SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Evonik is ramping up plant and research investments in Asia to hit their growth targets, while mitigating direct shocks from US tariffs by targeting “local-from-local” production, according to Claus Rettig, President Asia Pacific at the German-based specialty chemicals firm. Evonik is undergoing a significant strategic transformation, aiming to increase its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by €1 billion to €2.7 billion by 2027 from €1.7 billion in 2023, Rettig told ICIS. €500 million will come from growth and the other €500 million from cost efficiencies via cost reductions among other measures, Rettig said. Asia has been earmarked as a region for further investment by Evonik and one example of this is its new alkoxides plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island, marking Evonik’s fifth plant in the country. When deciding where to build the alkoxides plant, Rettig said Singapore made sense as a base as Evonik already had existing infrastructure in place on Jurong Island, which would save costs while still allowing the company to service customers in Indonesia and Malaysia, who typically purchase alkoxides from China and Saudi Arabia. Indonesia’s growing focus on biodiesel production also serves as an opportunity for the company, who hopes to ramp up the plant’s operating rate to 100% “by the end of 2026”. As of this year, Indonesia has a B40 – 40% blend of palm oil with diesel fuel for domestic consumption – mandate and aims for B50 in the coming years. Finally, the 100,000 tonnes/year alkoxides plant in Singapore complements Evonik’s three plants located in Germany, Argentina and the US, being its first “world-scale” plant of its kind. “With all the uncertainties [surrounding geopolitical tensions], we want to be very balanced in our footprint,” said Rettig. KEY FOCUS ON ASIASales in Asia only amounted to a quarter of Evonik’s total as of 2024, but the company is aiming for a third of sales to come from the region by 2032, with China making up roughly half of that amount. Meanwhile, Europe’s sales made up 45% of Evonik’s total in 2024, and around 30% of sales was from the Americas. “I think nobody doubts Asia is and will remain the fastest-growing region in the world in chemicals, and that’s why we also allocate overproportional investments into Asia [to increase our footprint there],” said Rettig. While China remains a key focus in Evonik’s Asia operations, the company is also targeting India and southeast Asia for growth. For example, plants in India and Japan are due to open by the end of the year, Rettig said. TARIFF IMPACTPlants that mainly serve the country they are built in are useful for Evonik in mitigating direct risks from US tariffs, which are projected to reduce global GDP growth in 2025 to 3.0% from 3.2% in 2024. However, the indirect impact from geopolitical tensions is much harder to quantify, Rettig said. “Its not really easy to judge at all how much could be affected,” he said. Regardless, Evonik will proceed with their investments “based on fundamentals”, which still remain whether tariffs exist or not. “The growing population, the age of the population, the growing middle class, these are the fundamentals that stay in place regardless of tariffs,” said Rettig. Other factors such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which comprises Asia’s largest economies such as China, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea, will also be crucial for the company in the coming years if it wishes to hit their 33% sales target by 2032. Thumbnail photo: Claus Rettig is also a board member at the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). Source: Singapore EDB  Interview article by Jonathan Yee

