Teijin to divest Japan composites subsidiary

Teijin Ltd. (Toyko)has agreed to sell its entire stake in GH Craft Co., a subsidiary of Teijin’s composites business in Japan, to TIP Composite Co., Ltd., a manufacturer headquartered in Matsumoto City, Japan, said Chemengonline.

Teijin acquired GH Craft in July 2008 as part of its downstream strategy. GH Craft is involved in the design, prototyping and evaluation of composites materials, with focus on highly demanding applications in the aerospace, railway and automotive industries.

TIP composite manufactures and sells composite materials for a wide range of industries. TIP composite has already collaborated on selected projects with GH Craft. Now, by obtaining GH Craft’s knowledge and technology, TIP composite is expected to grow its business significantly. The share transfer is scheduled for September 7, 2023. The impact of this transaction on Teijin’s consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, is expected to be minor.

We remind, Teijin Frontier Co., Ltd., the Teijin Group’s fibers and products converting company, announced it has developed a new foreign material removal technology to eliminate polyurethane (PU) elastomer fiber from discarded polyester apparel. The technology features a new processing agent used during the pretreatment phase of the chemical recycling process, which helps improve the quality of the recycled polyester fiber that is derived from clothing containing PU elastomer fiber.

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Olin Corporation announced a mutual agreement that Scott Sutton will step down as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board in the first half of 2024. Mr. Sutton will continue as Executive Chairman of the Board until his departure to facilitate a smooth transition, said the company.

Mr. Sutton has led a strategic transformation of Olin since taking the helm in 2020 which has delivered significant value for Olin's shareholders. He has embedded the Winning Model across Olin's businesses and built a strong leadership team for the future.

"It has been a privilege and an honor to lead Olin," said Sutton. "Olin has a great future ahead and the Board and I are working closely together to identify an excellent leader who will enable the next phase of growth for Olin building on our strong foundation."

William H. Weideman, Olin's Lead Director, noted, "On behalf of the Board and the Olin team, I extend our gratitude to Scott for his dedication, leadership and extraordinary contribution. We look forward to working with Scott and the leadership team to ensure a smooth transition."

We remind, Olin Corporation announced an agreement to acquire the assets of White Flyer Targets LLC, North America's preeminent leader in recreational trap, skeet, and sporting clay targets, and combine it with the Winchester Ammunition business. The acquisition includes White Flyer's five state of the art manufacturing facilities in Coal Township, PA; Dalton, GA; Webb City, MO; Knox, IN; and, San Bernardino, CA, US, and includes White Flyer's recently announced ECO FLYER target product line. The transaction is contingent on Olin's completion of confirmatory due diligence, definitive agreements, and final approval of both companies' Boards of Directors. The transaction is not expected to require any premerger filings and is expected to be completed in 4Q 2023. Olin would fund the transaction with cash on hand and anticipates that the transaction would be immediately accretive to Olin's shareholders.

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Technip Energies, a leading engineering and technology company for the energy transition, and Versalis, Eni's chemical company, have signed an agreement aimed at integrating Versalis' Hoop and Technip Energies' Pure.rOilTM and Pure.rGasTM purification technologies by developing a technological platform for the advanced chemical recycling of plastic waste, said the company

This project aims to create a theoretically endless plastic recycling loop, producing new virgin polymers suitable for all applications and that are identical to polymers that come from fossil raw materials.

Versalis will bring its Hoop® technology, a pyrolysis process that enables the recovery of mixed plastic waste with high performance in term of yield, recovery and flexibility in managing different types of feedstocks.

Technip Energies will bring its ethylene furnace and steam cracker design expertise, with more than 700 steam crackers worldwide operating under its own licence, along with the preparation and its proprietary purification technologies, Pure.rGasTM and Pure.rOilTM, which ensure safe, reliable and optimized integration with both existing and new crackers.

The integrated technologies by Versalis and T.EN will contribute to supporting a circular economy by reducing the overall carbon footprint of the polymer value chain.

Marco Villa, Chief Operating Officer of Technip Energies, stated: “We are pleased to join forces with Versalis to bring our combined technologies for plastic waste recycling to commercialization. This alliance will help strengthen Versalis' and T.EN’s leadership in the transformation of traditional basic chemicals and polymers into sustainable and decarbonized products and facilitate the transition to the circular economy.”

We remind, TotalEnergies, Baker Hughes, Technip Energies, Azimut and other investors have signed preliminary agreement to invest in Zhero Europe in order to develop large scale renewable energies projects in Europe and Africa spanning across renewable power generation, power interconnections and green molecules.

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Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday appointed Ninoska La Concha as new head of state petrochemical company Pequiven, replacing oil minister Pedro Tellechea, who since March had held three key positions supervising the country's energy industry, as per Reuters.

Following a wide anti-corruption effort in the energy sector that led to the arrest of some 40 officials and businessmen, Maduro accepted the resignation of then powerful oil minister Tareck El Aissami, appointing Tellechea as minister and keeping him also as president of state companies Pequiven and PDVSA.

La Concha's appointment, which was published in the Official Gazette and announced by Tellechea on social media, limits the scope of Tellechea's role, whose main target is to double the OPEC nation's crude output to some 1.7 million barrels per day by 2024.

Pequiven is key for Venezuela's cash flow by providing proceeds from exports of petrochemical products, including methanol, urea and ammonia. La Concha was previously the head of one of Pequiven's subsidiaries, the Barranquilla-based Monomeros Colombo Venezolanos.

We remind, Venezuela is not willing to halt productive operations during contract audits that have led to the arrest of businessmen and officials, and to disputes with customers and partners of state company PDVSA. In June, a contract between PDVSA and Maroil Trading, a Geneva-based company owned by Venezuelan tycoon Wilmer Ruperti, became entangled in a dispute over payments, triggering the suspension of most exports of petroleum coke from the South American country.

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Colombia's majority state-owned oil company Ecopetrol will invest between USD1.2 B and USD1.3 B over the next seven years in cleaner and better fuels, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"The goal is, in the next seven years from now to 2030, to make investments of close to USD1.3 B or USD1.2 B to have clean gasoline," Roa said at a debate before the fifth commission of the chamber of representatives. The investment will help cut the sulfur content in gasoline produced by Ecopetrol. High levels of sulfur in gasoline and diesel fuel have been blamed for serious health problems, increased mortality, and property damage.

Ecopetrol has already invested close to USD450 MM in recent years to bring the sulfur content in its gasoline down to 45 parts per million, Roa said.

The new investment is aimed at cutting the sulfur content in gasoline produced by Ecopetrol to fewer than 10 parts per million, he added.

Ecopetrol previously reported it will invest between around USD6.1 B and USD7.2 B this year to speed the transition toward renewable energies and help Colombian maintain energy self-sufficiency, among other investments.

We remind, Ecopetrol is managing to sustain sales to Asia at about 45% of its crude oil production though rivalry from Russian oil is forcing it to offer deeper discounts. It has maintained long-term supply contracts with key customers especially in China and is diversifying its sales to buyers in South Korea, India and the Gulf of Mexico, Ecopetrol Chief Financial Officer Jaime Caballero Uribe told Reuters on the sideline of the Energy Asia conference.

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