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40 per cent in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

And in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bayer says that its supervisory board has unanimously decided to extend the contract of Werner Baumann, CEO and chairman of the management board at Bayer, until 30 April 2024, said Chemweek.

Baumann has been the company’s CEO and chairman since May 2016 and his contract was due to expire at the 2021 annual stockholders’ meeting.

The main issues that Baumann will have to deal with in the next three and a half years of his tenure include “overcoming the effects of the coronavirus crisis, setting the course for profitable growth after patent expirations for important products of the pharmaceuticals division, building on the leading position of the crop science business through innovation, digitalization, and sustainability, accelerating growth at consumer health, and systematically continuing the efficiency and structural programs," the company says.

Meanwhile, Bayer has announced that progress has been achieved with plaintiffs’ class counsel on a revised class plan to manage and resolve potential future Roundup claims. The details of the revised class plan will be finalized over the coming weeks and a motion for preliminary approval will be filed on completion of the formal agreement, the company says. Bayer says it will proceed on an accelerated basis to finalize the preliminary agreements to resolve the current cases and claims that were announced on 24 June, as long as resolution can be reached on reasonable financial terms and addresses current and potential future claims.

As MRC wrote before, Covestro has closed the sale of its European polycarbonates (PC) sheets business to the Munich-based Serafin Group effective January 2, 2020. This includes key management and sales functions throughout Europe as well as production sites in Belgium and Italy.

Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience) is an independent subgroup within Bayer. It was created as part of the restructuring of Bayer AG from the former business group Bayer Polymers, with certain of its activities being spun off to Lanxess AG. Covestro manufactures and develops materials such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, polycarbonates (CDs, DVDs), polyurethanes (automotive seating, insulation for refrigerating appliances) etc.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall estimated consumption of PC granules totalled 47,300 tonnes in the first two quarters of 2020 (excluding imports and exports to/from Belarus), compared to 40,700 tonnes a year earlier. Demand increased by 16% year on year.
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