AkzoNobel acquires stake in industrial coatings company

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Paint and wood coatings specialist AkzoNobel said it has acquired a stake in startup Qlayers as part of its Paint the Future challenge that helps emerging companies commercialize their product offerings and gain access to resources that can help them grow., said the company.

AkzoNobel said it was drawn to the start up for its innovations in the application in industrial coatings, which it described as a fully automated solution that is “safer, more consistent and faster than the manual coating process” now commonplace. A key innovation is the elimination of overspray, which AkzoNobel described as a “sustainable solution that saves costs."

AkzoNobel made the investment in partnership with ECFG and its Eindhoven Venture Capital Fund II. This investment fund largely focuses on innovative small and mid-sized enterprises offering innovative products or services in the marketplace.

"This collaboration with Qlayers is not only a strategic investment for AkzoNobel and our co-investor ECFG, it’s a win-win-win for us all,” said Menno van der Zalm, global director innovation at AkzoNobel. “It fits our vision to make the paints and coatings value chain more sustainable and efficient with innovative products and solutions for our customers. ECFG is adding another promising enterprise to their portfolio. And Qlayers is now ready to scale up and accelerate their growth. Working together, we’re going to make progress and be successful."

AkzoNobel said this automated application has enhanced worker safety and delivered increased sustainability and process efficiency results.

As MRC informed earlier, AkzoNobel N.V. no longer intends to acquire Tikkurila following a higher competing offer from US paints and coatings producer PPG Industries. Akzo Nobel submitted a binding proposal to acquire Tikkurila for EUR31.25 per share on January 28, 2021, having conducted customary due diligence to confirm potential synergies. The company no longer intends to pursue this acquisition, following a competing, higher, offer for Tikkurila. Despite a strong cultural fit - and more synergies than any other combination with Tikkurila - the intended transaction no longer meets AkzoNobel’s criteria for superior value creation.

As per MRC, Russia's output of chemical products rose in February 2021 by 5.3% year on year. Thus, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 7.5% in the first two months of 2021. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, mineral fertilizers accounted for the greatest increase in the January-February output. Production of benzene dropped to 113,000 tonnes in February 2021, compared to 120,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of this product reached 241,000 tonnes over the stated period, down by 7.5% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italy’s RadiciGroup is investing more than EUR35m to strengthen its global engineering polymer business with new plants in Mexico and China, as well as a capacity expansion in Europe, said the company.

In China, work has begun on a new 25,000-square metre plant that will boost production capacity by 30,000 tonnes/year.

The company is strengthening its global presence with investments of over EUR 35 million (USD41.7 million) which include new plants in Mexico and China, and capacity expansions in Europe and North America. The company is a major producer of nylons 6 and 66 and high performance nylons such as 610, 612 and PPA copolymers, as well as a range of compounds based on PBT, PC/ABS, ABS, PC, TPEs, POM, PPS and polyolefins.

Production capacity has been increased by 20,000 m.t./yr (44.9 million lbs/yr) in North America, namely, at Radici Plastics USA, Wadsworth, Ohio, and Radici Plastics Mexico. In particular, a new site was inaugurated in Mexico, extending over an area of 20,000 square meters, which is needed to support current and future development. In China, work has begun on the construction of a new 25,000-square meter plant that will boost production capacity by 30,000 tons/yr (66.1 million/lbs). The total investment of almost EUR 20 million ($23.5 millon) (in Suxiang District Industrial Park, in the City of Suzhou, was made in light of expectations for strong growth in the High Performance Polymers business in the Asian region.

As MRC informed earlier, Radici Group is investing EUR15 million to purchase a nonwoven production line for the production of nonwovens used in protective face masks. The company made this decision due to a lack of material in Italy. The synthetic fiber maker will produce meltblown nonwoven yarns, saying current supply in Europe is insufficient to meet the increased demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the ICIS-MRC Price Report, PP prices grew dynamically in the markets of Latin America, Europe and Turkey, and at the same time, export prices for Russian producers also grew. As a result, under the pressure of the export alternative and limited supply from a number of suppliers, PP prices began to rise in the Russian market as well.

Radici Group is a large Italian corporation with a network of production and sales sites located in Europe, North America, South America and Asia. RadiciGroup is one of the world's leading manufacturers of a wide range of chemical intermediates, polyamides, engineering plastics, synthetic fibers and nonwovens. The Group's headquarters are located in Bergamo (Italy), in particular in Gandino.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qatar Petroleum (QP) has entered into a 10-year LNG Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) for the supply of 2 million tons per annum (MTPA) of LNG to China, according to Oil&Gas.

Under the agreement, LNG deliveries will commence in January 2022, and will be delivered to Sinopec’s LNG terminals in China. This SPA further demonstrates the State of Qatar’s continued commitment to meeting the growing energy demand of its customers globally in the form of reliable long term LNG supplies.

