Author: Editor
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Eni Priolo Pyrolysis Plant: A Risk Analysis
Eni plans a 40,000-tonne pyrolysis plant in Sicily. We examine the technology, scale-up challenges, feedstock quality, purification needs, economics and the real plastic-to-plastic recycling yield.
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Inside Eni’s Offshore Holdings and Fiscal Construction
Eni’s foreign holding structures raise questions about why Libyan assets flow through Dutch entities, taxation, transparency and where profits ultimately land.
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Saudi Arabia Turns Away From Europe
Saudi Arabia redirects more crude toward Asia, while Europe faces tighter supplies, higher costs and growing pressure on its struggling industry.
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The World Is Running Out of Oil Tankers
A global shortage of supertankers is driving freight costs higher, making long-distance crude shipments more expensive and squeezing refinery margins worldwide.
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McKinsey Report: Energy Security
A short summary of the McKinsey report on the Hormuz crisis and its impact on global energy security.
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Dangote Plans Refinery and Petrochemical Complex in Kenya
Dangote plans a huge Kenyan refinery and petrochemical complex, with Engineers India winning a $450 million engineering and management contract.
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Braskem Ownership Changes Hands
Braskem’s ownership is changing as IG4 takes over Novonor’s stake, while Petrobras remains a major shareholder amid financial pressure.
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The Price of Oil Is Hitting India Hard
India’s oil import bill jumped 48% despite lower volumes, as higher crude prices, tighter supplies and soaring freight costs hit hard.
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OPEC’s 2026 Oil Growth Forecast Is Evaporating
OPEC has slashed its 2026 oil demand growth forecast by 73%, raising questions about whether global demand could soon decline.
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Lotte Stops South Korea PET Recycling Project
Lotte cancels its planned PET chemical recycling plant, raising questions over whether industry confidence in advanced recycling is beginning to fade.
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Ineos Stops Production in the UK
Ineos halts UK production as soaring gas costs deepen Europe’s industrial crisis, prompting a satirical swipe at government economic policy.
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Belgium’s Gas Supply Falls
Belgium enters winter with lower gas arrivals as Ukraine continues disrupting the energy infrastructure Europe once relied on.
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The Oil Shock Is Becoming a Plastics Shock
Oil disruption is spilling into plastics, driving up feedstock, production and shipping costs across the global petrochemical and polymer industries.
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Libya Oil Pipeline Shut by Armed Group
An armed group shut Libya’s Sharara pipeline, cutting oil production by around 200,000 barrels per day and disrupting exports.
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Roman Abramovich: The Last Soviet Golden Boy
Roman Abramovich’s journey from Soviet-era entrepreneur to global tycoon traces the rise of Russian capitalism, Chelsea’s transformation, Putin’s Russia and the return of Cold War tensions.
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Is Europe’s Chemical Recycling Model a Fraud?
A European investigation raises serious questions over chemical recycling, as pyrolysis oil is sometimes burned as fuel instead of becoming plastic.
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Europe Faces Major Jet Fuel Shortage
Europe faces a major jet fuel shortage as Middle East disruptions tighten supply, drain inventories and increase dependence on Asian imports.
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TF1 Exposes Italy’s Toxic Waste Problem
TF1 investigates decades of illegal toxic waste dumping in Italy, exposing the devastating environmental and health consequences for local communities.
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Saudi Arabia’s Biggest Oil Pipeline Hit
Saudi Arabia’s largest oil pipeline was reportedly damaged by a drone attack, disrupting Red Sea exports and pressuring global oil markets.
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Eni Versalis at the Berlaymont Cafeteria
“Mr Versalis, what is the most successful dish at the Berlaymont cafeteria?”
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PepsiCo and the Great Plastic Puzzle
PepsiCo explores Aduro’s advanced recycling technology as a potential route to turn difficult plastic waste into valuable reusable feedstocks.
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Don’t Produce Less Plastic — Recycle More, Study Says
Study argues better waste collection and recycling could cut plastic pollution more cheaply than limiting production and raising consumer prices.
