SAO PAULO (ICIS)–Brazil’s chemicals producers, represented by trade group Abiquim, have gotten on board with peer groups and trade unions in their lobbying for higher import tariffs for dozens of products as the government’s decision looms. Led by Abiquim, a total of 28 trade groups, trade unions, industrial development groups, one professional association and one company have signed a manifesto pleading for higher import tariffs to safeguard an industry which, in their view, is being threatened by lower priced imports which are produced with lower environmental standards. “The Brazilian chemicals input production chain, fundamental to the country’s economic and technological development, faces unprecedented challenges that threaten its very existence and the future of sustainable solutions for Brazilian industry,” said the manifesto. “Ensuring measures to protect the trade balance is vital to maintain the operation of the chemical chain and attract new investments.” In May, chemicals producers – via Abiquim but also as individual companies – proposed increasing tariffs in more than 100 chemicals, most of them from 12.6% to 20%, in a public consultation held by the Brazil’s government body the Chamber of Foreign Commerce (Camex). A decision is expected in August as the latest. Other trade groups in the chemicals chain, such as Abiplast, representing plastics transformers, do not support higher tariffs as most of their members import product to meet their demand, and are doing their own lobbying not to increase tariffs. ABIQUIM LOBBYING GETS PARTNERSAs well as Abiquim, other trade groups within chemicals signed the document, such the Brazilian Association of Alkali, Chlorine, and Derivatives Industry (Abiclor); the Brazilian Association of Fine Chemical, Biotechnology and Specialty Industries (Abifina); and the Brazilian Association of Artificial and Synthetic Fiber Producers (Abrafas) also signed the document. In total, 11 trade groups and 11 trade unions signed the document, as well as industrial development groups and other players in the chemicals chain. See bottom for full list of signatories. The backing of the unions is important because it is likely to resonate in the corridors of power in Brasilia, where the left-leaning government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva got into office thanks in part to the votes of the industrial workers constituency who voted for Lula’s Workers Party (PT) in 2023 under the promise of more and better paid industrial jobs. “The Brazilian chemicals input production chain, fundamental to the country’s economic and technological development, faces unprecedented challenges that threaten its very existence and the future of sustainable solutions for Brazilian industry. Ensuring measures to protect the trade balance is vital to maintain the operation of the chemical chain and attract new investments,” said the manifesto. “What we are witnessing by allowing a surge in imports of products without environmental commitments is the failure to comply with a global agenda, with negative contributions to the fight against climate change.” As the left-leaning Lula cabinet aims to increase public spending, the manifesto also touches on Abiquim’s calculations in the decrease in tax receipts by the Brazilian Treasury in 2023, as a consequence of lower imports – the trade group said the state’s receipts decreased during that year by Brazilian reais (R) 8.0 billion ($1.45 billion). “[The decrease in tax receipts] directly impacts investments in the production sector and in several other areas of public policy. Continuing to allow the unbridled entry of chemical products is a paradox for the policy that Brazil has planned in the context of neo-industrialization, while imports already account for 50% of demand in the chemicals industry,” said the manifesto. “Because of this, some plants are idle, with preventive maintenance anticipated, while others are hibernating plants. And this affects not only the production of chemical inputs, but an entire broad supply chain of raw materials, services, and energy supply related to the sector.” The Abiquim-led manifesto was also signed by several trade unions in some of Brazil’s key petrochemicals hubs, such the Chemists Union of Sao Paulo; the Union of Chemical Industries of Rio Grande do Sul (Sindiquim), and the Union of workers in the chemical, petrochemical, plastic and pharmaceutical industries of the State of Bahia (Sindiquímica Bahia). According to Abiquim’s figures, Brazil’s chemicals production and related chain employs around 2 million workers, representing 12% of the country’s industrial GDP. Earlier in June, the director general at Abiquim said in an interview with ICIS that the request for higher tariffs was only one of the proposals presented to the government to safeguard producers’ global competitiveness. “What we have presented to the government is the need to undertake action on three main fronts: in the short term, import tariffs, but in the medium and long term we also need a structural plan to address natural gas prices, which are seven times higher in Brazil than in some other jurisdictions, as well as a stimulus plan covering the whole chemicals production chain,” said Andre Passos. The list of signatories to the manifesto also includes one company, one professional association, and three industrial development groups: TRADE GROUPS 1.      Chemical Industry Association (Abiquim) 2.      