Recent developments
Fertilizers and ammonia
Petrobras restarted fertilizer production at Fafen‑BA and resumed urea at Araucária Nitrogenados (Ansa), raising Brazil’s domestic supply. Yara reported higher margins and strong deliveries as Strait of Hormuz disruptions tightened traded urea and ammonia. Export optionality and future capacity widened with thyssenkrupp Uhde’s FEED for Brunei Fertilizer Industries’ ammonia export expansion and the Ministry of Energy’s feedstock‑allocation approval enabling SABIC’s potential urea expansion.
Methanol capacity wave
TA’ZIZ Methanol Company closed $2.0 billion in financing and TA’ZIZ signed long‑term offtake, feedstock and sales agreements valued at $28.5 billion, while TA’ZIZ and Alpha Dhabi announced a strategic collaboration for new chemicals. INEOS Acetyls and Sandpiper will develop a 1.1 MTPA low‑carbon methanol plant in Texas. Bio‑routes advanced as Perpetual Next selected Clarksons as its preferred broker for maritime biomethanol. In China, Johnson Matthey will supply methanol synthesis technology for a Guangxi biomethanol plant.
Olefins and chlor‑alkali shifts
Asahi Kasei, Mitsui Chemicals and Mitsubishi Chemical agreed a 45/45/10 equity premise for a western Japan ethylene JV and target Mizushima’s discontinuation by 2030. Dow cited weaker merchant olefins after the idling of an EMEAI cracker, while OMV reported stronger polyolefin margins and ~90% cracker utilization. BASF outlined the structural energy vulnerability of its Verbund, and INEOS Inovyn moved to sell its Italian chlor‑alkali business to Esseco Industrial.
Portfolio and decarbonization moves
Avantium sold the intellectual property for its Ray Technology to UPM as it refocuses on FDCA/PEF. thyssenkrupp Polysius carved out its sustainable process technologies into thyssenkrupp Calvion, and MAIRE’s Nextchem won the Licensing and Process Design Package for a urea‑to‑DEF plant in Virginia. Decarbonization inputs progressed as Enova granted NOK 87 million to Elkem to scale biocarbon use in silicon and ADNOC launched an Industrial Resilience Program to localize process chemicals.