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EU Says Don’t Export Waste — Then Sends It to Turkey
Europe cannot recycle all its plastic waste, so it ships the problem to Turkey. Brussels calls this environmental policy.
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Andy Burnham, Clown Extraordinaire
Andy Burnham, inventor of McLaren socialism: tax the British, then celebrate the supercars they can no longer afford.
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Shell & Equinor Warn Energy Crisis Is Coming
Shell warns that shrinking energy buffers and Middle East disruptions could trigger a deeper global energy crisis and sharper price spikes.
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Many EU Citizens Don’t Know Who Ursula von der Leyen Is
Many Europeans still struggle to identify Ursula von der Leyen, exposing Brussels’ persistent gap between institutional power and public recognition.
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EU Greenwashing Rules Collide With “Circular” Plastics
EU greenwashing rules collide with mass-balance accounting, raising questions over whether fossil-based plastics can legitimately be marketed as circular.
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Who Is Still Under Petrochemical Force Majeure?
Middle East disruptions triggered widespread petrochemical force majeure declarations, with several producers still facing unresolved supply constraints six months later.
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PFAS Lawsuit Targets 3M, DuPont and Chemical Giants
PFAS trouble is closing in on the chemical giants as firefighters drag 3M, DuPont and others into court over toxic “forever chemicals.”
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EU Now Depends on Nigerian Oil
Europe is increasingly turning to Nigeria’s Dangote refinery as Middle Eastern disruptions tighten fuel supplies and reshape traditional energy trade routes.
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China Revolutionises Oil Refining
Chinese researchers unveil membrane-based oil refining technology that could cut energy use, emissions and costs across fuels, chemicals and plastics.
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BASF Starts Breaking Itself Up
BASF prepares an Agricultural Solutions IPO as restructuring accelerates, potentially reshaping one of Europe’s biggest and most important chemical groups.
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ENI Faces Hundreds of Millions in Potential Biofuel Cartel Damages Claims
ENI faces potential compensation claims as litigation specialists prepare damages actions following Italy’s €936.7 million biofuel cartel decision involving six major fuel suppliers.
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Was There Insider Trading in the Oil Futures Market?
Suspicious oil trades before a major Trump announcement raised insider-trading concerns, prompting scrutiny of who knew what, and when.
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Australia’s Wind Energy Fairy Tale
Farmers are increasingly drawn into the wind-energy business, often carrying the local costs of the green transition.
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Saudi Pipeline Breakdown Puts Global Oil Supply at Risk
Saudi pipeline trouble threatens a key oil export route, raising fears of tighter global supply, higher prices and petrochemical disruption.
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EU’s Chemical Collapse Was Made in Brussels
Brussels piled regulation, energy costs and climate obligations onto chemicals, weakening competitiveness while cheaper foreign producers steadily captured Europe’s market share.
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SABIC Decides European Petrochemicals Aren’t Worth It Anymore
SABIC is selling its European petrochemicals business as weak demand, high costs and global competition pressure the region’s downstream industry.
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Europe Helped Destroy Eurasia’s Downstream
Europe helped isolate Russian refining. Now Ukrainian strikes are tightening diesel markets, exposing the strategic cost of dismantling Eurasian energy links.
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Bio-on: The Bioplastics Scandal That Still Raises Questions
Bio-on’s collapse still raises questions over auditors, financial oversight and the Italian government’s role in the company’s dramatic downfall.
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Oil Prices Triple Depending on Location
Oil prices are diverging sharply worldwide as shipping disruptions make geography increasingly important, creating huge premiums and discounts between crude grades.
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World Oil Demand Is Falling
IEA expects global oil demand to fall sharply in 2026 as high prices weaken consumption, especially across Asian petrochemical markets.
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Braskem’s Debt Crisis Deepens
Braskem’s debt restructuring depends on securing enough creditor support, leaving the Brazilian plastics giant facing renewed financial uncertainty.
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TotalEnergies Takes Full Control of Plastic-to-Oil Plant
TotalEnergies takes full control of Grandpuits plastic pyrolysis, converting difficult waste into synthetic oil for producing new plastics.