HOUSTON (ICIS)–The new biofuel mandate proposed by the US calls for larger amounts of renewable fuel to be blended into gasoline and diesel, all while penalizing companies that import biofuels or the feedstock needed to make them domestically. The proposed mandate, called the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), will not just increase costs in the fuel market. Oleochemical producers rely on the same feedstocks to make fatty acids. The proposed penalty on imports of feedstock will increase demand for domestically produced material, which will raise prices for oleochemical producers and others company that use natural oils to produce goods. The following table shows the proposed RFS. The mandate volumes for each fuel is listed as renewable identification numbers (RINs), which is the unit of measurement used to determine compliance with the RFS. For ethanol, 1 RIN is equivalent to 1 gallon. For distillates, each gallon is worth more than 1 RIN to take into account their higher energy density. Figures in the table are listed in billions of RINs. 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 Cellulosic biofuel 0.84 1.09 1.38 1.30 1.36 Biomass-based diesel 4.51 4.86 5.36 7.12 7.50 Advanced biofuel 5.94 6.54 7.33 9.02 9.46 Total renewable fuel 20.94 21.54 22.33 24.02 24.46 Implied conventional biofuels 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 Source: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) The proposed RFS will increase costs in the following ways: It will require more advanced biofuels to be blended into finished fuels. Advanced biofuels typically cost more. It assumes that the same volume of conventional ethanol will be added into a shrinking domestic market for gasoline. This will require gasoline to contain higher concentrations of ethanol at a time when most service stations cannot handle fuels containing more than 10% ethanol. Companies will have to meet the RFS mandate by purchasing more expensive advanced biofuels biofuels such as renewable diesel. Imported biofuels or domestic biofuels fuels made from imported feedstock will receive a 50% discount towards meeting the biofuel mandate. This proposed discount would further increase compliance costs if refiners cannot obtain domestic biofuels or feedstock. Previous US policies already have raised biofuel costs. Tariffs have increased the costs of imported biofuels and the feedstocks needed to make them. In addition, US companies have fewer tax incentives to increase biofuel capacity. In all, the proposed RFS could increase compliance costs by nearly $70 billion annually in 2026 and 2027, according to studies commissioned by the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), a trade group that represents refiners. That is nearly twice as high as the previous record year for RFS compliance. The small refinery exemptions that the US recently announced will do little – if anything – to offset the costs of the proposed RFS. Those exemptions did not lower the biofuel mandate. Instead, they exemptions simply reallocated the obligations from the small refiners to larger ones. ETHANOL HITS BLENDING CEILINGIdeally, the fuel market would meet mandated volumes for total renewable fuels by blending conventional ethanol. Ethanol is typically cheaper than advanced fuels, and the proposed RFS assumes that this will happen. The mandate implies that blenders will continue adding 15 billion gal/year of conventional ethanol in the years 2026 and 2027, a figure unchanged from 2023-2025. However, US gasoline demand will continue declining, as shown in the following chart. Figures show millions of barrels per day of gasoline supplied to the US market. Source: Energy Information Administration To meet the mandate, finished gasoline will need to contain higher concentrations of ethanol, and fuel stations will need to the equipment necessary to store and distribute those higher blends. The problem is most fuel stations in the US can handle gasoline with maximum ethanol blends of 10% (E10). A relatively small number of fuel stations have the equipment and infrastructure necessary to handle gasoline with blends of 15% ethanol (E15) and 85% ethanol (E85), as shown in the following table: Total fueling stations 150,000 E15 3,000 E85 4,200 Sources: American Petroleum Institute (API), US Department of Energy (DoE) The lack of fuel stations that can distribute E15 and E85 makes it difficult to blend more ethanol in a shrinking market for domestic gasoline. US forecasts for fuel consumption acknowledge this ceiling on ethanol demand. They expect demand to decline, as shown in the following chart. Figures show millions of barrels/day of ethanol consumed in the US. Source: EIA Once the gasoline pool hits that ceiling for ethanol blending, blenders will have to meet the RFS mandate buy obtaining more expensive advanced biofuels such as biodiesel, renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and cellulosic fuels. In particular, renewable diesel and SAF have no blending limits, so the fuel market would face no