The EU Commission’s ambitious plan for a European Green Deal, launched shortly before the pandemic struck in early 2020, aims to make the continent the world’s first climate-neutral region by 2050. The goals spelled out in January last year call for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% up to 2030, compared with 1990 levels.
Nouryon is to expand monochloroacetic acid (MCA) production capacity at its site in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, by the end of 2020.
US API specialist LGM Pharma has acquired the formulation development and drug product contract manufacturing business of specialty pharma company Nexgen Pharma for an undisclosed sum.
Johnson Matthey has won a contract to build a third methanol synthesis plant for China’s Ningxia Baofeng Energy at its coal-to-olefins complex near Yinchuan in Ningxia province.
UK chemical exports in the second quarter of this year have steadied but uncertainty looms for the rest of 2020 with risks from both Covid-19 and Brexit, said the Chemical Industries Association (CIA).
Brenntag has bought the operating assets of US-based Suffolk Solutions’ caustic soda distribution business, gaining access to a bulk terminal and rail transloading facility in the Virginia port city of the same name. The acquired business had sales of about $15.6 million in the fiscal year ending Apr. 30, 2020.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)’s shipping and maritime logistics subsidiary ADNOC Logistics & Services (ADNOC L&S) has formed a joint venture with China’s Wanhua Chemical, regarded as the world’s leading producer of polyurethane starting material MDI.
UK-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca has entered into a global development and commercialization agreement with Daiichi Sankyo, which could be worth up to $6 billion for the Japanese pharma.
US thermoset resins and specialty chemicals company Hexion is collaborating with Poland’s D&R Dispersions and Resins on the first commercial-scale production of the former’s VeoVa silane technology, which is free of isocyanates.
Air Liquide and Sasol have entered into exclusive negotiations for the French industrial gases group to acquire Sasol’s oxygen production site in Secunda, South Africa. The move is part of Sasol’s plans to cut CO2 emissions.
Indian state-owned oil and gas group Indian Oil Corp will build an integrated paraxylene (PX) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) complex at Paradip in Odisha, India. Investment costs are estimated at 138 billion Indian rupees, or $1.8 billion.
French storage operator Rubis Terminal is to take over leading Spanish bulk liquid storage firm Tepsa in what it describes as a “transformational and strategic acquisition” that will increase its business by about 30%. The transaction is subject to approval from Spanish regulatory authorities.
After declaring in May that it would set up a global healthcare business, petrochemicals giant Ineos launched Ineos Hygienics on Jul. 30. The move was triggered by the outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent pandemic, which led demand for sanitizers to soar. Ineos responded by rapidly building six hand sanitizer plants in the UK, USA, Germany and France.
Former photography giant Eastman Kodak is moving into the manufacture of pharmaceutical ingredients, supported by a $765 million government loan awarded by the administration of US president Donald Trump under the Defense Production Act (DPA).
Linde has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Beijing Green Hydrogen Technology Development, a subsidiary of China Power International Development, to jointly promote the application and development of green hydrogen in China.
Clariant has signed a licensing deal for its sunliquid cellulosic ethanol technology with Bulgaria’s Eta Bio. The Swiss specialty chemicals group said the agreement, the fourth for sunliquid, represents another significant step toward the technology’s commercialization and also gives it a foothold in the agricultural sector.
US investment firm SK Capital Partners has agreed to acquire the specialty polymers business of energy technology group Baker Hughes. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of this year.
TechnipFMC has announced the first commercial application of its Hummingbird sustainable ethanol-to-ethylene technology, following a licensing deal with LanzaTech. The engineering contractor originally acquired the process from BP Chemicals in June 2016.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has signed a joint venture agreement with diversified holding company ADQ to create a new chemicals investment platform for funding and developing industrial projects at the proposed Ruwais Derivatives Park.
Swiss-headquartered multinational private investor Partners Group has agreed to buy a majority stake in Portuguese crop protection company Rovensa from rival investment group Bridgepoint for about €1 billion.
Polynt-Reichhold has announced plans to build a 50,000 t/y maleic anhydride plant at its site in Morris, Illinois, USA. The new facility will support its internal supply of maleic anhydride for US production of composites and other maleic derivative, which it already makes in Europe and Asia.
Roche has announced two separate collaborations, one for an investigational cancer treatment and the other for the discovery of small molecule drugs for treating immune-mediated and neurological diseases.
Celanese has agreed to sell its 45% stake in the Polyplastics joint venture to partner Daicel for $1.575 billion. The deal, which is set to close later in 2020, will give Daicel full control of Polyplastics, which has been run by both companies for more than 50 years.
Solenis has closed on another deal that boosts its offering to water-intensive industries. Effective Jul. 14, the US specialty chemicals producer completed its acquisition of Mexico's Poliquimicos for an undisclosed sum.
Engineering and construction group KBR has won contracts on two separate projects in China and India. The first will see it supply its proprietary catalyst for Shenghong Refining Petrochemical’s proposed vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) project in Lianyungang, China. The plant will have a capacity of 300,000 t/y – an on-stream date was not revealed.
DSM has entered into a joint venture with French agro-industrial group Avril to produce canola (rapeseed) proteins to meet growing global demand. The Dutch group will hold 75% of the new company, which is called Olatein, with Avril taking the remaining 25%.
Azelis has agreed to buy Orokia Israel for an undisclosed sum. The purchase will give the Belgian distributor entry to the “highly attractive” Israeli specialty chemicals market. Part of global investment group EQT, Azelis said the takeover of Orokia is consistent with its strategy of complementing organic growth with strategic acquisitions.
Saudi Aramco said it will reorganize its downstream business by the end of the year to support and enhance integration across the hydrocarbon value chain and better position the group to drive financial performance, value creation and global growth.
US pharma giant Merck & Co is boosting its cancer drug development, adding two more collaborations – with Foghorn Therapeutics and Zymeworks.
KNM Process Systems (KNMPS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysia’s KNM Group, has entered into a heads of agreement to form a joint venture with ADAP Capital to participate in oil, gas and petrochemicals projects in Sarawak, Malaysia.
Cambrex is spending $3.6 million to expand flexible drug substance manufacturing at its site in Karlskoga, Sweden. Engineering has already begun, and work is expected to be completed by November 2020.
Air Liquide will spend over $100 million to install an air separation unit (ASU) on its Gulf Coast pipeline network in Ingleside, Texas, USA, to support a long-term supply agreement with Steel Dynamics Inc (SDI).
UK-headquartered multinational energy group BP has announced it will inject $70 million later this year into India’s Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF). Based in Mumbai, GGEF invests in scalable operating companies and platforms across renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, e-mobility, resource conservation and associated value chains.
Clariant is collaborating with Ineratec, a spin-off from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), to develop and commercialize novel technologies for producing renewable fuels and chemicals.
Norwegian energy group Equinor is leading a project in Humber, UK, to produce hydrogen from natural gas in combination with carbon capture and storage (CCS). The Hydrogen to Humber Saltend (H2H Saltend) project will be the start of a decarbonized industrial cluster in the Humber region, the UK’s largest by emissions.
