Tennant completes sale of coatings business to Sherwin-Williams

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tennant Company announced it has completed the sale of its coatings business, Tennant Coatings, to The Sherwin-Williams Company, said Chemweek.

"The sale of Tennant’s coatings business is our latest move in the ongoing implementation of our enterprise strategy,” said Tennant CEO Chris Killingstad. “By divesting a business that is not central to our core strengths in industrial and commercial floor cleaning, we can redirect resources toward more strategic and profitable activities."

Tennant Coatings designs and manufactures indoor and outdoor coatings systems for a variety of applications and industries. For the trailing 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2020, the coatings business generated USD22.1 million in sales, or 2.2 percent of Tennant Company’s total sales. Following the sale, approximately 70 Tennant employees are expected to join The Sherwin-Williams Company.

As per MRC, Sherwin-Williams (SW) reported third-quarter net income up 22.4% year-on-year (YOY), to USD705.8 million, on net sales up 5.2%, to USD5.12 billion.Adjusted earnings totaled USD8.29/share, beating analysts’ consensus estimate of USD7.75/share, as reported by Refinitiv (New York, New York). Higher sales for architectural paint, especially residential repaint and do-it-yourself (DIY) paint, drove the increases.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, exluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lummus Technology announced an award for its Indmax Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) technology from Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. (NRL), a subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), according to Kemicalinfo.

The Indmax FCC unit is part of NRL’s refinery expansion project, which will increase crude processing capacity from the current 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA at their facilities in Golaghat, Assam, India.

Lummus is the global licensor of Indmax FCC technology, which is developed in collaboration with Research & Development Centre of Indian Oil Company Limited (IOCL R&D).

“We are grateful that NRL selected Lummus and Chevron Lummus Global as the licensors for their refinery expansion, which is a testament to the superior performance of our technology and the tremendous relationship we have,” said Leon de Bruyn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lummus Technology. “This award is also recognition of the industry’s confidence in our Indmax FCC technology as the world is shifting from fuels to petrochemicals, and it adds to our dominant market share in the high-propylene FCC arena both in India and worldwide.”

The scope for this project includes the technology license, basic engineering and related services. Once complete, the Indmax FCC unit will process 1.96 MMTPA of mixed hydrotreated VGO feed with flexibility to operate in gasoline mode as well as maximum propylene production mode.

Lummus’ award is in addition to the recently announced LC-FINING technology award by Chevron Lummus Global, a joint venture between Chevron and Lummus, for the same project.

In 2020, Indmax FCC won the 2020 award for Best Refining Technology by Hydrocarbon Processing, a leading media organization for the downstream industry.

Indmax FCC is a proven process to produce propylene, ethylene and butylenes in refineries directly from heavy residues. The Indmax FCC technology combines the proprietary and innovative Indmax catalyst and process concepts developed by the IOCL R&D, with state-of-the-art FCC technology and hardware design features of Lummus. The Indmax FCC technology is a unique solution for the vertical integration of refinery and petrochemical complexes in revamp or grassroots projects.

As MRC wrote previously, in July 2020, Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL), a flagship company of The Chatt­erjee Group (TCG), alo­ng with its international partner Rhone Capital acquired US-based Lummus Technology at an enterprise value (EV) of USD2.725 billion (around Rs 20,590 crore) from McDermott International. In the joint acquisition, HPL’s share is at 57 per cent, the balance would be held by Rhone Capital. Under the new dispensation, Lummus Technology wou­ld function as a ‘standalone’ autonomous entity.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, exluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).

Lummus Technology is a master licensor of proprietary technologies in refining, petrochemicals, gas processing and coal gasification sectors, as well as a supplier of proprietary catalysts, equipment and related engineering services. It has about 130 licensed technologies and more than 3,400 patents and trademarks.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A U.S. subsidiary of state-owned Thai oil and gas company PTT PCL said that it was focused on finding a partner for its proposed petrochemical plant in Ohio that will turn ethane into plastics, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

“The focus of the project is finding a partner. There are very substantive conversations going on with a number of companies that the project team feels good about,” said Dan Williamson, a spokesman for the project. He said he could not share the names of those companies at this time.

Williamson also said the team was in the process of meeting with members of President Joe Biden’s administration to brief them on the benefits of the project, which will cost an estimated $10 billion to build and create hundreds of full-time jobs and thousands of construction jobs.

He also noted that renewables would be part of the project. Last summer, PTT’s PTT Global Chemical America (PTTGCA) subsidiary delayed making a final investment decision to build the ethane cracker from the first half of 2020 to the first half of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Williamson said the company still hopes to make a final investment decision during the first half of 2021 but noted that time frame is a “reasonable hope” and not a “set in stone” prediction. If it were not for the pandemic, the company has said the plant would likely already be under construction.