Association of Piped Gas Distribution Companies (Abegas) 3.      Association of Alkali, Chlorine, and Derivatives Industry (Abiclor) 4.      Association of Fine Chemical, Biotechnology and Specialty Industries (Abifina) 5.      Association of Pharmaceutical Inputs Industry (Abiquifi) 6.      Association of Glass Industries (Abividro) 7.      Association of Independent Oil and Gas Producers (ABPIP) 8.      Association of Artificial and Synthetic Fiber Producers (Abrafas) 9.      Association of Campos Elíseos Companies (Assecampe) 10.  Association of Natural Gas Pipeline Transportation Companies (Atgás) 11.  Federation of Industries of the State of Alagoas (FIEA) TRADE UNIONS 12.  Federation of Chemical Workers of the CUT of the State of Sao Paulo (Fetquim – CUT SP) 13.  Single Federation of Oil Workers (FUP) 14.  Unified Chemical Union 15.  Chemists Union of Sao Paulo 16.  Plastic and Paint Industries Union of the State of Alagoas (Sinplast-AL) 17.  Industry Union of Chemical Products for Industrial Purposes of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Siquirj) 18.  Industry Union of Chemical Products for Industrial Purposes, Petrochemicals and Synthetic Resins of Camaçari, Candeias and Dias D’Avila (Sinpeq) 19.  Industry Union of Chemical Products Chemicals for Industrial and Petrochemical Purposes in the State of Sao Paulo (Sinproquim) 20.  Union of Chemical Industries of Rio Grande do Sul (Sindiquim) 21.  Union of Chemists of ABC (Sao Paulo state region) 22.  Union of workers in the chemical, petrochemical, plastic and pharmaceutical industries of the State of Bahia (Sindiquímica Bahia) 23.  Union of Workers in the Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Fertilizer Industries of Baixada Santista (coastal Sao Paulo area) INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT GROUPS 1.      National Confederation of the Chemical Branch of CUT (CNQ-CUT) 2.      Camacari Industrial Development Committee (Cofic) 3.      Industrial Development of the Rio Grande do Sul Pole (Cofip RS) PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS 24.  Federal Council of Chemistry (CFQ) COMPANIES 25.  Forca Quimica ($1 = R5.51)

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Asia’s base oils supply is expected to improve slightly in H2 2024, while a seasonal peak in overall demand is due to kick off in the later part of Q3. SE Asia’s Group I brightstock, S Korea’s Group II base oils supply to grow India post-monsoon demand to pick up in Sept; China demand to stay stagnant amid economic woes Sluggish demand for Group I base oils to offset impact of tight supply In this podcast, editors Matthew Chong and Michelle Liew discuss trends in the Asian base oils market. Join our experts for a webinar on the Global base oils landscape on 14 August by clicking here.

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Global ammonia marketer Mitsui announced it has agreed with partners to commence construction of an ammonia production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The project involves the construction of an ammonia production facility in Al Ruwais which is scheduled to start in 2027. It is planned to produce 1 million short tons per year of ammonia with lower carbon emissions compared to conventional supply. To achieve the reductions there will be additional facilities installed in the plant to capture and store levels emitted in the manufacturing process, with plans to begin production of clean ammonia by 2030. Mitsui said it will also offtake a certain volume of the clean ammonia for supplying Japan and other Asian markets for use in fuel applications, chemical and fertilizer feedstock applications, and other industries. The other partners involved in this project are TA’ZIZ, owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Fertiglobe, and South Korea’s GS Energy Corporation.

HOUSTON (ICIS)–The US soybean crop is now 97% completed with corn emergence having reached 97% according to the latest US Department of Agriculture (USDA) weekly crop progress report. While hot weather concerns persist, the corn acreage is progressing quickly with there now being 97% of the crop emerged, which is slightly behind the 98% rate in 2023 but is just above the five-year average of 96%. In the first update on corn silking the agency is seeing 4% of the crop reach this phase which is ahead of the 3% achieved in 2023 and the five-year average of 3%. For corn conditions, the USDA said 2% of the crop is very poor with 5% listed as poor. There is 24% of the crop rated fair with 55% listed as good and 14% as excellent. Soybean plantings have reached 97% completed which is trailing the 99% level reached last year but is above the five-year average of 95%. All the reporting states are now at 86% completed or above for the soybean acreage. There is 90% of the crop which has emerged, but this is less than the 95% from 2023 but it is higher than the five-year average of 87%. In the first update on soybeans blooming, the crop progress report said there is 8% of the crop at this phase, which is equal to the 8% from last year but this current pace is ahead of the five-year average of 6%. For soybean conditions, the USDA said 2% of the crop is very poor with 6% listed as poor. There is 25% of the crop rated fair with 56% listed as good and 11% as excellent. For the other key crops, the USDA said cotton plantings are at 94% completed with sorghum at 90%.

