BASF announces changes in Board of Executive Directors

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dr. Melanie Maas-Brunner has been appointed as a member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, effective from 1 February 2021, reported GV.

Maas-Brunner has been with the company since 1997 and has headed BASF’s Nutrition & Health division since 2017. In her new role, she will also take over the position as Chief Technology Officer from Dr. Martin Brudermuller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF. She will assume responsibility for the three research divisions Advanced Materials & Systems Research, Bioscience Research, Process Research & Chemical Engineering as well as BASF New Business at that time. Dr. Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BASF SE, said: “With Melanie Maas-Brunner, we have appointed a very experienced chemist and strong leader to the Board. During her career at BASF to date, she has successfully set up business areas for the future – with global responsibility as well as in the Asia region.”

Wayne T. Smith is leaving the Board as of 31 May 2021. Smith has been with BASF for 16 years and has been a member of the Board since 2012. He is currently responsible for the divisions Monomers, Performance Materials, Petrochemicals, Intermediates, Process Research & Chemical Engineering and North America. “Wayne Smith has successfully developed the business areas in his area of responsibility with strategic foresight. He is particularly credited with placing customer orientation even more at the centre of BASF activities. I worked well and closely with Wayne Smith for many years. I thank him for his achievements and wish him all the best,” said Bock.

Michael Heinz will take over Smith’s responsibilities in North America after a transition period on 1 June 2021, and retain his responsibilities for South America. Maas-Brunner will additionally take over the tasks in the divisions European Site & Verbund Management, Global Engineering Services and Corporate Environmental Protection, Health & Safety as well as the role of the Industrial Relations Director from Heinz on the same date.

Following these changes, the Board of Executive Directors has decided to redistribute its responsibilities effective 1 June 2021:

Dr. Martin Brudermuller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, Ressort I, responsible for Corporate Legal, Compliance, Tax & Insurance; Corporate Development; Corporate Communications & Government Relations; Corporate Human Resources; Corporate Investor Relations
Dr. Hans-Ulrich Engel, Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Digital Officer, Ressort II, responsible for Corporate Finance; Corporate Audit; Global Business Services; Global Digital Services; Global Procurement
Dr. Melanie Maas-Brunner, Industrial Relations Director and Chief Technology Officer, Ressort III, responsible for European Site & Verbund Management; Global Engineering Services; Corporate Environmental Protection, Health & Safety; Advanced Materials & Systems Research; Bioscience Research; Process Research & Chemical Engineering; BASF New Business
Saori Dubourg, Ressort IV, responsible for Agricultural Solutions; Nutrition & Health; Care Chemicals; Region Europe
Michael Heinz, Ressort V, located in Florham Park, NJ, USA, responsible for Monomers; Performance Materials; Petrochemicals; Intermediates; Region North America; Region South America
Dr. Markus Kamieth, Ressort VI, located in Hongkong, responsible for Dispersions & Pigments; Catalysts; Coatings; Performance Chemicals; Region Greater China; Region South & East Asia, ASEAN & ANZ; Mega Projects Asia.

As MRC wrote earlier, BASF says it has shut down an unspecified unit at its 420,000-metric ton/year steam cracker site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, due to a technical defect. Unscheduled flaring started on 13 January at the northern part of the Ludwigshafen site and is expected to last until 17 January, it says. “At around 4pm (local time) there was an outage at a unit at the northern part due to a technical defect. The unit will be partially shut down to repair the defect,” it says.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Titan has taken its No. 2 polypropylene (PP) line in Pasir Gudang, Johor off-stream following an issue at the upstream cracker that disrupts the propylene supply, reported CommoPlast with reference to a source close to the producer.

Thus, the No. 2 PP unit, which has an annual output of 274,000 tons/year, was shut on 14 January, 2021, and is expected to remain off-line for four weeks.

A source informed that the fluidized naphtha cracker (No. 2 naphtha cracker) was facing technical difficulties and was operating at a lower rate before it was shut later last week. The cracker produces 522,000 tons/year of ethylene and 360,000 tons/year of propylene.

According to MRC's DataScope report, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

Lotte Chemical Titan produces Malaysia's most comprehensive portfolio of olefins and polyolefins which contribute to the enhancement of everyday life. Lotte Chemical Titan's production site in Malaysia consists of eleven process facilities, two co-generation plants and three tank farms. They are located on 2 sites in Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat in the state of Johor. In 2006, Lotte Chemical Titan acquired PT Lotte Chemical Titan Nusantara, Indonesia’s first and largest polyethylene plant in the country. This acquisition boosted the polyolefins capacity by approximately 50%, thus making the company one of the largest producers in South East Asia. Lotte Chemical Titan was acquired by Lotte Chemical Corp., forming part of the Lotte conglomerate of Korea, in 2010. The company thus became one of Lotte Chemical Corp.’s largest overseas subsidiaries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Orbia Advance Corporation, S.A.B. de C.V., formerly Mexichem (Mexico City), has announced that its board of directors has appointed Sameer S. Bharadwaj as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective February 1, 2021, according to BusinessWire.

Mr. Bharadwaj will succeed Daniel Martinez-Valle, who has resigned from the position by mutual agreement with the board. Mr. Martinez-Valle will remain in his current position to support Mr. Bharadwaj through the end of January to ensure an orderly and effective leadership transition.

“The board is confident that Sameer, together with the senior leadership team, will ensure the disciplined execution of our strategic imperatives to result in strong value creation for all our stakeholders.”