Since the first LNG delivery in September 2009 to date, Qatar has supplied China with more than 62 million tons of LNG. China is a key and strategic energy partner for the State of Qatar throughout the entire energy value chain. It is also a main driver of the growth in the global LNG market as the government adopts increasingly progressive environmental policies.

As MRC wrote before, in January 2021, Wood secured a contract valued at over USD120 million with Sinopec Hainan Refining and Chemical Limited Company (Sinopec) to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services to expand its refinery development in the Hainan Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in South China.

Once completed, the ethylene renovation and expansion project will produce up to one million tonnes of ethylene derivatives and refined oil on an annual basis and is expected to boost economic growth in China’s downstream sector by more than 100 billion yuan (USD14.1 billion). Output from the Hainan FTZ will serve ethylene demand across China and globally.

Ethylene is the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical company with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its principal business includes: exploring, developing, producing and trading crude oil and natural gas; producing, storing, transporting and distributing and marketing petroleum products, petrochemical products, synthetic fiber, fertilizer and other chemical products. Its refining capacity and ethylene capacity rank No.2 and No.4 globally. Sinopec listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai in August 2001.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Burckhardt Compression has been selected by Technip Energies as the compressor supplier for the Assiut hydrocracking complex in Egypt, said Hydrocarbonprocessong.

The order includes three fully packaged API 618 Process Gas Compressors, which will be used for the facility’s hydrocracking unit. The Assiut hydrocracking complex in Egypt will be one of the country’s major strategic refineries and will help to meet growing local demand for cleaner products, mainly EURO-V diesel.

The EURO-V standard reduces atmospheric pollutants by imposing stricter limits on exhaust emissions. Burckhardt Compression’s three make-up gas compressor units, each with a frame rating of 1’700 kN, will be a vital part of this refining project, the largest in Upper Egypt. Once completed, the new hydrocracking complex will transform lower-value petroleum products into cleaner products and is expected to have an output of about 2.8 million tons per year of EURO-V diesel in addition to other petroleum products.

Hydrocracking is one of the most demanding applications for reciprocating compressors in refineries, compressing hydrogen to 200 bar g. With its comprehensive API 618 Process Gas Compressor portfolio, Burckhardt Compression provides compression solutions for all refinery applications, including hydrocrackers, hydrotreaters and sour gas services. Expanding its presence on the African continent strengthens Burckhardt Compression’s global position in the refinery segment.

The company's leading piston compressor technology offers highest availability and longest mean time between overhauls. In addition, Burckhardt Compression's aftermarket service capabilities are supported by an extensive network of service centers around the world, offering local services.

As MRC reported earlier, in November 2020, TechnipFMC successfully completed the remaining conditions required to enable work to commence on the EPC contract with Assiut National Oil Processing Company (ANOPC) for the construction of a new hydrocracking complex for the Assiut refinery in Egypt.

GC "Titan" and Technip FMC signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the construction of an organic synthesis plant. The agreement was signed during the visit of the representatives of the European company to the Omsk region. The document was signed by General Director of GC Titan Yan Kirsanov and Senior Vice President of Technip France (a subsidiary of Technip FMC) Alain Poincheval.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The chemical company Versalis, part of the Italian oil and gas holding Eni and specializing in the production of elastomers, has signed a cooperation agreement with the European division of Bridgestone, under which partners will work to improve the performance of synthetic rubbers for the tire industry, said the company.

“The new agreement will combine the technological competencies of our companies and accelerate the development of new materials and their introduction into production to improve tire performance,” said Adriano Alfano, CEO of Versalis.

It is noted that the research departments of the two companies will collaborate in accordance with the model of open innovation and create new elastomers, including styrene-butadiene rubbers, for the production of high-performance tires. The project will involve the Versalis Science Centers in Ravenna and Ferrara (Italy), which will collaborate with specialists from the Bridgestone Technical Center located near Rome. The companies have previously signed an agreement to work together to produce natural rubber from guayula.

"At Bridgestone, we are well aware that disruptive innovation and sustainable mobility are not possible without such joint projects,” said Emilio Tiberio, Bridgestone's Chief Technology Officer for EMIA (Europe, Middle East, India and Africa). “We are delighted to be expanding our partnership with Versalis, and we are confident that the technologies created together will create new competitive advantages for us."

Versdalis' elastomers are used in premium tires to help improve dry and wet traction and tire durability, which reduces the consumption of natural resources in the long term.

As MRC informed earlier, Versalis, the petrochemical division of Italy's Eni SpA, plans to close its cracking unit at Porto Marghera (Porto Marghera, Italy) in March 2022. In the spring of 2018, Versalis announced that maintenance was due in 2022 and that the future of the cracker would be determined. The cracking unit was first shut down in 2014 and has been shut down for almost a year.

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).

Versalis is a petrochemical company, a 100% subsidiary of the Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA. The company manufactures a wide range of petrochemical products and is also one of the world's leading elastomer companies.

Eni S.p.A. (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi) is an Italian oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. Eni operates in 70 countries around the world.
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