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Operational Changes and Investments news
(page 15)
27 March 2026
Sasol — Middle East developments and business impact
Middle East conflict disrupted gas supply - ORYX GTL shut; ~60 staff safe. Fuel and chemicals impacted; Secunda/Natref secure inventories and alternative crude; contingencies active.
27 March 2026
aicep Global Parques strengthens park competitiveness with digital connectivity
High-quality digital infrastructure - submarine-cable access, upgraded networks and metro proximity - boosts parks' competitiveness, attracting data centres, tech clusters and global value chains.
27 March 2026
Rompetrol Rafinare completes Petromidia and Vega turnarounds
Mechanical works finished; refineries return to staged full capacity after 700+ maintenance jobs, 6 catalyst swaps, ~900 equipment checks and ~1,200 pipeline tests; authorizations recertified.
27 March 2026
LKAB cuts Kiruna production
Changing rock conditions force temporary shutdown of pellet plant KK3 Apr–Nov, cutting ~2 Mt deliveries in 2026. No layoffs; plant gets maintenance; other mine areas assessed; restart aimed 2027.
26 March 2026
Toray Industries imposes emergency surcharges after crude and naphtha price surge
Temporary surcharges on petrochemical products after crude/naphtha price spike from Middle East tensions and Hormuz blockade; reviewed regularly to secure supply.
26 March 2026
thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel extends Isbergues production cuts amid import crisis
Below-cost imports forced full Isbergues shutdown Jun–Sep; orders slashed, ~1,200 jobs at risk; company seeks urgent trade protection; customer supply remains guaranteed.
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26 March 2026
Equinor completes investigation into Mongstad benzene exposure
Probe: prolonged benzene exposure during filling—task overran; no re-assessment; respirators insufficient. Naphtha→glycol; more PPE, detector training and a safety engineer; authorities notified.
26 March 2026
BASF opens world-scale Verbund site in Zhanjiang, China
World-scale integrated chemical site with 2,000 staff; basic, intermediate and specialty chemicals; 100% renewable power; 1 Mt/yr ethylene cracker with e-drive compressors; up to 50% lower CO2; €8.7bn
26 March 2026
Asahi Kasei stops Crystal IS UVC LED production, shifts to AlN substrates
Discontinues UVC LED device production; redirects resources to develop 100 mm single-crystal AlN substrates for RF and power semiconductors. Financial impact immaterial.
26 March 2026
Siemens launches Drivetrain Analyzer Onsite — on‑prem AI analytics for industrial drives
On-prem module offers local AI condition monitoring of drivetrain vibration and analog signals (PTP‑synced), local preprocessing on IPC, web dashboards, MQTT/gRPC/OPC UA
26 March 2026
KazMunayGas 2025 Financial Results
Revenue +12.5% to 9,371 bln KZT; EBITDA +19.6% to 2,393 bln; net profit down to 1,072 bln; net debt cut to 375 bln; production +10%; FCF +2.8%
25 March 2026
Boliden: Seismic damage at Garpenberg cuts production to ~30%
Seismic activity eased; limited production restarts in Q2 at ~100 kt/month. Major damage in an ore body delays some mining into 2026. Q1 EBITDA impact -SEK400M; zinc grade slightly down.
25 March 2026
OCI Hands Over Beaumont New Ammonia to Woodside
Beaumont New Ammonia completed testing and was handed over to operator; $470M deferred payment received (20% of proceeds; net proceeds expected $242M in 2026). Project delivered after >6M man‑hours.
25 March 2026
EU dialogue on cement industry's low‑carbon transition
Stakeholders urged lead markets, funding (Industrial Decarbonisation Bank), standards, CCS, CO2 transport & storage, skills, stable ETS to speed decarbonisation and competitiveness
25 March 2026
PureCycle secures €40M Innovation Fund grant for Antwerp PP recycling plant
Will build a 59,000 t/yr PureFive® polypropylene recycling plant in Port of Antwerp-Bruges (ASTRA PP), using P&G dissolution tech; targets 85% GHG reduction and EU regulatory compliance
25 March 2026
WuXi Biologics Posts Record 2025 Results on Digital‑Native Operations
Revenue +16.7%, IFRS gross profit +30.9%, gross margin up 5ppt to 46%, adjusted gross profit +25.5%. Built intelligent labs, predictive analytics and a cloud client portal to speed development.