Additional reporting by Andrea Battaglia LONDON (ICIS)–A technical issue affecting the trading system underpinning the EPEX SPOT platform led to a partial decoupling of some European countries from the single Day-ahead market coupling (SDAC) session on Tuesday 25 June. The fault led to extremely wide spreads across central European power markets on EPEX SPOT, culminating in a €489.08/MWh premium on German prices over France. The partial decoupling meant that separate Day-ahead auctions had to be held on EPEX SPOT for France, Germany/Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland, with the publication of results delayed from the usual 12:00 CET to 15:06 CET. “EPEX SPOT is working on an in-depth analysis of the market events, including order book analysis,” a spokesperson for the platform told ICIS, blaming a “technical issue”. Traders continued to transact European Day-ahead products over-the-counter (OTC) into the early afternoon – more than three hours later than the typical time. GERMAN PREMIUM The SDAC system allocates cross-border capacity in the most efficient way by coupling different markets via an algorithm that also takes into account transmission constraints. But with separate auctions held, the Germany EPEX SPOT Day-ahead auction cleared at €492.04/MWh, with France at €2.96/MWh. “[Germany is] not reflecting reality,” said a trader. This was also evident from looking at auction prices on other platforms that did not decouple. On Nordpool, the German Day-ahead was €103.01/MWh, just €2.97/MWh below the French Day-ahead. On the OTC market, the German Day-ahead changed hands below the €100/MWh mark until about 13:00 CET, to then become very volatile and change hands in a wide €102.50-375.00/MWh range in thin trading afterwards. The results of the separate auctions on EPEX SPOT offered a glimpse into how much European countries rely on each other for meeting domestic demand, and the extent to which domestic policies have been set with that in mind. “What this really exposes is how Germany has essentially outsourced its nuclear generation to France, and how reliant it has become on its neighbours to cover power demand,” said ICIS power analyst Ellie Chambers. “With the decommissioning of its own nuclear units and several coal units, when Germany is forced to ramp up thermal plants the impact of these phase-outs is clear in the price.” By the end of this year, Germany will have phased out around 10GW of combined lignite and coal units. “With France’s grid operator RTE warning of more grid constraints August-October, it’s likely we’ll continue to see wide price disparities between France and Germany during those months – although, barring any events like today’s partial decoupling, hopefully not to the same extreme,” Chambers concluded. According to the European Network of Transmission System Operators, in the last 10 years, five incidents have happened that led to a partial decoupling of the SDAC market.