physical constraints in using these fuels instead of conventional ethanol to meet their RFS mandates. However, the AFPM wars that such a strategy could prove way more costly than using conventional ethanol. It accounts for half of the $70 billion in annual compliance costs, according to the AFPM studies. IMPORTED BIOFUELS TO BECOME TWICE AS EXPENSIVEUnder the proposed RFS, imports of biofuels and domestic biofuels made from imported feedstock will receive a 50% discount towards meeting the biofuels mandate. In other words, it will be twice as expensive to rely on imported biofuels or feedstock to meet the proposed RFS mandates. The discount on imported feedstock will have more widespread effects because the biofuel industry is just one of many sectors that use natural oils. Oleochemical producers and other oil-dependent industries also rely on natural oils, so they will be competing with renewable fuels producers for limited quantities of domestic feedstock. The effects of this feedstock displacement would be amplified if biofuel producers replace imports of used cooking oil with domestic oils. Most of this used cooking oil is used to make biofuels, according to the business intelligence and analytical firm GlobalData. Moreover, the US imports significant amounts of used cooking oil, as shown in the following chart. Figures are in kilograms and reflect 2024 imports for consumption under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) code 15180040. Source: US International Trade Commission (figures in kilograms) US TARIFFS INCREASE COMPLIANCE COSTS FOR DIESEL-TYPE BIOFUELSEven without the RFS, compliance costs will likely increase because of tariffs, which the US has imposed on some of its largest suppliers of feedstock used to make biofuels. In 2024, China was the largest US supplier of imports of used cooking oil, Brazil was the largest for tallow and Argentina for refined soybean oil. The following chart shows the US 2024 trade balance for tallow (HTS code 150210) and refined soybean oil (HTS code 150710). Figures are in kilograms, and they show imports for consumption and domestic exports for 2024.  Source: ITC The US could conceivably replace these imports with domestically produced soybean oil, but it will need to increase production and install crushing capacity to provide enough feedstock to offset the imports. It will also present logistic challenges, since supply chains would need to be re-arranged to accommodate the new sources of feedstock. If the new supply chains require domestic shipping, then the Jones Act could further increase costs because it requires shipping between US ports to be conducted by ships built, flagged, owned and crewed domestically. US TAX CODE PROVIDES FEWER INCENTIVES FOR RENEWABLE FUELSThe US tax code is reducing its incentives for biofuel production, which will make it more expensive for companies to increase production to meet the larger mandate in the proposed RFS. The biodiesel blender tax credit expired at the end of 2024. It provided a $1 tax incentive for each gallon of pure biodiesel or renewable diesel blended into petroleum-based diesel. By contrast, the section 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit (CFPC) provides a 35 cent/gal benefit for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and 20 cents/gal for all other fuel. The credit rises to $1.75/gal for SAF and $1.00/gal for all others for producers that meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements. However, feedstocks must be sourced from the US, Canada or Mexico. HOW THE RFS WORKSThe RFS requires that a mandated volume of biofuel is added to the nation’s fuel pool. The RFS distinguishes among the different types of biofuels by their feedstock, the process used to produce them and their effect on greenhouse gas emissions. The following table summarizes the different classes of biofuels. Code Content Greenhouse Gas Reduction Renewable Fuel D-6 Any biomass, including corn starch At least 20% versus petroleum Advanced Biofuels D-5 Any renewable biomass except corn-starch-based ethanol At least 50% versus petroleum Biomass-based Diesel D-4 Biodiesel, renewable diesel At least 50% versus diesel Cellulosic biofuel D-3, D-7 Made from cellulose, hemicellulose or lignin At least 60% versus petroleum Source: EPA Insight article by Al Greenwood Thumbnail shows corn, which can be used to make ethanol. Image by Shutterstock.

