Eastman’s Longview recycling project to receive up to USD375 mln from DOE

Eastman announced significant progress towards its leadership in the circular economy, said the company.

Selected by the Department of Energy as one of 33 companies for award negotiations to support Eastman’s second U.S. molecular recycling facility. Eastman’s second U.S. molecular recycling project has been selected by the Department of Energy (DOE) to begin award negotiations for up to USD375 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding as part of the Industrial Demonstrations Program (IDP). The DOE announcement led to Eastman announcing the intent to build a second U.S. molecular recycling facility at its location in Longview, Texas.

The company selected the Longview site due to synergies with existing infrastructure and operations, favorable energy supply and footprint, and access to western and central U.S. feedstock pools. The location also provides enough space for onsite renewable energy. The investment includes operations that will prepare mixed plastic waste for processing, Eastman’s next-generation molecular recycling unit to depolymerize waste, and a polymer facility to create virgin-quality materials for packaging and textiles. The Longview molecular recycling facility will have the capacity to recycle approximately 110,000 metric tonnes of hard-to-recycle plastic waste.

The investment is expected to bring over 200 full-time, high-paying jobs to the Longview community in addition to approximately 1,000 temporary construction jobs during site development and building of the facility. Eastman has operated in the Longview community for over 70 years and currently has over 1,500 team members at the location.

“We are excited to build our second U.S. world-scale molecular recycling facility at our existing site in Texas,” said Mark Costa, Board Chair and CEO. “The plant will remove significant waste from the region, enable true circularity and set a new benchmark for decarbonization. We have decades of history successfully operating in Longview, and this will be a great investment for the local community.”

We remind, Eastman has selected Meade-King Robinson & Co. Ltd. (MKR) as the exclusive distributor of Synergex™ multifunctional amine additives in several countries in Western and Eastern Europe. Synergex boosts performance and extends the life of metalworking fluids.

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OMV announced today two acquisitions to strengthen its refinery and supply chain integration and improve the coverage of its existing filling station network in key markets in Europe, said the company.

First, it has agreed to acquire AP Newco GmbH following approval from its supervisory board. OMV will acquire a filling station network encompassing nine sites and cooperation contracts for three additional sites, which cater for the commercial road transport (CRT) sector with corresponding high diesel sales.

The commercial road transport AP sites are primarily located in Salzburg and Tyrol, Austria, along the highly frequented transit routes of northwestern to southern Europe. Closing is expected in the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals. Financial details were not disclosed.

In addition, OMV is acquiring 21 filling stations in Slovakia from Benzinol, with an option to acquire a further six filling stations. They are mainly located in western and northern central Slovakia. OMV already operates 105 filling stations in Slovakia and the acquisition will confirm its position as the second largest player in the local market. Closing is expected in the second quarter of this year, subject to regulatory approvals. Financial details were not disclosed.

Through the acquisition of the AP filling stations, OMV will strengthen its long-term presence in the CRT market, supplying fuel to long-haul trucks from its nearby refineries in Burghausen, Germany, and Schwechat, Austria. This service will be provided mainly through direct fleet management agreements in the form of fuel cards.

Furthermore, the new sites in Austria and Slovakia represent an extended infrastructure platform for OMV’s ongoing efforts to decarbonize the transport sector by offering a range of biofuels e.g., hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO100), as well as 2,000 ultra-fast chargers for e-mobility under the eMotion brand in key European markets by 2030. OMV recently put into operation its first ultra-fast electric charger for trucks in Volkermarkt, Austria, and plans to have charging infrastructure for trucks installed on all main transport routes in the country by 2026.

“The transactions announced today strengthen our integrated supply chain around OMV’s key European refineries enabling improved refinery utilization rates. The new sites also act as a catalyst for our mobility transformation strategy, which aims at helping our customers reduce emissions through our second-generation biofuels offering and ultra-fast charging e-mobility roll-out,” said Martijn van Koten, OMV Executive Vice President Fuels & Feedstock.

We remind, OMV Petrom, the largest integrated energy producer in South-eastern Europe, announces the signing of two financing contracts through the NRRP, for the construction of two production facilities for green hydrogen with a total capacity of 55 MW at the Petrobrazi refinery.

OMV operates a strong multi-brand retail network of approximately 1,700 filling stations in Central and Eastern Europe (Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and Moldova). The wide range of brands in the filling station business extends from top-quality brand OMV to automated stations DISKONT and Avanti, offering favorable prices. The manned filling stations of OMV are multi-functional service hubs, offering fuels, lubricants, and car wash services. In addition, convenience stores stock refreshments, basic groceries, and fresh products.


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Singapore's middle distillates inventories slipped by 4% from last week as net exports of diesel/gasoil and jet fuel/kerosene surged, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Inventories of gasoil/diesel and jet fuel/kerosene at the key oil storage hub fell to 10.349 million barrels from 10.787 million barrels a week ago, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.

Net exports of diesel/gasoil rose more than tenfold during this period given a 66% drop in total imports, although total exports only fell by 6% week-on-week.

Volumes from China and South Korea remained prominent, in line with earlier expectations, limiting the overall weakness in total imports for the week.

