MOSCOW (MRC) - Phillips 66, the fourth largest US oil refiner, is weighing a broader move into developing battery components for electric vehicles and storage systems, according to top executives, leveraging its own and others' research as it accelerates a shift from fossil fuels, reported Reuters.
Phillips 66, which gets the bulk of its profits from processing oil into gasoline, diesel and petrochemicals, has become one of the largest supplies of graphite used to make a key component in electric vehicles. It recently formed an "emerging energy" unit to explore new markets for hydrogen and low-carbon fuels.
"The US refining business in the future is going to be smaller, not bigger," Chief Executive Greg Garland told reporters at its headquarters on Monday.
Battery research and partnerships would pivot beyond its small but lucrative materials business. Phillips 66's existing business - supplying materials for companies building graphite anodes for EV batteries - has been valued at more than USD1 billion. The anode is about 10% to 15% of a lithium-ion battery's cost.
"We want to play a larger role in the value chain," said Chief Operating Officer Mark Lashier. "We are still looking at the entire chain and how to best integrate that."
Lashier, who holds a PhD in chemical engineering, became Phillips 66's second-in-command in April after running the Chevron-Phillips Chemical joint venture since 2017. The company also is building EV charging and hydrogen refueling stations in Europe as it explores non-fossil fuel businesses.
Phillips 66 last week said it invested USD150 million to buy a 16% stake in Novonix Ltd, an Australian company that processes refinery byproducts into synthetic graphite for EV batteries.
Earlier it struck a technology deal with UK-based Faradion Ltd to develop materials for sodium-ion batteries, another type of advanced batteries for energy storage and backup power.
As MRC informed previously, Worley has been recently awarded a front-end engineering services contract by Phillips 66 to convert its San Francisco refinery in Rodeo, California, USA into a renewable fuels-manufacturing facility. Under the contract, Worley will provide front-end engineering design services for the facility, which will be executed by Worley’s North America West team with support from Worley’s Global Integrated Delivery team.
Besides, in October 2020, Phillips 66 said it plans to reconfigure its refinery in Rodeo, California to produce renewable fuels from used cooking oil, fats, greases and soybean oils.
We remind that US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said in March 2018.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
Phillips 66 is a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company. With a portfolio of Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties businesses, the company processes, transports, stores and markets fuels and products globally. Phillips 66 Partners, the company’s master limited partnership, is integral to the portfolio. Headquartered in Houston, the company has 14,300 employees committed to safety and operating excellence. Phillips 66 had USD55 billion of assets as of Dec. 31, 2020.
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