LONDON (ICIS)–Covestro will save €400 million annually in material and personnel costs by the end of 2028 through a transformation programme focused on digitalization and artificial intelligence, it said on Tuesday. Of the total global savings from its STRONG initiative, €190 million will be in Germany. Covestro said cost savings from the programme had already been initiated, adding that it was working continuously to further improve existing structures and processes. “This includes making production, administrative units and other areas as efficient as possible and continuously expanding the innovation pipeline. Covestro thereby continues the successful implementation of its strategy,” the polymers producer said in a statement. Any job cuts resulting from the transformation programme would be handled in a socially responsible manner, such as voluntary termination agreements, a company spokesperson said separately via email. “With the collective agreements and the extension of employment security announced today, Covestro is making a clear commitment to Germany as a business location,” the spokesperson added. On Monday, Covestro announced it had begun concrete negotiations on a possible investment by Abu Dhabi oil company ADNOC that would value its equity at €11.7bn. Front page picture: Covestro’s headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany Source: Friedemann Vogel/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Saudi Arabia’s Methanol Chemicals Co (Chemanol) has signed a 20-year deal to supply methanol to the Amiral petrochemical project of Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Co (SATORP). Under the agreement, Chemanol will supply 100,000 tonnes of methanol to SATORP on an annual basis when the complex starts up in three years’ time, Chemanol said in a filing on the Saudi Stock Exchange. “The commercial operation [of Amiral complex] and supply [of methanol] are planned to start by the end of 2027,” Chemanol said. It added that “the financial impact of this agreement is currently indeterminable due to the changes in market conditions and product prices at the time of starting to supply the methanol”. SATORP, a joint venture between energy giant Saudi Aramco and French TotalEnergies, is expanding operations via building the $11bn Amiral complex in Jubail. The complex is expected to have a mixed-feed cracker and utilities, with a nameplate capacity of 1.65m tonnes/year of ethylene and related industrial gases. Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts for the Amiral project were awarded in June 2023 to South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction. Aramco owns 62.5% of SATORP, while TotalEnergies holds the remaining stake of 37.5%. The companies made a final investment decision on Amiral in December 2022, to enable SATORP’s Jubail refinery to advance Aramco’s liquids-to-chemicals strategy. Amiral will enable SATORP to convert internally produced refinery off-gases and naphtha, as well as ethane and natural gasoline supplied by Aramco, into higher value chemicals. Thumbnail image: At a port in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 15 May 2023. (Ute Grabowsky/imageBROKER/Shutterstock)

UPDATED: On 24 June 2024, ICIS updated this analysis to include a review of the renewable capacity pledges from manifestos and their likelihood of being met On 21 June 2024, ICIS updated this analysis to include a breakdown of the impact of new gas licenses on British gas supply On 20 June 2024, ICIS updated this analysis to include the Scottish National Party’s manifesto plans for energy. The manifesto table now includes these details Initial analysis published with detailed table reviewing energy policies from announced manifesto pledges, original analyses covering nuclear power and gas-fired power generation, a UK election special episode of the ICIS Hydrogen Insights podcast LONDON (ICIS) — On 4 July 2024 the UK public will elect a new government, but what do the different parties have in store for energy? The following analysis reflect core pledges from manifestos and reviews those pledges in detail using ICIS data and insights. This analysis of UK political pledges and announcements will be continuously updated by the ICIS energy editorial team. Lead authors include: UK power reporter Anna Coulson, British gas reporter Matthew Farmer. UK PARTIES COULD STRUGGLE TO MEET RENEWABLE CAPACITY ELECTION PLEDGES – Added to analysis 24 June 2024 UK parties unlikely to meet capacity targets Key to onshore wind would be change to regulation Offshore wind could struggle following recent CfD round LONDON (ICIS)–For the UK general election, Labour, the Conservatives and the Green Party are the only three of the main parties to present outright capacity targets for renewable energy deployment across their manifestos. However, ICIS data and analyst insight suggests that meeting such targets could face difficulties due to recent setbacks in the UK’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) bidding process and restrictive regulation for onshore wind. The Labour party manifesto states it will double onshore wind, triple solar power, and quadruple offshore wind by 2030. To present an idea of this, ICIS has multiplied its forecasted capacity for these technologies in the UK by the end of 2024 by their respective factors according to Labour’s pledges. Actual intended capacity may vary. ICIS had contacted the Labour party for comment but received no response by the time of publication. Onshore wind Labour plans to double onshore wind capacity by 2030, while the Green Party would deploy 53GW of capacity by 2035. The Liberal Democrats would ‘remove the Conservative’s unnecessary restrictions on new wind power’, likely referring to the requirements the current government