25 March 2026
Air Liquide opens first Advanced Materials plant in Taiwan
New Taichung plant will make advanced deposition and etch materials (ALD) for next‑gen AI/HPC chips, localizing supply, boosting collaboration and high‑volume ramp; €1B+ invested in Taiwan since 2019.
25 March 2026
ScottishPower secures £600m National Wealth Fund loan for EGL4 subsea link
2GW, 530 km HVDC subsea link will transmit Scottish low-cost power to England (1.5M homes), cut constraint costs, boost energy security, and support UK clean-power grid upgrades
25 March 2026
Tecnimont (MAIRE) wins $50m rehabilitation study for Guaracara refinery in Trinidad & Tobago
Assessment and rehab study for 150kbpd Guaracara refinery: technical/integrity checks, energy/environment review, water/cooling engineering; CAPEX/OPEX estimates. Phases 1-2 by early 2027
24 March 2026
Toray announces TORAY VISION 2050, TORAY Challenges 2035 and IGNITION 2028
Launches a 2050 sustainability vision and a 2035 strategy with five priorities: growth, business-model change, genba-ryoku/supply-chain resilience, DX and HR. 2028 targets: ¥3T rev, ¥230B core OP, ROIC ~7%
24 March 2026
Iberdrola's Ignacio Galán on electrification, self-sufficiency and competitiveness
At CERAWeek he warned AI and data-centre growth will surge electricity demand, urging investment in transmission, distribution and generation and meeting global energy officials.
24 March 2026
LANXESS hikes Microbial Control prices up to 30%
Price adjustment takes effect immediately, applied regionally, citing sustained higher energy, raw material and logistics costs amid geopolitical tensions; aims to secure long-term supply and quality.
24 March 2026
Brenntag opens Asia Pacific’s first VDA-certified AdBlue site
VDA-certified AdBlue plant in Samut Prakan, Thailand delivers ISO 22241-compliant production with closed handling and controlled filling, ensuring pure, traceable diesel exhaust fluid supply.
24 March 2026
WuXi Biologics posts record 2025 results
2025 revenue +16.7% to RMB21.8bn; gross margin +500bps to 46%; EBITDA +38%; net profit +45%; 209 new integrated projects; backlog US$23.7bn; bi-/multi-specifics >120% growth
24 March 2026
Equinor begins Raia pre‑salt gas drilling offshore Brazil
Six wells started 24 Mar with Valaris DS‑17 in ~2,900m water; recoverable >1bn boe; capacity 16m m3/day (~15% national demand); start‑up 2028; $9bn investment; FPSO ~6 kg CO2/boe.
24 March 2026
Vattenfall 2025 Report: Progress Toward Fossil‑Free Energy
Emissions down 56% since 2017 (on 1.5°C path). 2025: SEK30.4bn invested (85% taxonomy), 95 TWh fossil‑free output, wind, nuclear and hydro project approvals; SEK165bn planned 2026–30.
24 March 2026
Teijin Aramid cuts drinking water use by 80% at Chemie Park Delfzijl
Cooling now uses industrial water from salt evaporation, cutting drinking-water use 80% (~300,000 m³), trimming total water use 10% and easing regional supply pressure.
24 March 2026
Veolia acquires Enviropacific for AUD220m to expand PFAS treatment in Australia
Boosts PFAS and soil remediation capacity in Australia via acquisition, integrating tech, field operations and infrastructure to scale cleanup, drive revenue growth and synergies.
24 March 2026
Sinopec Reports 2025 Results in Hong Kong
2025 results: revenue RMB2.78T; profit RMB32.476B; EPS RMB0.268; dividend RMB0.20/share. Oil/gas output rose; refining, chemicals and fuel sales grew; tech/digital advances.
23 March 2026
Roche opens Institute of Human Biology hub to accelerate drug discovery
IHB's new facility opens with space for 250 researchers to develop organoids, organ-on-chip and in silico human models to speed and de-risk drug discovery.
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