European chemical recycling faces another setback as Saudi-controlled SABIC exits its European petrochemical operations, selling them to AEQUITA for $500 million. The move creates uncertainty around Geleen’s SPEAR chemical-recycling project, built with Plastic Energy to feed pyrolysis oil into SABIC’s cracker. With Plastic Energy entering insolvency proceedings, the case exposes chemical recycling’s dependence on Europe’s increasingly fragile petrochemical infrastructure.
Timeline
2025: SPEAR, the 50/50 SABIC–Plastic Energy joint venture in Geleen, emerges as a flagship European chemical-recycling project, designed to convert mixed plastic waste into TACOIL™ for use as cracker feedstock.
January 2026: SABIC agrees to sell its entire European Petrochemicals business to AEQUITA for $500 million, including its Geleen assets.
March 2026: A major planned maintenance turnaround proceeds at SABIC’s Geleen operations ahead of the ownership transition.
May 2026: Plastic Energy’s financial difficulties and insolvency proceedings put its assets, patents and joint-venture interests under scrutiny, raising uncertainty over SPEAR’s future.
Q4 2026: SABIC and AEQUITA expect the European Petrochemicals transaction to close, subject to regulatory and other approvals.
Sources: SABIC, AEQUITA, Plastic Energy, Kunststof & Rubber. (Sabic)
The Architecture of SABIC’s Exit
SABIC is selling its European Petrochemicals business — including Geleen, Gelsenkirchen, Genk and Teesside — to AEQUITA for $500 million. SABIC describes the assets as structurally challenged and says the divestment will improve returns, margins and cash flow while allowing capital to be redirected toward higher-growth businesses.
The exit comes at a heavy accounting cost: SABIC expects a SAR 10.8 billion ($2.88 billion) non-cash loss related to the transaction.
For European chemical recycling, the message is uncomfortable: projects such as SPEAR depend on the very crackers and petrochemical infrastructure that major global producers increasingly consider economically unattractive.
Personal Remarks
Everybody seems to be abandoning ship on Europe’s circular recycling bullshit. Even Saudi Arabia is heading for the exit. Now the Germans are left almost alone to carry the weight.
The Germans are now all in on the European Commission’s circular economy bet. The money German investors are pouring into these petrochemical assets could probably have been the seed capital for Germany’s own new crude oil company.
The problem seems to be that the Germans have turned Bolshevik bourgeois overnight. Nobody noticed — except for the fact that they’ve been lecturing us while eating french pasties and drinking Italian coffee.
Sources: SABIC and Saudi Exchange. (Saudi Exchange)