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.
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