The ethane cracker is designed to produce about 1.5 million metric tons of ethylene per year and will take 4-6 years to build. In addition to PTTGCA’s project, Royal Dutch Shell PLC is building an ethane cracker nearby in western Pennsylvania that is expected to enter service in the early 2020s.

As per MRC, PTT Global Chemical has put plans for the construction of a massive petrochemical plant in eastern Ohio on hold while it conducts another feasibility study. The proposed project, which was announced in 2015, has faced a series of delays.

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.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Atotech says it has closed its USD17/share initial public offering (IPO), which commenced on 4 February, according to Chemweek.

Gross proceeds from the IPO totaled USD497.6 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and other expenses.

The Carlyle Group (Washington, DC), Atotech’s private equity owner, announced plans for an IPO in late January, with proceeds expecting to go towards paying down debt. Shares in the company are trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker ‘ATC.’

Atotech’s shares have risen in early trading, closing at USD19/share today.

Citigroup, Credit Suisse, BofA Securities, and J.P. Morgan are lead book-running managers for the proposed IPO. Additional book-running managers include Barclays, Deutsche Bank Securities, Jefferies, RBC Capital Markets, UBS Investment Bank, Baird, BMO Capital Markets, and HSBC. The co-managers are TCG Capital Markets L.L.C. and Mischler Financial Group.

As MRC reported earlier, in May 2016, French oil and gas producer Total announced plans to sell its specialty chemicals and equipment division Atotech. "Atotech no longer falls within Total"s strategic vision," the paper quoted Patrick Pouyanne then. Total said in February that year it was planning assets sale of about USD4 billion in 2016, mostly non-core assets. Berlin-based Atotech, which generates annual sales of about USD1 billion, manufactures specialty chemicals and equipment for printed circuit boards and semiconductors. It was Total"s sole remaining specialty chemicals unit after the sale of Bostik in 2014.

We remind that in November 2019, Total disclosed that itis evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Liquide and Siemens Energy have agreed to collaborate on the development of industrial-scale hydrogen projects and to lay the groundwork for mass manufacturing of electrolyzers, mainly in Germany and France, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to combine their expertise in proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis technology and intend to focus on the co-creation of large-scale hydrogen projects in collaboration with customers, Air Liquide says. They will also conduct R&D to develop next-generation electrolyzer technologies, it says. The linkup has support from both the German and French governments.

"Air Liquide and Siemens Energy will jointly apply for large projects funding under the EU’s Green Deal and Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI)-scheme for hydrogen, funded by the French and German Governments,” says Air Liquide. The IPCEI funding is required to “fast start those activities and meet the challenging timeline set out by the European Green New Deal, the EU Hydrogen Strategy, as well as the French and German National Hydrogen Strategies," it says.

Hydrogen will play an essential role to achieve the EU’s objectives for carbon dioxide (CO2) and greenhouse gas emission reduction, according to Air Liquide. “In order to meet rapidly growing demand, and to lower costs, it is key to accelerate the production of sustainably generated hydrogen through large-scale PEM electrolyzers,” it says.

The companies have already identified cooperation opportunities for large-scale sustainable hydrogen projects in France, Germany, and other countries in Europe, including the Air Liquide-H2V Normandy project in France.

"Hydrogen is a key enabler of the energy transition. In the context of an unprecedented acceleration in Europe of hydrogen technologies and markets, the time to scale-up is now, notably in France and Germany,” says Air Liquide chairman and CEO Benoit Potier.

Up to EUR7.0 billion (USD8.4 billion) will be invested in hydrogen between now and 2030 in France, according to Bruno Le Maire, France’s economy and finance minister, while Germany’s economy minister Peter Altmaier describes hydrogen a “a key element for the success of Germany’s energy transition.” Germany is strongly committed to supporting the market ramp up of hydrogen technologies, he says.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2020, Air Liquide finalised an agreement with Sasol to acquire the biggest oxygen production site in the world with a plan to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 30%. After the announcement on July 29, the international major industry gas company has now entered into a business purchase agreement with Sasol to acquire the oxygen production site in Secunda, South Africa.

We remind that Sasol's world-scale US ethane cracker with the capacity of 1.5 mln tonnes per year reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. Sasol's new cracker, the heart of LCCP, is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities that came online and will provide feedstock to the company's six new derivative units at Sasol's Lake Charles multi-asset site.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, exluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).
MRC