Orbia appoints new CEO

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis has fully resumed production at its steam cracker in Stenungsund, Sweden, reported Polymerupdate.

Thus, the cracker with the capacity of 625,000 mtyear of ethylene was restarted on 15-17 January, 2021.

Meanwhile, the status of the force majeure on the products from this cracker remains unclear at the moment.

Force majeure at Stenungsund was declared after a fire started at the cracker on 10 May last year. A restart of the cracker was initially planned for the fourth quarter of 2020, a Borealis spokesperson told OPIS in September.

As MRC reported previously, the company began the process of the cracker restart in early January, 2021.

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.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sumitomo Chemical has decided to establish a Carbon Neutral Strategy Council and a Carbon Neutral Strategy Cross-Functional Team on February 1, 2021, in order to promote and formulate the Sumitomo Chemical Group’s strategies for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, according to Kemicalinfo.

Sumitomo Chemical’s approaches to carbon neutrality strategies:

- To minimize greenhouse gas emissions associated with the Group’s production activities through innovation, and provide and deploy new technologies across the world.
- To drive innovations for greenhouse gas emissions reduction regarding materials used in society, and provide products and solutions that contribute to carbon neutrality from a Life Cycle Assessment perspective.
- To actively engage in the development of technologies for recovery, separation, use and storage of greenhouse gasses emitted from other industries and from communities, and help the process by becoming part of a system that implements such technologies in society.
- To take on the long-term challenge of developing carbon negative technologies to reduce the absolute volume of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

A Carbon Neutral Strategy Cross-Functional Team is also set up as an administrative office for the Council. This is a cross-sectoral team led by executive officers supervising research planning and coordination, responsible care, and related functions.

The team will play a major role in incorporating into the company’s strategies multifaceted approaches unique to a diversified chemical company, such as society-wide implementation of innovative energy-storage and energy-saving technologies, the establishment of effective carbon cycles, promoting the supply and use of hydrogen (including ammonia), and contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the livestock and agricultural sectors.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2020, Sumitomo Chemical and Axens signed a license agreement of ethanol-to-ethylene technology Atol for Sumitomo Chemical’s waste-to-polyolefins project in Japan. In the project, to promote circular economy, Axens’ Atol technology will transform ethanol produced from waste into polymer-grade ethylene that will be polymerized in Sumitomo Chemical’s assets into polyolefin, a key product in the petrochemical industry.

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