Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 13 December.

Little improvement expected for German chems sector in 2025- VCI
Germany’s chemicals and production is expected to have increased by 2% in 2024, while output growth is set to slow next year, sales could stagnate and prices fall, trade group VCI said on Friday.

Ample supply for crude markets in 2025 despite stronger demand – IEA
Global crude oil markets are likely to be comfortably supplied next year despite moves by OPEC+ to hold back on easing production cuts and anticipated firmer demand, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday.

INEOS pushes forward with Greensand carbon storage project
INEOS and project partners Harbour Energy and Nordsofonden have made a final investment decision (FID) to move forward with the first commercial phase of the Greensand carbon storage project.

Dow’s $2.4-3.0 billion infrastructure deal larger than expected
Dow signed a deal to sell a minority stake in its US Gulf Coast infrastructure assets to a fund managed by Macquarie Asset Management for up to $3.0 billion – larger than expected, according to UBS.

EU-Mercosur trade deal to support R&D in green chemicals – Brazil’s Abiquim
EU and Mercosur chemicals will greatly benefit from trade without barriers as per their free trade agreement (FTA) which will also encourage much-needed research and development (R&D) in new technologies for greener chemicals, Brazil’s chemicals producers’ trade group Abiquim said.