Adriano Pires withdraws nomination for Petrobras CEO

Energy consultant Adriano Pires has backed out of the Brazilian government's nomination for him to take the helm at Petrobras, the country's Mines and Energy Ministry said on Monday, in the latest blow to succession plans at the state-run oil company, reported Reuters.

"It was clear to me that I could not reconcile my consulting work with the exercise of Petrobras' command," Pires wrote in a letter published by the ministry on its website.

Pires' decision to turn down the chief executive job came a day after soccer magnate Rodolfo Landim declined a nomination to chair the board of Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known.

Pires had been tapped by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to take over as the top executive of Petrobras on March 28, following disagreements between the far-right leader and current CEO Joaquim Silva e Luna over the company's fuel pricing policy.

The government will now need to find suitable replacements for the two top spots at Petrobras just days before the company's April 13 annual shareholders' meeting.

As MRC informed before, in early February, 2022, Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras and Novonor (formerly Odebrecht) cancelled in “mutual agreement” its plans to sell its stake in Braskem. The announcement came after both companies declared that potential buyers did not meet expectations, without providing any further details on the matter.

We remind that Braskem is no longer pursuing a petrochemical project, which would have included an ethane cracker, in West Virginia. And the company is seeking to sell the land that would have housed the cracker. The project, announced in 2013, had been on Braskem's back burner for several years.

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, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC

MRC --Baker Hughes and Saudi Arabia's state-owned Dussur have agreed to form a JV focused on providing oilfield services and industrial chemicals in the country, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Texas-based oilfield services provider Baker Hughes will hold 51% of the JV under the agreement that is expected to close in the 3Q. Dussur, or Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Company, is owned by the nation's sovereign wealth fund (PIF), oil company Saudi Aramco and SABIC, the world's fourth-biggest petrochemicals firm.

The JV will continue to operate under the Baker Hughes brand and its manufacturing facility in Jubail city will supply chemicals focused on the needs of Saudi Arabia.

In 2020, Baker Hughes formed a JV called Novel with Saudi Aramco to develop non-metallic products for multiple applications in the energy sector.

As MRC informed previously, in January 2022, ExxonMobil and SABIC announced the successful startup of Gulf Coast Growth Ventures world-scale manufacturing facility in San Patricio County, Texas. The new facility will produce materials used in packaging, agricultural film, construction materials, clothing, and automotive coolants. The operation includes a 1.8 MM metric tpy ethane steam cracker, two polyethylene (PE) units capable of producing up to 1.3 MM metric tpy, and a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit with a capacity of 1.1 MM metric tpy.

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.

mrchub.com

South African plastics recycler Extrupet is to add a fourth food-grade recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) line at its facility in Cape Town, said the company.

The fourth facility will increase the company’s recycling capacity by an additional 33,000 tonnes/year according to Chandru Wadhwani, joint managing director at Extrupet. The new facility will bring the company’s total food grade operations capacity to over 60,000 tonnes/year.

Phase 1 of the expansion will cost around South African rand (R)300m (USD20.56m) and is slated for Cape Town and is expected to be fully operational in 2023. Extrupet holds European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) approval for its R-PET to be used in food-contact applications, such as beverage bottles.

“The demand for food-grade recycling keeps on increasing, especially as retailers and consumers alike opt for more environmentally friendly options,” Wadhwani said.

“Currently, only 60% of South Africa’s plastic bottles are recycled. With this increased capacity, we will be able to accommodate more of South Africa’s plastic waste and strengthen South Africa’s position as a circular economy leader in Africa and the world,” Wadhwani added.

Extrupet, which is the first food-grade plastic recycler in South Africa, currently recycles more than five-million PET bottles every day.

The rPET is sold under Extrupet's brand name PhoenixPET, which has received international acclaim and is certified by the European Food Safety Authority, Global Recycled Standard, BRC Packaging at AA rating, and International Standards Organisation 9001:2015.

The company uses global fast-moving consumer goods-approved technology to recycle PET bottles into resin for reuse in new carbonated soft drink bottles. Other prominent clients include major food and beverage companies, convertors and retailers.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, estimated PET consumption in Russia increased by 4% in January 2022 compared to the same period a year earlier. In total, according to the results of the first month of the year, 59,660 tonnes of PET chips were processed in the country (these data do not take into account the shipment of Russian material to the countries of the Customs Union).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Repsol has acquired a minority stake in Canadian company Enerkem, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This investment allows the Spanish multi-energy company to step up the development of decarbonization projects through the deployment of Enerkem’s technology in its existing industrial facilities and future plants.