LONDON (ICIS)–Evonik is spinning out its infrastructure activities in Marl and Wesseling chemicals parks to become new companies, the German firm said on Thursday in a statement. The newly minted SYNEQT will begin operations on 1 January 2026, initially as a wholly owned subsidiary of Evonik, but could become open to investors “taking different stakes to provide further funds to grow the business”, the company said. SYNEQT will comprise 3,500 employees (3,000 in Marl, 500 in Wesseling) and will have an estimated revenue of €1.8bn, based on 2024 annual results. “So far, we at Evonik have largely combined everything under one roof,” said Thomas Wessel, chief human resources officer and labor director at Evonik, responsible for the company’s infrastructure units. “In a world in which more and more specialist knowledge is needed to assert oneself at the top in the respective field, a different setup is needed.” The move will combine two of Evonik’s infrastructure sites at the Rhine and Ruhr rivers to become one of the largest service providers for the process industry in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. The medium-sized firm will build on experience in all services related to chemical plants and other process industries, with expertise including: Energy supply Pipeline construction and operation Safe facility and plant management Technical services Waste disposal Port operations Plant logistics and fire brigades Plant security and canteen operations “At SYNEQT, we have combined all the qualifications and fundamentals to be able to develop the sites in the long term into climate-neutral, digitally networked and highly flexible industrial ecosystems with modular, tailor-made assets, closed material cycles and smart services,” said SYNEQT management spokesman Thomas Basten. Wessel cautioned that the move would take time, and while terms of employment for those affected would not generally change, SYNEQT employees would not be exempt from Evonik’s long-term efficiency measures. Evonik was both the operator and largest customer of the Marl and Wesseling chemical parks, but is now shifting its focus to its core chemicals production business, and the decision to siphon off its services activities was set in motion about two years ago. SYNEQT’s business assets provide customized services to around two dozen companies – with nearly 20 based in Marl, and a further five located in Wesseling – currently as part of Evonik. Both Marl and Wesseling already operate an industrial hydrogen network and are connected to raw material and energy pipelines, which SYNEQT intends to leverage towards climate-neutral, economically sustainable operations. Headquartered in Marl, the management of SYNEQT is made up of Thomas Basten (spokesman), Daniel Brünink and Andreas Orwat. The name stands for SYNergies, paired with Energy, Quality and Technical Expertise. Around 10,000 staff work at the Marl Chemical Park across approximately 900 buildings and 100 production facilities. A further 1,500 employees from 10 plants operate from the Wesseling Chemical Park, where Evonik produces silica and precursors for animal feed additives. Thumbnail image shows Evonik headquarters in Essen. Credit: Shutterstock

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US railroads BNSF and CSX are offering several new intermodal services designed to offer seamless, efficient connections from coast to coast, an alliance that is supported by the head of the chemical distributors association. “It’s kind of like an alliance that you see in shipping,” Eric Byer, president and CEO of the Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD) told ICIS. “I think it is a brilliant idea that all the railroads should look at.” One new service will connect southern California, home to the major container import ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, to Charlotte, North Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida. Another will connect Phoenix, Arizona and Atlanta, Georgia, designed to shift over-the-road (OTR) volumes from truck to rail. A new service will also connect the Port of New York and New Jersey to Norfolk, Virginia, and Kansas City, Missouri. Between Phoenix and Flagstaff, Arizona, two new 10,000-foot sidings will further support this growing market by enabling more efficient meet/pass operations on the route connecting to BNSF’s Southern Transcon. “This collaboration between BNSF and CSX demonstrates the power of partnership, delivering greater flexibility, efficiency and value for our customers,” BNSF Group Vice President of Consumer Products Jon Gabriel said. The agreement comes after two other Class 1 railroads – Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern (NS) – agreed to merge in a deal that they said enhances competition and creates a more reliable and efficient transcontinental service option. Byer said the alliance shows him that the merger was not necessary and that something like this is likely better for ACD membership. “I think it will be a better value for our members because the alliance is using the existing system to keep customers happy,” Byer said. “You don’t have to do a merger where it is going to cost a ton of money.” Byer said he hopes the Surface Transportation Board (STB), the agency charged with approving the UP-NS merger, will look at this alliance as a clear alternative. “I think it is a much better route,” Byer said. In the US, chemical rail car loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. Chemicals are generally shipped in tank cars (liquids and liquefied gases), hopper cars (dry commodities); and some boxcars (dry bulk or packaged chemical products). In Canada, producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail. Thumbnail image shows a railroad track. Photo by Shutterstock

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Evonik has opened a 100,000 tonne/year alkoxides plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island, the largest of its kind in southeast Asia, the German specialty chemicals producer said on Wednesday. First announced in 2023, the “mid double-digit million euro investment” facility will meet demand for alkoxides in Asia, Evonik said in a statement. Demand for biodiesels is growing, particularly in southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, said Evonik Asia Pacific president Claus Rettig. “By producing closer to our customers, we enhance supply security and agility, while also contributing to Singapore’s vision for a sustainable chemical industry,” said Lauren Kjeldsen, chief operating officer Custom Solutions at Evonik. “We are glad that partners like Evonik have given us your vote of confidence by investing in Jurong Island to scale production of specialty chemicals that will serve growing regional and global demand,” Singapore’s minister for sustainability and the environment, Grace Fu, said at the plant’s launch on Wednesday. Besides the new Singapore plant, Evonik also has alkoxide plants in Germany, Argentina and the US. Alkoxides, or sodium methylates, are primarily used for biodiesel production and can also be used in chemical recycling.