Mr. Bharadwaj joined Orbia in 2016, and brings over 20 years of leadership experience in technology-led innovation, operational excellence and talent development across the advanced materials, technology, energy and pharmaceutical industries to this role. He currently serves as President of Orbia’s Fluor and Polymer Solutions business groups. Prior to joining Orbia, Bharadwaj held several key management positions over an 11-year tenure at Cabot Corporation and before that, worked as a strategy consultant for The Boston Consulting Group across a variety of industries and as a senior research engineer at The Dow Chemical Company. Mr. Bharadwaj earned his MBA from Harvard Business School; a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Bombay.

“Sameer is a proven strategic business leader with a distinguished track record of steering transformation and growth initiatives across industries. He possesses a deep understanding of Orbia and our vision and will remain focused on continuing the transformation of Orbia into a high-return, sustainability-centric company, driving the important purpose-led cultural leadership work we began in 2019,” said Juan Pablo del Valle Perochena, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Orbia. “The board is confident that Sameer, together with the senior leadership team, will ensure the disciplined execution of our strategic imperatives to result in strong value creation for all our stakeholders.”

“I would like to thank the board for this opportunity. I am excited to take on this new role and lead Orbia at this important time. I am committed to working with the senior leadership team to ensure a seamless transition,” commented Sameer Bharadwaj, President, Fluor & Polymer Solutions. “I look forward to communicating with the financial community during our upcoming earnings call in February, where I will provide an update on our fourth quarter performance and how we are positioning Orbia for success in 2021. We are in the early stages of a multi-year transformation and I am confident that with our strong portfolio of industry-leading businesses, enhanced customer-centric approach and focus on operational excellence, there is significant value that will be created as we execute our strategy,” continued Mr. Bharadwaj.

Mr. del Valle Perochena continued, “The board and I appreciate Daniel for his leadership and significant contributions during his time as CEO. Daniel has been instrumental in redefining Orbia as a purpose-driven company, developing our Play-to-Win strategy, building a strong leadership team and significantly accelerating our ESG focus. We wish Daniel well with his future endeavors.”

“I have appreciated the opportunity to lead Orbia’s journey for the past three years and am proud of the milestones our 22,000-plus global employees have achieved in this time. I want to thank the board of directors for their belief and trust in me, and am confident Sameer will continue the company’s vision and deliver on our purpose,” said Daniel Martinez-Valle, Chief Executive Officer of Orbia.

As MRC reported earlier, last summer, Orbia Advance Corp. said that in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the global economy and capital markets, it had decided to pause its efforts to divest or seek an alternative strategy for its Vestolit vinyls business.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) reached 976,500 tonnes in 2020, up by 0.2% year on year. Only two producers managed to increase their PVC output.

Oriba, of Tlalnepantla, an industrial municipality close to Mexico City, is Latin America’s largest manufacturer of PVC pipe, vinyl resins and compounds.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Enterprise Product Partners' propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Mont Belvieu, Texas, will be offline for a turnaround in February, reported S&P Global with reference to US olefin market participants' statement Jan. 13.

Sources said the PDH unit will go offline for scheduled maintenance on Feb. 1 for approximately six weeks. This PDH unit has the capacity of 750,000 mt/y of propylene.

Enterprise was not immediately available to comment on operations Jan. 13.

The turnaround could further tighten supply of polymer-grade propylene in the market.

As MRC informed previously, in July 2020, Enterprise Products shut its PDH unit in Mont Belvieu for maintenance.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's DataScope report, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is an American midstream natural gas and crude oil pipeline company with headquarters in Houston, Texas. It acquired GulfTerra in September 2004. The company ranked No. 105 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Titan has shut its No. 2 cracker in Malayisia because of a technical issue, reported Chemweek.

The company encountered technical problems at this cracker, located in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, which produces 522,000 tons/year of ethylene and 360,000 tons/year of propylene, on 14 January, 2021, and was forced to lower its capacity utilisation. But then the facility was shut and is expected to remain off-line for 2-3 weeks.

As MRC informed before, in early March, 2020, Lotte Chemical Titan shut its No. 2 cracker for a 30-day scheduled maintenance.

The company also has a cracker No. 1 at this site with a capacity of 285,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.

We remind that Lotte Chemical Titan plans to add a naphtha-fed steam cracker with an ethylene production capacity of 1 million mt/year to its petrochemical facility in Merak of Banten province, Indonesia by 2023, making it an integrated petrochemical complex.

The company currently has two high density polyethylene (HDPE) plants and one linear low density polyethylene plant (LLDPE) at the same site, with a total production capacity of 450,000 mt/year. The polyethylene (PE) plants source ethylene feedstock from Lotte Chemical Titan's Malaysia facility.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

Lotte Chemical Titan produces Malaysia's most comprehensive portfolio of olefins and polyolefins which contribute to the enhancement of everyday life. Lotte Chemical Titan's production site in Malaysia consists of eleven process facilities, two co-generation plants and three tank farms. They are located on 2 sites in Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat in the state of Johor. In 2006, Lotte Chemical Titan acquired PT Lotte Chemical Titan Nusantara, Indonesia’s first and largest polyethylene plant in the country. This acquisition boosted the polyolefins capacity by approximately 50%, thus making the company one of the largest producers in South East Asia. Lotte Chemical Titan was acquired by Lotte Chemical Corp., forming part of the Lotte conglomerate of Korea, in 2010. The company thus became one of Lotte Chemical Corp.’s largest overseas subsidiaries.
MRC