MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp will stop investing in new oil development projects as it shifts away from fossil fuels businesses amid a global push to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the Nikkei business daily reported, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
The move comes as global miners and Japanese trading companies cut their exposure to coal operations, including mining and power generation to trim harmful carbon dioxide emissions and to slow climate change.
Major Japanese trading houses have said they would stop investing in new projects to develop thermal coal mines or build coal-fired power stations, but this would be the first time that a Japanese trading firm decided not to invest in new oil projects, the Nikkei said.
Sumitomo will no longer participate auctions for new oil projects, though it will continue its existing oil projects including those in North Sea, the paper said, without citing sources.
In energy and natural resources, Sumitomo will focus its management resources on renewable energy such as offshore wind farms and base metals, including copper and nickel used in electric vehicles, the Nikkei said.
Sumitomo was not immediately available for comment.
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