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Germany’s Leuna-Polyamid Shuts Nylon Production
Leuna-Polyamid will end nylon production in Germany after failing to find an investor, amid high costs and Chinese competition.
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Evonik Shuts Two German Chemical Plants
Evonik will close two German chemical sites, shifting production elsewhere as weak demand, Asian competition and margin pressure hit operations.
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Trump Wants More Oil Refineries
The White House is considering emergency powers to expand U.S. oil refining capacity as fuel prices rise and supply concerns grow.
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Leaked: Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union Speech
We obtained a copy of the leaked draft of Ursula von der Leyen’s upcoming State of the Union speech.
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Europe Wants Strategic Independence — But Can’t Finance It
Europe wants strategic independence, but foreign financing for critical industries exposes the growing gap between Brussels’ ambitions and economic reality.
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Brent Is European, But It Takes Orders From Washington
How Brent became American overnight — and what it says about Europe’s disappearing geopolitical influence.
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Trump vs China: The Oil Price War
Trump’s Iran strategy may squeeze China’s oil lifelines, boost American crude, and push Beijing into an even tighter energy alliance with Russia.
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EU Blames China for the Collapse of Its Chemical and Plastics Industry
Europe blames China for its industrial decline, but Brussels may need to confront how much of the damage is self-inflicted.
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21 Energy Companies Want to Explore for More Oil in Norway
Twenty-one energy companies have applied to explore for new oil and gas resources in Norway.
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Chemours, DuPont and Corteva Pay $455 Million Over PFAS Pollution
Chemical giants agree to pay $455 million to settle claims over PFAS pollution linked to contaminated water supplies in North Carolina.
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Bio-Based Plastics: Local Crops, Global Profits
Bio-based plastics promise local production and European value, but intensive agriculture, corporate concentration and struggling farmers expose serious environmental and economic contradictions.
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Canada Gets a New Oil Giant
Tamarack Valley and Headwater are merging in a C$10 billion deal, creating a major new Canadian crude oil producer.
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EU May Limit Cheap Chemical and Plastic Imports
EU countries are considering limits on cheap chemical and plastic imports to protect struggling European producers.
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Dow May Quit Aramco Plastics Venture
Dow may sell its 35% Sadara stake as weak demand and industry pressures intensify globally.
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Where Did the Ottoman Empire’s Oil Go?
European powers and later American oil companies competed for Ottoman petroleum. After the empire collapsed, its former oil territories became central to Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and global energy.
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Worst Politician of 2026
A savage verdict on political failure, establishment hypocrisy, abandoned victims and the widening gulf between European values and reality.
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Europe, Where Do Tetra Paks Actually Go?
Europe tells consumers exactly how to sort Tetra Paks. What happens after collection remains a much less transparent story.
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EU Lost Its Seat at the Oil Poker Table
Europe regulated itself out of the oil game, leaving others to control supply, prices and geopolitical leverage.
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Canada-US Trade War Reaches Plastics
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs now extend to selected U.S. plastic products, potentially reshaping sourcing, costs and cross-border supply chains.
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Oil Shock Sends Plastic Prices Higher
Oil’s surge toward $100 is lifting Chinese plastics and petrochemical prices, raising fears of higher costs across global supply chains.
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EU Plastics Sector Calls for Emergency Action
European plastics producers and recyclers urge Brussels to act as costs, weak demand and competition intensify.
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Goldman Sachs Warns of $120 Oil
Goldman Sachs warns intensifying Middle East shipping attacks could push oil prices toward $120 per barrel amid severe supply disruption risks.
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Is China Quietly Stabilising Global Oil Prices?
China’s weaker demand and large crude inventories are helping cushion global oil prices despite Middle East disruptions.
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Diesel, Not Crude, May Be the Real Energy Crisis
Diesel supplies could tighten this winter as refining disruptions, low inventories and geopolitical tensions intensify.
