MMEX Resources acquires additional sites for ultra clean refinery projects

MMEX Resources Corp. announced it has completed additional site acquisitions of 632 acres for its West Texas projects, bringing its total land ownership to 1,082 acres, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

“We announced on February 22, 2022 that along with Polaris Engineering, we had completed significant milestones on the technology timeline for our UltraClean Refinery project and we have received permit approval for the project by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on February 18, 2022,” said Jack W. Hanks, President and CEO of MMEX Resources Corp.

“Today, we closed the acquisition of 632 acres of additional land in Pecos County, Texas. This significant acreage position gives us the flexibility to source our solar complex and to provide the space for both our ultra clean fuels refinery and our green hydrogen project. We estimate we can build potentially another 97 MW/dc of solar power with this additional acreage.”

As MRC reported earlier, in March, 2017, MMEX Resources Corp., a development stage company focusing on the acquisition, development and financing of oil, gas, refining and infrastructure projects in Texas and South America, and KP Engineering, an energy industry company in engineering, procurement and construction solutions, announced a partnership for KPE to engineer, design and construct the planned Pecos County refinery.

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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
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LANXESS is the first manufacturer of synthetic iron oxide pigments to offer verified environmental product declarations (EPDs) for selected product groups. These EPDs allow LANXESS to deliver comprehensive information about the cradle-to-gate environmental impact of its pigments, according to SpecialChem.

The information provided is based on the international ISO 14025 standard as well as the European EN 15804 standard for construction products and services of all kinds.

“Publishing EPDs is a mark of our commitment to setting the highest sustainability standards in the pigments industry,” said Michael Ertl, head of the inorganic pigments business unit at LANXESS. “Our iron oxide pigments from the trusted Bayferrox brand are used to add color to concrete building materials as well as for paints and plastics employed in the construction industry worldwide,” he added.

An EPD describes construction materials, products, or components in terms of their environmental impact. These declarations are based on life-cycle assessments as well as the functional and technical properties of the item in question.

The environmental product declarations for Bayferrox pigments from LANXESS are tested in accordance with international standards by Institut fur Bauen und Umwelt e.V. (IBU), an association of building product manufacturers. The IBU program is aimed at creating reliable and comprehensive assessments of the environmental impact of construction products in line with international DIN standards and includes verification by independent experts.

Membership of the European ECO Platform, which involves numerous agreements concerning mutual recognition between participating program operators, underlines the global reputation of IBU.

Sustainable construction is a vital part of the journey toward an economical and environmentally friendly future. Consequently, environmental product declarations are increasingly being used in the construction industry and are among the key prerequisites for structures to be granted sustainability certification.

LANXESS has assigned the issue of sustainability directly to the portfolios of its board of management members. They cover climate protection and energy, occupational health and safety, environmental protection, products and circular value chains, the workforce, corporate culture, and transparent reporting on achievement of sustainability.

Through its Sustainability Committee, set up in 2021, the board of management members make joint decisions on key sustainability projects.

As MRC reported before, in October 2021, specialty chemicals company LANXESS and energy company bp are entering into a strategic partnership for the use of sustainable raw materials in high-tech plastics production. bp will supply sustainably produced cyclohexane to the LANXESS’ production site in Antwerp, Belgium, starting in the fourth quarter of 2021. The sustainable origin of the raw materials is certified according to ISCC Plus rules (“International Sustainability and Carbon Certification”). With this partnership, both companies, which already have a long-standing business relationship, want to significantly advance the production of sustainable plastics.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with about 19,200 employees in 25 countries. The company is currently represented at 74 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. Through Arlanxeo, the joint venture with Saudi Aramco, Lanxess is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber.
MRC

German chemicals group Evonik Industries missed fourth-quarter core profit expectations on Thursday but reported a rise year-on-year and forecast further growth in 2022 even though it faces macroeconomic headwinds, said Reuters.

Evonik’s shares were down 2.6% as of 1420 GMT, after it reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 502 million euros (USD556.77 million), 5% below analysts’ forecast of 526.6 million euros, but up 20% on the year.

“It is a difficult day for many chemicals producers,” Berenberg analyst Sebastian Bray said, also citing German peers Covestro and BASF, which were both trading down 3%. “The reason is macroeconomic worries – oil at USD115/barrel, labour cost inflation, some companies have missed estimates on margins squeeze from higher raw materials. This could indicate a more difficult operating environment than perhaps anticipated."

Evonik’s CEO Christian Kullmann, in reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, told a press conference that the company’s energy supplies were secure as far as it could see, but was cautious of further prices increases. “Energy prices have already come to be a severe burden for our industry today. Another increase would now actually and clearly go beyond the threshold of pain,” he said.

