Thomas Gangl appointed as new Borealis CEO

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Borealis Supervisory Board has announced the formal appointment of Thomas Gangl (49) as new CEO of Borealis AG, effective 1 April 2021, as per the company's press release.

Thomas Gangl succeeds Alfred Stern (56), who assumes the role of OMV’s Executive Board member for Chemicals & Materials.

With Thomas Gangl, Borealis gains an exceptional manager and expert from among OMV’s ranks. His appointment was first announced in early February 2021.

With over 20 years of experience in OMV, Thomas Gangl has not only played a significant part in shaping the refining and petrochemicals business in the OMV Group but more recently was also responsible for establishing chemical recycling and thereby laying the foundation for OMV’s circular economy strategy.

OMV owns a 75% stake in the Borealis joint venture, with the remaining 25% held by Mubadala (Abu Dhabi, UAE).

During his 13 year tenure at Borealis, Alfred Stern has successfully proven visionary leadership by driving Borealis’ transformation from a virgin polyolefins producer to a leading provider of advanced and circular polyolefin solutions, and firmly establishing the company as an innovation and technology leader. He has led Borealis on the way to become a purpose-driven organization, significantly growing enterprise value, while further expanding its geographical footprint in North America.

As MRC reported earlier, Borealis continued to operate its steam cracker in Stenungsund, Sweden at 100% capacity utilisation in March, 2021. The cracker with the capacity of 625,000 mtyear of ethylene was restarted on 15-17 January, 2021, and force majeure was lifted on 29 January. And the company reached full capacity utilisation at this cracker in early February. The 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.

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

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.

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

Neste to shut Porvoo refinery for major overhaul in early April

Neste to shut Porvoo refinery for major overhaul in early April

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Neste is preparing to execute a major turnaround at its Porvoo refinery starting in early April, 2021, after thorough planning work, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Neste secures the safe and undisrupted operations of the Porvoo refinery in Finland with major turnarounds, executed approximately every five years. The Porvoo refinery major turnaround was originally planned for the spring 2020, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the turnaround execution in planned scope was not possible and only the most critical maintenance works were completed in spring 2020.

Thus, the company plans to start shutting down process units at its Porvoo refinery in stages on Monday, 5 April 2021. The duration of the turnaround is approximately 12 weeks. After the maintenance work, the refinery is expected to be operating normally by the end of June.

In the major turnaround, the refinery is subject to regulatory inspections, maintenance works and selected asset improvement initiatives that are required for the refinery's operations. The total investments of the Porvoo refinery major turnaround are estimated to be around EUR 330 million.

“Major turnaround is a significant investment to secure safety, availability and competitiveness of the Porvoo refinery for the next operating cycle. During the turnaround, we will execute several investment projects related to the development of the refinery, including extensive asset, automation and electrification renewals,” says Marko Pekkola, Executive Vice President, Oil Products.

In order to manage the pandemic situation during the turnaround, a detailed health security plan has been prepared. It defines the planned extensive measure to mitigate the impacts of the coronavirus. The measures include, for example, mandatory usage of face masks, keeping a safe distance and enhanced hand hygiene at the site, a negative test result prior to entering the site and regular testing during the turnaround, as well as effective monitoring of compliance throughout the turnaround.

The turnaround will not affect the product deliveries to Neste’s customers. The Neste harbour and distribution terminal in Porvoo are operating normally during the major turnaround.

As MRC reported earlier, Neste has recently announced that it would acquire Bunge Loders Croklaan's refinery plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The refinery plant is located next to Neste’s existing biorefinery and it consists of a pretreatment facility, tank farm, jetties and has a pipeline connection to Neste’s site. The acquisition has been approved by regulatory authorities, and the transaction has been completed on 1 March 2021. The transition of operations and employees will be implemented in phases with the refinery plant’s full and modified pretreatment capacity available for processing Neste’s feedstock by the end of 2024.

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

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

Celanese to expand redispersible polymer powers capacities in Europe by debottlenecking

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, has announced plans to expand its redispersible polymer powders growth through debottlenecking efforts currently underway at the company’s European powders facilities, resulting in an increase of approximate 20KT of annual capacity by 2023, as per the company's press release.

With the April 2020 acquisition of the Elotex business, Celanese further strengthened its derivative expansion program by adding a global redispersible polymer powders product line to help drive growth of ethylene-acetate-ethylene (EVA) emulsions.