Market expectations were mixed for April arrivals into Singapore, since China volumes could slow down as oil majors keep more cargoes for local consumption ahead of peak seasonal demand - though South Korean refiners are offering more spot lots for April sales compared to March.

South Korean refiners have offered a total of 17 spot 10ppm sulfur gasoil cargoes, the highest this year so far - though it remains unclear if all these volumes can be headed to southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, diesel/gasoil exports to Australia hit its highest for 2024 so far, limiting the overall drop in net exports.

Volumes were also prominent to other regional destinations such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar.

Exports to France also emerged this week, but trade sources said it is likely to be biofuels.

On the jet fuel/kerosene front, net exports grew by 7% week-on-week as total imports dipped by 99% - China-origin import cargoes were absent for the week.

Total exports on the other hand fell by around 41% for the period.

We remind, Russian oil company Gazprom Neft has opened a plant to recycle plastic packaging into secondary granules in Gatchina, Leningrad Region with annual capacity of 8,600 tonnes. The new plant will handle the complete cycle of recycling plastic packaging made of polypropylene and polyethylene into feedstock for subsequent use, the company said.

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Sibur Holding PJSC (Moscow), Russia’s biggest producer of petrochemicals, has announced plans to transform the business management model of its plastics and synthetic rubber activities to focus on the Russian market, starting in April. Since the war in Ukraine began in 2022, Russian exporters have faced international sanctions that have limited their ability to ship products to many countries, said the company.

Sibur said in a statement March 22 that it would transition from a structure focused on product divisions to an industry-based model.

The company currently has three plastics and rubber divisions: basic polymers, plastics and organic synthesis, and synthetic rubbers. Sibur plans to replace these by creating 11 industry-based divisions. The new divisions are agribusiness, recycling, flexible packaging, rigid packaging, engineering and transport infrastructure, healthcare, oil and gas processing and production, consumer goods, construction, transport and e-commerce and partnerships.

Sibur said that the primary goal of the reorganization is to satisfy demand from Russian customers that are meeting the needs of “socially important industries.”

Sibur noted that it has more than doubled output of the company’s core products since 2014 and brought new products to market every year to replace items that are “less eco-friendly and less energy-efficient,” as well as substitute imports and expand niches for well-established products. In 2023, the company said it launched 27 new grades of petrochemical product with potential sales of 111,000 metric tons per year. In the past 10 years, consumption of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene in Russia has increased by 35%, but the country’s overall imports of polymers have decreased by more than 30%, Sibur said.

The gradual ramp-up to design capacity at Sibur’s previously announced Amur gas chemical complex in Russia’s Far East and the company’s new PP production facility at Tobolsk, Western Siberia, which is expected to begin operating in the next few years, will help further increase polymer consumption in Russia and facilitate the development of import-substitution programs for finished products, it said.

“Sibur’s vision is to support the comprehensive development of every petrochemical-consuming industry, to meet growing demand and to promote the use of high-tech materials,” the company said.

Russia has strong growth potential for polymers, according to Sibur. Polymers are used in 37% of packaging in Russia, well below an average of 50% in other countries, it said. Russian consumption of polymer solutions in the housing and utilities sector is about 40%, less than half the figure of 85% in Europe, the company said. Per capita consumption of polymers in “developed countries” is ahead of demand in Russia, it said. Sibur cited the example of Turkey, which consumes 52 kg of polymers per capita, compared with 30 kg in Russia.

The transition to an industry-based model will expand opportunities for Russian manufacturers to sell their products by encouraging the use of domestic solutions and finding new niches for their use, the company said. “Sibur’s new model will enable its customers to work alongside the company to test ideas and hypotheses for the development of product lines and applications,” it said.

We remind, SIBUR, Russia's largest producer of polymers and rubbers, summarised the company's key operational results for 2023 at the Ruplastica international trade fair, which was held in Moscow on 23–26 January 2024, said the company. In 2023, SIBUR ramped up the sales of its key products, with the share of supplies to the Russian market rising to 75%.

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Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Austria’s OMV AG are nearing a deal to create a petrochemical firm worth more than EUR30 billion (USD33 billion), according to people with knowledge of the matter, said Bloomberg.

An agreement to combine Abu Dhabi-listed Borouge Plc with Borealis AG could be announced as soon as Thursday, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the agreement isn’t yet public.

A representative of OMV declined to comment. A spokesperson for Adnoc wasn’t immediately available to comment.

OMV owns 75% of Borealis, with the remainder held by Adnoc, while Borouge is a partnership between Adnoc and Borealis. The proposal calls for OMV to inject about EUR1.7 billion of cash into the joint company to ensure its stake is equal to Adnoc’s, they said.

We remind, Adnoc announced that it has formally closed the acquisition of a 24.9% shareholding in OMV AG, a global energy and chemicals group, headquartered and listed in Vienna, Austria, from Mubadala Investment Company. The transaction accelerates delivery of ADNOC’s global chemicals growth strategy, and reinforces its status as a responsible, long-term partner and growth-oriented investor. Financial details were not disclosed.

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