Ineos donates USD136 million to Oxford University for antimicrobial research

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos, one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies, and the University of Oxford are launching a new world-leading institute to combat the growing global issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which currently causes an estimated 1.5 million excess deaths each year- and could cause over 10m deaths per year by 2050, said Chemweek.

Predicted to also create a global economic toll of USD100 trillion by mid-century, it is arguably the greatest economic and healthcare challenge facing the world post-Covid.It is bacterial resistance, caused by overuse and misuse of antibiotics, which arguably poses the broadest threat to global populations. The world is fast running out of effective antibiotics as bacteria evolve to develop resistance to our taken-for-granted treatments. Without urgent collaborative action to prevent common microbes becoming multi-drug resistant (commonly known as ‘superbugs’), we could return to a world where taken-for-granted treatments such as chemotherapy and hip replacements could become too risky, childbirth becomes extremely dangerous, and even a basic scratch could kill.

The rapid progression of antibacterial resistance is a natural process, exacerbated by significant overuse and misuse of antibiotics not only in human populations but especially in agriculture. Meanwhile, the field of new drug discovery has attracted insufficient scientific interest and funding in recent decades meaning no new antibiotics have been successfully developed since the 1980s.

The new Ineos Oxford Institute will benefit from the internationally outstanding facilities and expertise of Oxford University, which played the key role in the origin of antibiotics following Fleming and Oxford’s discovery and development of penicillin in the last century. The IOI will create collaborative and cross-disciplinary links across the sciences, and will be based between two sites in Oxford, linking the University’s Department of Chemistry with the new Life & Mind Building, which is currently under construction.

Prolonging the benefits of antibiotics the world has known since the 1940s requires both urgent new drug development, and better management of the existing drugs we have. It is natural that the microbes causing illness and infection gradually evolve to evade our treatments, but misuse of antibiotics - for instance overusing them and not finishing a full prescribed course - drastically accelerates this process.

The majority of global antibiotic consumption by volume is used for agriculture, and drug use in animals is contributing significantly to their lessening effectiveness in humans. The INEOS Oxford Institute for AMR Research (IOI) will therefore focus on designing novel antimicrobials just for animals, as well as exploring new human drugs.

As MRC informed earlier, Ineos agreed on a long-term power purchase agreement for renewable offshore wind power in Belgium with RWE (Essen, Germany). Under the terms of the 10-year deal, which begins in 2021, Ineos will purchase 56 megawatts (198 gigawatt hours/year) of offshore wind power from RWE Supply &Trading, an RWE subsidiary, produced at the Northwester2 wind park in the North Sea off Belgium.

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.

Ineos Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Russia totalled about 40,800 tonnes in 2020, down by 20% year on year. At the same time, exports decreased by 6%, according to MRC's DataScope report.

Last month's SPVC imports to Russia dropped to 0,600 tonnes from 1,600 tonnes in November. High PVC prices in foreign markets and a seasonal decline in demand in the last two months have put serious pressure on import purchases of PVC from Russian companies.

Thus, overall imports were 40,800 tonnes in January-December 2020, compared to 50,900 tonnes a year earlier, with PVC from China and the United States accounting for the main reduction in imports. PVC shipments from these countries decreased by almost a third over the stated period.
Good demand for PVC from the domestic market allowed Russian producers to reduce export sales in 2020 compared to a year earlier, including in the last two months of the year. Thus, the total export of Russian suspension PVC amounted to about 10,200 tonnes (excluding shipments to Belarus and Kazakhstan) and 12,800 tonnes, respectively, against 17,000 tonnes and 19,100 tonnes a year earlier in December and November last year.

Thus, overall exports of PVC from Russia totalled 192,700 tonnes in 2020 versus 204,400 tonnes a year earlier.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Karpatneftekhim (Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region), Ukraine's largest petrochemical plant, raised its high density polyethylene (HDPE) prices by USD30/tonne on 18 January for shipments to the domestic market, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's clients said on Monday, the Ukrainian producer increased its HDPE prices for shipments to the domestic market by USD30/tonne from previous week. Prices started from USD1,130-1,140/tonne FCA, excluding VAT, for end-users. The price rise was primarily caused by higher feedstocks prices.

As reported earlier, the fire that occurred at the pyrolysis furnace (dichloroethane) on January 15 did not affect Karpatneftekhim's operations. All production units have been operating normally.

Karpatneftekhim is one of the largest enterprises of Ukraine's petrochemical complex. Currently, the plant can produce annually 300,000 tonnes of PVC, 200,000 tonnes of caustic soda, about 180,000 tonnes of chlorine, as well as 250,000 tonnes of ethylene and 100,000 tonnes of polyethylene.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Peruvian government authorized state-run Petroperu to issue up to USD1 billion in bonds to complete the modernisation of the country's largest refinery, a resolution from the Ministry of Economy said on Tuesday, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The plan to modernise Talara, on the Pacific coast of northern Peru, is expected to cost a total of USD4.7 billion dollars and raise its processing capacity to 95,000 barrels of crude per day from the current 65,000 barrels.

The debt issuance follows Petroperu's debut in the international debt markets in 2017, when it issued USD2 billion on bonds. The latest issuance will not be backed by the state, the ministry said on the website of the government newspaper El Peruano.

The Talara modernization project was 87.11% in March last year and due for completion in the first half of 2021 when the coronavirus pandemic hit, resulting in the suspension of all industry for up to five months. Petroperu representatives were not immediately available to request further information on the matter.

We also remind that in December 2020, Sibur, Gazprom Neft, and Uzbekneftegaz agreed to cooperate on potential investments in Uzbekistan including a major expansion of Uzbekneftegaz’s existing Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex (SGCC) and the proposed construction of a new gas chemicals facility. The signed cooperation agreement for the projects includes “the creation of a gas chemical complex using methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology, and the expansion of the production capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex”.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil demand recovery will take a hit from a spike in new coronavirus cases before vaccine roll-outs and stimulus measures help in the second half of the year, International Energy Agency (IEA) said, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

“Border closures, social distancing measures and shutdowns...will continue to constrain fuel demand until vaccines are more widely distributed, most likely only by the second half of the year,” it said in its monthly report. “This recovery mainly reflects the impact of fiscal and monetary support packages as well as the effectiveness of steps to resolve the pandemic,” the IEA said.

The emergence of new strains of the virus, renewed lockdowns in China and logistical hurdles facing vaccine roll-outs contributed to the IEA’s gloomier outlook. Noting that an improvement to global oil demand went into reverse in December, the Paris-based watchdog lowered its forecast for the first quarter by 580,000 barrels per day (bpd) and its outlook for 2021 by 300,000 bpd.

Both supply and demand are on track for recovery this year, and efforts by top producers to balance the market by reining in output helped lower stockpiles of crude and oil products worldwide, though oil stocks remained stubbornly close to a May peak.

Given an expected demand increase in the second half of the year, however, “much more oil is likely to be required”. Cold Asian and European winters along with supply discipline by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies boosted crude prices, the IEA said, while the U.S. shale industry was expected to keep production flat. "If they stick to those plans, OPEC+ may start to reclaim the market share it has steadily lost to the U.S. and others since 2016."

We also remind that in December 2020, Sibur, Gazprom Neft, and Uzbekneftegaz agreed to cooperate on potential investments in Uzbekistan including a major expansion of Uzbekneftegaz’s existing Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex (SGCC) and the proposed construction of a new gas chemicals facility. The signed cooperation agreement for the projects includes “the creation of a gas chemical complex using methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology, and the expansion of the production capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex”.

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.

MRC