Repsol has subscribed EUR54 MM to Enerkem's share capital. It will contribute an additional EUR68 MM through the subscription of convertible notes which could allow Repsol to increase its stake in accordance with a number of financial variables over the coming years. This makes Repsol a strategic shareholder in the company to accelerate the adoption and deployment of Enerkem's technology and to develop new industrial projects in Spain and other locations.

The Spanish multi-energy company is already partnering with Enerkem and Agbar to build the Ecoplanta Molecular Solutions waste recovery plant in El Morell (Tarragona), Spain, scheduled to be operational in 2026. Using Enerkem's gasification technology, the plant will have the capacity to process some 400,000 tpy of non-recyclable solid waste to produce 240,000 t of methanol that can be used for lowcarbon fuels and chemicals and recover 70% of the carbon present in the non-recyclable materials. Based on the European Commission’s Innovation Fund methodology, the project will achieve 3.4 MMt CO2e of GHG emission reductions over the first ten years of operation. Thus, the Ecoplanta project is aligned with the EU’s decarbonization and climate change mitigation goals.

Among more than 300 projects submitted by major European industrial groups, Ecoplanta Molecular Solutions is one of seven projects selected for financial support from the European Commission’s Innovation Fund for large scale projects. The final grant agreement was signed at an event in Brussels last week.

In 2019, Repsol was the first oil and gas company to set a goal of achieving zero net emissions by 2050. It is transforming its industrial complexes into multi-energy hubs capable of transforming waste and other renewable raw materials into products with a low, zero, or even a negative carbon footprint. The company is investing in circular economy, energy efficiency, renewable hydrogen, and CO2 capture and use technologies as the main strategic pillars to achieve this. It has a circular economy strategy in place since 2016, which applies throughout the company’s value chain, from obtaining raw materials to marketing products and services.

Repsol’s Industrial Business aims to make a decisive contribution to a decarbonized and circular economy and is committed to the efficiency of its industrial processes. Repsol is the leading low-carbon fuel producer in the Iberian Peninsula. Its commitment is to produce two MMtpy of low-carbon fuels by 2030 and thus mitigate more than seven MMt of CO2. Its chemical products are used to manufacture everyday objects that improve people’s quality of life, well-being, and safety. Its wide range of chemical products extends from base petrochemicals to derivatives, including a wide range of polyolefins, all of which are 100% recyclable. Repsol’s target is to recycle the equivalent of 20% of its polyolefins production by 2030.

The company has six large industrial facilities in the Iberian Peninsula where its efficient fuels and differentiated high value-added products are developed.

Repsol lifted the force majeure for the supply of butadiene in Tarragona (Tarragona, Spain), announced earlier in February. On February 10, the company stopped two lines for the production of butadiene with a total capacity of 130 tons per year in Tarragona. According to a company source, butadiene production was resumed on 23 March.

Earlier it was reported that against the backdrop of a change in global strategy, the Spanish Repsol, formerly a major investor in the Russian fuel and energy complex, announced its withdrawal from Russia in December last year. The company will sell its shares in the oil assets of Evrotek-Yugra and ASB Geo to a Russian partner, Gazprom Neft.

Repsol is the largest oil and gas company in Spain and Latin America, one of the ten largest oil and gas corporations in the world.
mrc.ru

Norwegian hydrogen-plant manufacturer HydrogenPro AS said Monday that its previously announced purchase contract for an initial 40 electrolyser systems from Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc, said the company.

has been converted into a firm purchase order worth more than USD50 million. The engineering, procurement and construction and other system deliverables for a turn-key electrolyser green hydrogen production plant will be supplied by other companies, it said.

A nonrefundable commitment was made by Mitsubishi Power in February, enabling HydrogenPro to prepare for production, it said.

"This is one of the largest electrolyser system contracts ever, and it illustrates the accelerating green energy transition currently taking place in the United States," HydrogenPro Chief Executive Elling Nygaard said.

As MRC reported earlier, in February 2022, MCC and its subsidiary, Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates (MCM announced plans to design and build a pilot plant to further validate the technology. Three possible pathways to creating sustainable MMA, including the molecular recycling of acrylic resin; substituting conventional materials with drop-in plant-derived raw materials in the existing MMA monomer manufacturing process; and the direct production of MMA monomers from plant-derived raw materials by fermentation were explored. The promising results using the drop-in route have now led to the decision to commence with the design process for a new pilot plant using this technology.

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.

The Japanese integrated chemical company Mitsubishi Chemical was established on October 1, 1990 as a result of the merger of Mitsubishi Kasei and Mitsubishi Petrochemical Co. Due to the wide scope of its activities, it is one of the ten leading chemical companies in the world.
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