MOSCOW (MRC) -- The board of the European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) has announced the appointment of Hartwig Michels, president/petrochemicals at BASF, as EPCA's new president, effective 8 October, according to Chemweek.
Michels succeeds Arkema chief operating officer (COO) Marc Schuller, who has led EPCA since 2017 and will retain his seat on the EPCA board.
Michels was until today EPCA vice president, and a board and executive committee member. His BASF career began in 1992 and he was appointed BASF’s president for the EMEA region in 2013 and assumed his current position as president/petrochemicals in 2017.
His appointment as EPCA president was announced on the final day of the 54th EPCA annual meeting, which was held in a virtual format.
As MRC reported earlier, COVID-19 occurred at an already challenging time for the petrochemical industry and has required it to take some drastic actions, said the leaders of the world’s two biggest chemical companies, BASF and Dow, on Monday at the 54th European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) annual meeting, which is taking place in a virtual format. The pandemic has also accelerated key industry trends, particularly those around sustainability and the environment, they said.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (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.
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