introduced in 2015 and changes to the law in 2016. Planning policies were updated in September 2023 to allow locations suitable for new wind farms to be identified in several ways, rather than only in the area’s development plan. However, decisions continue to be made by local planning authorities which differs to the process for other infrastructure projects where decisions on major projects are made by the Secretary of State. The current government does not have an onshore wind capacity target and the Conservative’s manifesto has no mention of one however, it does state that the party will ensure democratic consent for onshore wind. ICIS analytics forecasts 25.85GW of onshore wind capacity in 2030 and in 2035, under a base case scenario, which is below Labour and the Green Party’s targets. ICIS analyst, Robbie Jackson-Stroud, stated that planning permission is one of the main challenges onshore wind projects face. “Costs for turbines have also risen and so they are then squeezed into a CfD funding pot where they have to compete with solar”, he added. Jackson-Stroud noted that onshore wind could be a key component to the development of renewable capacity in the UK, changes to regulation permitting. “One aspect that is likely to change is regulation and approval of onshore wind projects, which require less budget and time to build. However, it is difficult to envisage a new government being timely enough to sufficiently improve the approval process and have enough projects apply to shift onshore capacity before 2030. It should be noted, however, how much potential a change to regulation would have to long term capacities, and you can expect more capacity in the 2030s”, Jackson-Stroud said. Offshore wind The Conservatives, Labour and the Green party all position offshore wind as a key technology to support the decarbonization of the UK’s power system. However, achieving such targets appears difficult following an unsuccessful fifth auction of the CfD scheme in 2023, in which there were no bids for offshore wind amid a low strike price. The current government increased the strike price for the upcoming sixth auction round, raising the maximum strike price from £44/MWh to £73/MWh. Jackson-Stroud highlighted the difficulty facing the next wave of auctions when considering 2030 targets. “Both parties [Labour and the Conservatives] have pledged unachievable targets without a huge budget increase for the CfD. Taking into account the time it takes to build offshore wind sites (that are getting increasingly larger on average) there are only two CfD auctions at most that can fund capacity to come online by 2030. “There is roughly 27GW of offshore wind already under CfD, under construction or operational, suggesting the need for a further 23GW across two auctions, which would be a record at a time where costs are higher than they have ever been. While the budget for the latest round has been raised to an all-time high of £800m for offshore and £1.2bn total, this would still procure only 12GW of wind in even the most conservative estimates. “This means regardless of Labour increasing 2030 targets for offshore, even the 50GW already in place will not be met, and a change of party doesn’t change the blockers to this,” Jackson-Stroud said. ICIS analytics forecasts that offshore wind capacity will be 39GW in 2030 under a base case scenario, therefore falling short of the Conservative and Labour party targets. Similarly, offshore wind capacity is forecast to be 48.04GW in 2035 under a base case scenario, well below the Green Party’s target. Solar Labour plan to triple solar capacity by 2030, while the Green Party and Conservatives have set targets for 2035, 100GW and 70GW respectively based on manifesto and recent policy announcements. However, reaching such targets may prove challenging based on recent CfD results. ICIS analyst Matthew Jones previously noted that for the UK to meet its 70GW by 2035 target, CfD capacity awards would need to average 4.5GW/year. However, over the last two CfD rounds, just 2.2GW was awarded in each. Further, ICIS analytics forecasts 42.97GW of solar capacity by 2030, and 48.54GW by 2035, under a base case scenario, therefore missing the Labour, Conservative and Green Party targets. Since the closure of the renewable obligation and feed-in tariff schemes, the CfD scheme is the only subsidized route to market for solar. The forecast models cited in this story are available as part of ICIS Power Foresight. If you would like to learn more about ICIS Power Foresight, please contact head of power analytics Matthew Jones at Matthew.Jones@icis.com UKCS LICENSING – Added to analysis 21 June 2024 Several parties have committed to end the issuing of new licenses for extraction of oil and gas on the UK continental shelf (UKCS), however ICIS analysis shows the inclusion of new licenses may have a minimal impact in mitigating output decline. Gas production on the UKCS started declining in 2000, but held steady during the 2010s. It currently accounts for approximately 40% of Britain’s gas supply mix, with the bulk of remaining volumes coming through Norwegian imports and LNG. From the late 2020s, UKCS production is expected to decline by approximately 6% per year. Licenses on new discoveries would not reverse the decline in British production expected in coming years. However, they would have accounted for another 0.80 billion cubic meters (bcm) of British gas production in 2030, increasing to 1.5bcm in 2035. In contrast to the other parties, the Conservatives and Reform UK have committed to annual licensing rounds and “fast-track” licenses, respectively. Both have done so with a justification of maintaining British energy independence, citing the rising price of energy caused by the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. GAS-FIRED