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Ocean carriers have announced rate increases for shipping containers on the Asia-US trade lane, but industry analysts expect rates to continue facing downward pressure amid soft demand and the lack of a peak season. Lars Jensen, president of consultant Vespucci Maritime, said the rate hike announcements have been a monthly occurrence without much success. “Carriers have announced rate increases of $1,000-3,000/FEU (40-foot equivalent unit) from 1 September on the Pacific, but they have also done so basically every fortnight for the past couple of months without any success, leading to rates which are now becoming unsustainably low,” Jensen said. Jensen noted that the announcement on Friday by US President Donald Trump of a major investigation on furniture entering the country could prop up demand. “Furniture coming from other Countries into the United States will be Tariffed at a Rate yet to be determined,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. Jensen said the two HS codes 9403 and 9401, covering furniture and parts as well as seats and furniture, accounted for 800,000 TEU of imports equal to some 6.9% of total US imports in the second quarter of this year. “A sharp ramp-up in tariffs could therefore have a material impact on container demand,” Jensen said. “It should be noted that there was a strong year-on-year increase in furniture imports early in 2025 and hence importers appear to have frontloaded cargo prior to such tariffs.” NO PEAK SEASON IN 2025 Even as carriers announce general rate increases (GRIs) for September, shippers need not worry about peak season surcharges, according to an analyst at ocean and freight rate analytics firm Xeneta. Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xeneta, said the continuing trend for increasing capacity on fronthaul trades and subdued ocean container shipping demand will contribute to spot rates falling further in the coming weeks. “Shippers should not fear peak season surcharges because, quite simply, there is no traditional peak season in 2025,” Sand said. Sand said average spot rates to the US East Coast are now at the lowest level since the end of 2023. “The rate of decline may have slowed from the dramatic drops in July, but this gradual erosion will continue because there is still room for spot rates to fall further,” Sand said. The low spot rates will also impact negotiations for long-term contracts going forward, Sand said. “Shippers looking to sign new long-term contracts have much to consider because they must balance where rates are right now, where they are likely to be in 2026, and how much of an impact the ongoing conflict in the Red Sea conflict should have on the rates they are paying on each trade,” Sand said. Container ships and costs for shipping containers are relevant to the chemical industry because while most chemicals are liquids and are shipped in tankers, container ships transport polymers, such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), are shipped in pellets. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is also shipped in containers. They also transport liquid chemicals in isotanks. Visit the US tariffs, policy – impact on chemicals and energy topic page Visit the Logistics: Impact on chemicals and energy topic page

BARCELONA (ICIS)–Chemical companies may see drastic AI-driven changes in sales, marketing, supply chain and product development but it will always augment, not replace humans. Companies need to work out their pain points and ambition Quantifying AI’s business value is a key challenge Companies often run siloed projects without a unified strategy Clean, trusted data is essential for AI success AI should augment, not replace, human decision-making Governance and ethical frameworks are critical safeguards AI can reshape supply chains and customer engagement Cultural change and workforce education are vital AI raises questions about intellectual property AI adoption in chemicals is still at an early stage In this ICIS Think Tank podcast, Will Beacham interviews AI entrepreneur and consultant Eleanor Manley, Sebastian Rau, director of advanced analytics for ICIS and Carlos Soares, senior vice president for data, analytics & AI at Brenntag. Editor’s note: This podcast is an opinion piece. The views expressed are those of the presenter and interviewees, and do not necessarily represent those of ICIS. ICIS is organising regular updates to help the industry understand current market trends. Register here . Read the latest issue of ICIS Chemical Business. Read Paul Hodges and John Richardson’s ICIS blogs.