“As a world leader in the acetyls and derivatives space, Celanese has an exceptional, globally integrated production, distribution and sales network to maximize the Acetyl chain’s downstream optionality and capture growth in key regions and end uses,” concluded Kohl. “Building on a commitment to our global customers, Celanese is making key investments in monomer vinylactate (VAM), EVA and RDP facility expansions, as well as expanding on our ‘green technology’ product development, to deliver on their global growth demands.”

This planned expansions is subject to regulatory approvals of the local authorities, and financial details of this project are not being disclosed at this time.

As MRC reported previously, Celanese Corporation has also announced that it plans to continue its EVA growth at the company’s Nanjing and Frankfurt facilities through the construction of two new EVA reactors.

According to MRC's DataScope report, January EVA imports to Russia rose only by 0,07% year on year to 3,084 tonnes from 3,087 tonnes a year earlier, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation dropped in January-December 2020 by 3,41% year on year to 38,170 tonnes (39,520 tonnes in 2019).

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,700 employees worldwide and had 2020 net sales of USD5.7 billion.
MRC

DSM acquires bio-based intermediates business from Amyris

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DSM has reached an agreement to acquire bio-based flavours and fragrances intermediates business from US-based renewable chemicals firm Amyris, as per the company's press release.

The acquisition will expand DSM's foothold in bio-based ingredients in the aromas sector. The business consists of a portfolio of seven intermediate products - four which generate revenues, two which have just been launched and one under development.

DSM will acquire the business for an upfront consideration of USD150 million, which represents an estimated 15x EV/EBITDA 2021 multiple. Amyris will share in the EBITDA growth over the period 2021-2024 of certain of the activities (mainly the products just launched/ under development), receiving additional earn-outs equal to 9x the realized EBITDA in 2024, which is estimated to result in a total earn-out amount of USD100-150 million.

DSM and Amyris will continue their R&D partnerships.

As MRC informed before, earlier this year, SABIC, a global leader in the chemical industry, collaborated with DSM and Viscofan in the development of an innovative multi-barrier film for meat casings. The film combines layers of a SABIC’s certified circular polyethylene (PE) from its TRUCIRCLE portfolio and a circular polyamide (PA) from DSM Engineering Materials in a more sustainable packaging solution without compromising the high functional and aesthetic performance required in the fresh food packaging market.

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.

Royal DSM, commonly known as DSM, is a Dutch multinational corporation active in the fields of health, nutrition and materials. The Materials cluster is made up of DSM Engineering Materials, DSM Protective Materials and DSM Resins & Functional Materials. DSM Engineering Materials’ specialty plastics are used in components for the electrical and electronics, automotive, flexible food packaging and consumer goods industries.
MRC

PT Pertamina put out a fire at Balongan refinery storage units

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indonesia's state oil company PT Pertamina said it has put out a fire that had engulfed part of its 125,000 barrel per day refinery in Balongan, West Java and had begun making preparations to restart the plant, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The fire broke out just after midnight on Monday, forcing Pertamina to shut the plant and evacuate around 950 nearby residents. Six were treated at the hospital due to the fire. Pertamina said in a statement that by Wednesday afternoon, fires in all four affected storage units have been extinguished.

The company was conducting a cooling down process and planning to begin preparation to restart the refinery as soon as it is safe to do so, it said. "Hopefully Balongan refinery can be operational again after a thorough inspection is carried out," Agus Suprijanto, a Pertamina spokesman said in the statement.

Pertamina expected the shut down could be lifted in four to five days as damage was limited to the storage area of the plant and did not affect its oil processing area, company officials said on Monday. The company has said that only 7% of the refinery's 1.35 million kilo litres (KL) of storage capacity was affected, and that the tanks that caught fire had been only holding around 23,000 KL of gasoline.

Pertamina said national fuel stocks remained secure, and any shortage of fuel to Jakarta, which Balongan supplies, could be made up by refineries in Cilacap and Tuban. Pertamina said there were no fatalities, though media reported one resident had died from a heart attack that coud have been caused by the shock of the explosion. West Java police said it will investigate the cause of the fire.

Earlier, Pertamina said it aims to restore operations at its Balongan oil refinery in West Java in 4-5 days, as firefighters worked to extinguish a massive blaze that broke out overnight, injuring six people. Pertamina shut the plant with the capacity of 125,000 barrels per day after the massive fire erupted.

We remind that PT Pertamina shut its cracker in Indonesia for maintenance works from 18 March, 2020. This cracker with a production capacity of 578,000 tons remained off-stream until 18 April 2020.

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

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.

Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina (established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
MRC