POWER DEMAND LIKELY UNMOVED Both the Conservatives and the Labour party show support for the continued use of gas for power generation, bolstering a key area of demand for British gas market participants. However, of the two parties, the Conservatives presented a more bullish mentality by noting intensions for new gas plants, aligning with previous announcements to support new capacity. Labour meanwhile take a muted approach, noting the need for a strategic reserve of gas for power generation. Both Labour and the Conservatives have therefore presented policy that could reduce power-market price volatility as renewable capacity grows, with gas offering baseload generation at periods of low renewable output. Gas demand for power to remain From a gas-market perspective, the use of gas for power amounts to a large share of overall demand. In 2023, gas offtake for power accounted for 26% of total gas demand. The UK is heavily reliant on gas-fired power generation, with it contributing 26% of the UK’s electricity mix in the period 1 January to 31 May 2024, according to data from National Grid. Similarly, gas-fired generation provided an average 36.3% of the mix over the 2019-23 period, therefore making a significant contribution to the UK’s electricity stack. While the capacity of new gas generation is not mentioned in the Conservative party’s manifesto, ICIS analytics forecast data indicates that gas capacity is set to increase through to 2026, under a base case scenario. This would suggest that offtake for power generation could well remain a key share of overall gas demand under either a Conversative or a Labour government. Further, ICIS data shows that there will be 7.92GW of gas capacity in 2050 under a base case scenario, which itself raises uncertainty around the prospect of pledges to decarbonize power grids by around the 2030s. NUCLEAR Nuclear power represented a large focus for the Labour, Conservative and Reform UK parties, which each announced plans to increase nuclear capacity through a mix of measures, such as plant life extensions, new large-scale projects, or Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Despite this, the overall pledges presented for the election suggests need for further capacity build-out in the run up to 2050 in order to meet the government’s target. While the Conservative’s manifesto did not mention a specific nuclear capacity target, the current government has a target to reach 24GW of nuclear capacity by 2050. ICIS analytics forecasts that, under a base case scenario, nuclear capacity will be 12.76GW by 2050. Plant life extensions Although Labour’s manifesto did not provide details on which nuclear plants it intended to focus on for life extensions, or for how long, the intension is in line with former market announcements from EDF, which stated plans in January 2024 to extend the lives of five UK nuclear plants. EDF plans to invest an additional £1.3bn in these power stations over 2024-26, with the aim to maintain output from the four advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) for as long as possible, and for the Sizewell B plant to operate for an additional 20 years. The lifetimes of the four AGR stations would be reviewed by the end of 2024. New capacity From a new capacity perspective Labour pledged to get the 3.2GW Hinkley Point C project over the line and that new nuclear power stations, such as the 3.2GW Sizewell C project, will play a key role in helping the UK to achieve energy security and clean power. In January, the Conservatives announced plans for a new large-scale nuclear power plant, which would be as large as Hinkley Point C or Sizewell C, which are both 3.2GW in capacity. The current government announced in May that Wylfa would be the preferred site for this new plant however, a commissioning date is still to be confirmed. This aligns with the party’s manifesto pledge to deliver a new gigawatt power plant at the same location. The new plant in Wales could well boost UK nuclear capacity, but it would still present a capacity gap between the current ICIS forecast for 2050 and the government’s target of 24GW. Small modular reactors Labour, the Conservatives, and Reform UK all mention SMRs in their manifestos however, the Conservatives will approve two new fleets of SMRs within the first 100 days of the next parliament. This is likely through the competitive process that Great British Nuclear (GBN) launched in 2023 to select SMR technologies best placed to be operational by the mid-2030s. GBN plans to announce successful bidders for the competition by the end of 2024 and to take two SMR projects to a final investment decision by 2029. However, it must be noted that SMRs are a new technology, and none are commissioned yet in Europe.    HYDROGEN In this UK general election special, ICIS hydrogen editor speaks with Rob Dale, founder and director of UK consultancy Beyond2050, which aims at supporting market participants in achieving their energy and sustainability goals. Over the course of the episode, Jake and Rob review which parties have committed to hydrogen for the election and what makes this election the biggest for hydrogen so far.

LONDON (ICIS)–The European oxo-alcohols market and most of its derivatives have been characterized by ample supply in June, particularly following the lifting of OQ Chemicals’ force majeure at the end of May. Demand across most markets remains tepid and slow due to ongoing economic challenges. The construction and coatings industries have not experienced the expected seasonal surge. Butyl acetate reporter Marion Boakye speaks to oxo-alcohols reporter Nicole Simpson, glycol ethers reporter Cameron Birch and acrylate esters reporter Mathew Jolin-Beech about market dynamics down the oxo-alcohols value chain.