Denmark sees full biomethane reliance this summer Scaled-up biomethane output bolstered security of supply during crisis Energinet working with Germany to reach agreement on technical specifications BUCHAREST (ICIS)–Denmark is planning to scale up its biomethane production amid a greater push to phase out fossil gas domestically and ramp up exports to Europe. In an interview with ICIS, three experts at the Danish gas and electricity grid operator Energinet, confirmed the country had reached several days of full reliance on biomethane this and last summer. The trend is likely to increase as Denmark intends to expand annual production – currently hovering above 8TWh – by another 25% in the next two years and fully replace fossil gas with renewable gas by the beginning of the next decade. ‘If you have a vision for 35 billion cubic meters (bcm)/year for biomethane in the EU, then you also need some scale,’ said  Jeppe Bjerg, lead development manager. ‘You need to produce where resources are abundant and it’s a cost-effective solution. You cannot rely just on a 10 to 20-year time horizon; you need a market that is stable,’ he explained. SECURITY OF SUPPLY Denmark is a leader in biomethane output, holding top spot along with the UK, France and Germany among the largest producers in the EU. The push towards full fossil phaseout and replacement with renewable gases mirrors the EU’s commitments, but Bjerg said that the expansion of biomethane production has also brought security of supply dividends. “When we had the energy crisis in 2022, we started to see that biomethane production was making a real contribution to security of supply. It helped us. It’s not normally how we look at security of supply but when you produce 20% of your physical demand [of biomethane] you begin to see it,” Bjerg said. “We were laughing when its share was 0.5% initially but it has reached sufficient levels to shield us from the crisis,” he added. Bjerg believes that the key to Denmark’s biomethane production growth lies in a combination of running a well-developed agricultural sector and logistical chain, transparency, an outward looking attitude and, critically, generous subsidies similar to those forked out to the heating sector. Thanks to all these factors, Denmark has seen significant growth. Since 2013, when the sector was established, Denmark saw the establishment of 60 plants which are currently working at full capacity. Some of them have attracted large investor interest, such as Shell’s, which spent close to €2bn  in 2022 to snap up plants and associated infrastructure. Bjerg admitted that demand has been decreasing amid the expansion of electrification but said that export requirements will keep the sector viable in the longer term. GUARANTEES OF ORIGIN The success of exports depends on two factors, Energinet experts said. Firstly, Denmark is one of the EU’s front runners in trading guarantees of origin and linking up with the bloc’s Union Database for Fuels, a system tracking the production of liquid and gaseous fuels to ensure compliance with renewable energy targets. UDB is expected to be operational from next year and allow countries in the EU and immediate neighbourhood, such as Ukraine, to engage in cross-border trading. Data by the Danish Biogas Association show that more than 60% of local guarantees of origin for Danish-produced biogas were traded in Sweden and Germany. The remaining 20% were distributed in other EU countries and only 13% of Danish GOs were traded locally. The cost of GOs’ is becoming increasingly affordable, hovering at an average €15.00/MWh, a major decrease from €50-€60/MWh at the start of the industry, Bjerg said. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Secondly, Rasmus Neergaard Jacobsen, Energinet’s chief commercial manager and senior economist Lasse Ellebaek Krogh said the EU’s expansion of biomethane production will depend on harmonising technical specifications. Neergaard Jacobsen said Energinet and local distribution system operators had a very ‘embracing’ attitude from the start, trying to tackle operational challenges. “We do not establish compressor stations all over the place only where we can’t deal with challenges,” he added. Jacobsen said that one of the reasons Energinet was able to connect so many plants to the grid in Denmark was because the operator decided to increase the oxygen specification to 