Oil giant BP announced plans to sell its refinery in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, operating under the name Ruhr Oel. The assets to be divested include the refinery in Gelsenkirchen and DHC Solvent Chemie in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
LyondellBasell (LYB) has completed the acquisition of a 35% interest in Saudi Arabia-based National Petrochemical Industrial Company (Natpet) from Alujain. The transaction was announced in January of this year.
US-based multinational contractor KBR has been awarded a contract by SABIC Fujian Petrochemicals to license its phenol technology in China.
Ineos has completed the acquisition of Naphtachimie, Gexaro and Appryl, which were 50:50 Joint Ventures between Ineos and TotalEnergies at Lavera in Southern France.
BP has appointed Murray Auchincloss as its permanent CEO, effective immediately. He has been interim CEO since September 2023 after the sudden resignation of his predecessor Bernard Looney.
LyondellBasell (LYB) has agreed to acquire a 35% stake in Saudi Arabia-based National Petrochemical Industrial Company (Natpet) from Alujain for approximately $500 million. Closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary closing conditions.
Following its long-term goal of extracting itself from a challenging operating environment in the Niger Delta, Shell agreed to sell its Nigerian onshore subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) to Renaissance, a consortium of five companies comprising four exploration and production companies based in Nigeria and an international energy group, for $1.3 billion.
Petrochemicals giant Ineos has agreed to buy compatriot Eastman’s Texas City site, including the 600 kt acetic acid plant and all associated third party activities on the site, for about $500 million.
Du Pont has been found guilty of criminal negligence and fined $12 million in connection with a November 2014 explosion that killed four employees of its methyl mercaptan plant in LaPorte, Texas, and caused extensive environmental damage.
Saudi Arabia is transferring another 4% chunk of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco, parent company of petrochemicals and plastics producer SABIC, to Sanabil Investments, a vehicle wholly owned by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Saudi Arabia is on a path toward establishing a major presence in the Chinese market. Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil producer, said it plans to start construction on a large refinery and petrochemicals complex in northeastern China sometime in April.
Aramco and Sinopec have signed two separate agreements to develop petrochemical complexes in their home countries of Saudi Arabia and China.
US chemicals and plastics producers have expectedly slammed a new legislative initiative called Protecting Communities from Plastics Act (PCPA) introduced by Democratic Party senators and representatives in both houses of Congress at the beginning of December.
SABIC, Saudi Aramco and PKN Orlen have signed a joint development agreement to assess the technical and economic feasibility of a petrochemical project in the Polish city of Gdansk. The project would include a steam cracker and downstream plants.
Michael Bloomberg, the founder of US-based financial, software, data and media group Bloomberg LP and a United Nations special envoy on climate ambition and solutions, has launched a campaign to stop the expansion of petrochemicals and plastics production in the US.
Vietnam is on its way to becoming a major Asian player in petrochemicals and plastics. Up to now, the country has lagged regional peers such as China or Malaysia in bringing new production facilities on stream, but this is slowly changing.
Lummus Technology has launched what it terms “a major enhancement” to its technology that allows ethane-based steam crackers to achieve zero CO2 emissions.
Brazilian oil group Petrobras has finalized the sale of its entire 27.88% stake in linear alkyl benzene (LAB) producer Deten Quimica to Spanish energy and petrochemicals group CEPSA Quimica for 514 million Brazilian reais.
Sibur and TAIF have finalized the terms of their petrochemical merger. The move follows an announcement on Apr. 23 that the firms had initiated steps to create a combined company that will be Russia’s largest petrochemical producer and one of the top five global polyolefin and rubber producers.
Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) has won a contract to upgrade Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals Company’s (Sidpec) production capabilities at its flagship complex in Alexandria, Egypt.
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.