Evonik made roughly 200 million euros in sales in Russia last year, just above 1% of the total figure, and Kullmann said it would continue the business to the extent possible. The Essen-based company forecast adjusted core profit to come in at 2.5 billion to 2.6 billion euros in 2022, above the 2021 figure of 2.38 billion euros. Adjusted core profit is expected to grow by at least 10% year-on-year in the first quarter.

As MRC reported before, Evonik is investing a three-digit million-euro sum in the construction of a new production plant for bio-based and fully biodegradable rhamnolipids. The decision to build the plant follows a breakthrough in Evonik's research and development. Rhamnolipids are biosurfactants and serve as active ingredients in shower gels and detergents. Demand for environ-mentally friendly surfactants is growing rapidly worldwide.

We remind that in February, 2020, Dow and Evonik entered into an exclusive technology partnership. Together, they plan to bring a unique method for directly synthesizing propylene glycol (PG) from propylene and hydrogen peroxide to market maturity.

Evonik is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. The company is active in more than 100 countries around the world and generated sales of EUR12.2 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of EUR1.91 billion in 2020. Evonik goes far beyond chemistry to create innovative, profitable and sustainable solutions for customers. About 33,000 employees work together for a common purpose: to improve life today and tomorrow.
MRC

Sweden’s leading chemistry group Perstorp, and partner companies Fortum and Uniper, has submitted an EUR97 million application to the EU Innovation Fund for Project Air. This unique project aims to build a production facility for sustainable methanol in Stenungsund, Sweden, which could reduce global CO2 emissions by 400,000 tonnes, equivalent to approximately 1% of Sweden’s territorial emissions, as per the company's press release.

The ambition is to already by 2026 achieve large-scale production of sustainable methanol, which in turn can be used in making chemical products with thousands of applications, enabling an improved climate footprint in several value chains.

The project is possible thanks to an innovative usage of biogas, hydrogen from electrolysis and residue streams, as well as carbon dioxide recovered from Perstorp’s own facilities, to produce the methanol. This means the project will utilize carbon atoms that would otherwise become CO2 emissions.

“The chemicals industry is a key player in the sustainable transformation of society. Making Project Air a reality is an urgent priority for Perstorp, our customers, and partners as it creates increased availability of sustainable chemical products throughout our value chains,” said Jan Secher, President and CEO of Perstorp. “This project is a unique opportunity, but also a challenge for Swedish industry and energy policy. It is one of several industrial transformation projects seeking to use biogas as a raw material, and Sweden should take steps to stimulate a sufficient supply for these purposes.”

Perstorp believes that Project Air with a modified application is well positioned to receive support from the EU Innovation Fund, but the company is also investigating alternate modes of future funding. The total investment in Project Air is expected to be EUR236,3 million.

As MRC reported previously, in December 2021, Perstorp, the world leader in the production of Trimethylolpropane (TMP), ramped up the capacity to meet growing demand from the European market. TMP is used to enhance the properties of numerous materials. Common applications include the use in saturated polyesters for coil coatings, polyurethanes for coatings and elastomers, acrylic acid esters for radiation curing, esters for synthetic lubricants, and for the surface treatment of pigments.

Perstorp Specialty Chemicals AB is a subsidiary of Perstorp Holding AB. The company was founded in 1881 and is based in Perstop, Sweden. Perstorp Specialty Chemicals AB manufactures chemical products. The company offers base and specialty polyols, formates, organic acids and formaldehyde products.
MRC

Technip Energies has renounced new business opportunities in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, the head of the French oil and gas services provider said on Thursday, as its full-year margin guidance drove up shares, said Reuters.

"We have ceased to work on future business opportunities in Russia," Arnaud Pieton said in an earnings statement, but added that the potential financial impact of the crisis was "contained".

BP , Shell and ExxonMobil are among the oil majors that have announced plans to exit positions and joint ventures in Russia amid crippling sanctions on the energy-rich nation for what it calls a "special operation" in Ukraine. By the end of December, about 3.8 billion euros (USD4.22 billion), or 23% of Technip Energies' order backlog, was related to Russian projects in execution, said the firm, which specialises in engineering and technology for the energy sector.

As per MRC,TechnipFMC plc has announced the sale of 9 MM Technip Energies N.V. shares through private sale transactions. The sale price of the shares in the sale is set at EUR13.15 per share, yielding total gross proceeds of EUR118.4 MM.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2021, Technip Energies provided the technology licensing and process design to SP Olefins (Taixing) Co. Ltd., for China’s first gas-cracking ethylene plant in Taixing, Jiangsu Province, China. The 780,000 tpy plant successfully started up in August 2019, reaching on-spec olefins shortly thereafter. Earlier last year, the plant passed all performance guarantees, and the final acceptance certificate was recently issued, which was delayed due to COVID-19. The Taixing plant is not only the first gas-cracking ethylene plant in China, but also the first plant to use imported US ethane as feedstock.
MRC