0.5% which was technically possible at a large scale at the time. “A lot of the new plants are able to work at lower level at 0.1 or 0.2% and today the gas we can export to Poland is at 0.2%,” he added. Ellebaek Krogh said exports to Germany are difficult because the locally accepted oxygen specification is 0.001%. He said Energinet was in talks with the distribution system operator in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany, to establish a biomethane zone. “We can export the amount that they consume in that particular area and ensure that high oxygen levels do not impact them,” he said. The alternative would be to find a solution on the Danish side of the border that would still facilitate the exports to Germany. ICIS has expanded its coverage of the emerging biomethane market via the development of the topic page “European biomethane: data, news and analysis”. Click here to access

MUMBAI (ICIS)–State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) has begun land acquisition and pre-project activities for its 9 million tonne/year greenfield refinery and petrochemical complex near Ramayapatnam port in the southeastern Andhra Pradesh state, company chairman Sanjay Khanna said. “This strategic investment will further expand BPCL’s petrochemical portfolio, provide a natural hedge against petroleum products in the long run, and align with India’s vision of becoming a global refining and petrochemical hub,” Khanna said during the company’s annual general meeting on 25 August. BPCL expects to invest rupee (Rs) 61 billion ($695.3 million) to set up the refinery project. The project will have an ethylene production capacity of 1.5 million tonnes/year is expected to have a petrochemical intensity index (PI) of 35%. PII is a measure of the percentage of crude oil that will be converted into chemicals. Once operational, BPCL plans to market around 80% of the new refinery’s products domestically to downstream producers and automobile manufactures in southern India. The new refinery is part of BPCL’s plan to invest Rs1.7 trillion over the next five years to grow its refining and fuel marketing business, as well as expand its petrochemicals and green energy businesses. Project Location Details Andhra Pradesh refinery and petrochemical complex Nellore, Andhra Pradesh Land acquisition, feasibility studies ongoing Bina Refinery Expansion Project Bina, Madhya Pradesh Includes refinery expansion and petrochemical projects. Commissioning by May 2028 Kochi Polypropylene Project Kochi, Kerala Expected to become operational by December 2027 Mumbai Refinery Upgradation Project Mumbai, Maharashtra Replacement of CCU & FCCU with PRFCC. Completion by May 2029 Bargarh ethanol project Bargarh, Odisha Ethanol plant to begin operations in September 2025 The company’s planned petrochemical expansions include the petrochemical projects at its Bina refinery in the central Madhya Pradesh state, and the Kochi refinery in the southern Kerala state. The Bina refinery project is a brownfield expansion that will raise the refinery’s capacity by 41% to 11m tonnes/year, to cater to the requirements of upcoming petrochemical plants, which include a 1.2 million tonnes/year ethylene cracker and downstream units. The site is expected to produce 1.15 million tonne/year of polyethylene (PE) including high density PE (HDPE) and linear low density PE (LLDPE) and 550,000 tonne/year of polypropylene (PP) and other chemicals like benzene, toluene, xylene and others. The Bina refinery project is on track for completion by May 2028 while the 400,000 tonne/year PP project at Kochi is expected to begin operations by December 2027, as per the annual report. BPCL is also investing Rs142 billion to upgrade its Mumbai refinery by replacing the catalytic cracking unit (CCU) and fluidized catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) with a petro resid fluidized catalytic cracking unit (PRFCCU), company chairman Sanjay Khanna said. The company expects to complete the upgrade by May 2029. Separately, the company expects to begin operations at its 200 kilolitre/day ethanol plant at Bargarh in the eastern Odisha state by September 2025. The ethanol plant is currently in pre-commissioning stage and once operational, the integrated refinery is expected to produce both first generation (1G) as well as second generation (2G) ethanol using rice grain and paddy straw as feedstock.