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The Greenest Shopping Bag? Perhaps It’s the One We Never Throw Away
Marco Astorri, founder and ex-CEO of Bio-on, argues that the greenest shopping bag may be the one we reuse, highlighting waste prevention and reserving PHA bioplastics for applications where single-use materials are genuinely necessary and environmentally justified.
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How Opium and Communism Westernized China
An opinion piece arguing that modern China progressively replaced much of traditional Chinese civilization by adopting Western political, industrial, technological and corporate models.
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EU Press Freedom: The Bullshit Edition
A Brussels blogger challenges the EU’s claims on press freedom while facing a lawsuit linked to criticism of the European Commission and its conduct.
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Italy’s Waste Scandal: Mafia, Business and Politics
Italy’s waste crisis exposed a toxic mix of mafia trafficking, failed politics, corporate contracts and poisoned land—leaving Campania to pay the price for decades.
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Italy Mandates Compostable Packaging Amid Conflict-of-Interest Concerns
Italy’s compostable-plastics policy raises conflict-of-interest concerns as state ownership and waste strategy increasingly overlap.
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EU Ends Plastic Waste Export Carousel
The EU will ban plastic waste exports to non-OECD countries from November 2026, tightening controls and pushing more recycling within Europe.
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Japan Moves on Mass-Balance Rules for Plastics
Japan launches task forces on plastic circularity, including mass-balance labelling, recycled plastics and bioplastics, to accelerate progress toward 2030 targets.
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Rising Microplastics in Soil Threaten UK Food Security
Rising microplastic contamination in UK farmland is raising concerns over soil health, crop productivity and food security, with sewage sludge identified as a major source.
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Recycled PET Is Not the Future. PHA Is
Marco Astorri argues recycled PET merely prolongs plastic pollution, while PHA offers a biodegradable alternative for applications prone to environmental leakage.
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Scientists Call for Mandatory UN Plastics Treaty Reporting
Scientists urge mandatory global plastics reporting under the UN treaty to track production, trade, recycling, chemicals, waste flows and progress.
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McDonald’s Faces Multimillion-Euro Fine Over Single-Use Plastic
McDonald’s faces potential multimillion-euro penalties in the Netherlands over continued use of single-use plastic cups.
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Chemical Recycling Crisis Deepens in Europe
Chemical recycling projects across Europe face closures, delays and investment pauses as weak economics and regulatory uncertainty challenge industry ambitions.
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PureCycle Delays Antwerp Chemical Recycling Plant to 2029
PureCycle postpones its Antwerp polypropylene recycling plant to 2029 despite €40 million in EU funding.
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UK’s Most Sustainable Plastic: Taxable Plastic
Britain’s plastic tax was meant to reduce waste. Now mass balance, rising rates and certification turn environmental policy into sophisticated fiscal accounting.
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ENI Expands Oil Production in Venezuela
ENI signs new agreements in Venezuela to expand oil projects and increase future production.
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Italy Considers New Tax on ENI and Energy Firms
Italy’s proposed windfall tax could reduce ENI’s profits and returns to shareholders.
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China Turns to Russian Oil as Middle East Supplies Tighten
China’s growing purchases of Russian oil could raise costs for smaller refiners and affect plastics production.
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The Naphtha Crunch Behind Asia’s Plastics Crisis
Rising naphtha costs are squeezing Asian plastics producers, worsening margins and exposing the region’s dependence on volatile petrochemical feedstocks.
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Asian Plastics in Crisis
Asian plastics producers face mounting pressure as naphtha shortages, force majeure declarations and weak margins disrupt petrochemical production across region.
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Anellotech Goes Bankrupt: Another Advanced Recycling Dream Collapses
Anellotech is liquidating after nearly two decades developing technologies to convert biomass and plastic waste into petrochemical feedstocks. The US company had promoted its Plas-TCat process as a route to BTX aromatics, ethylene and propylene from mixed plastic waste. Its collapse raises fresh questions about the economics, scalability and commercial viability of advanced recycling technologies.…
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The Rhine Group: The People Who Broke Europe Are Here to Fix It
The Rhine Group: Making Europe Competitive Again, from Switzerland and the USA
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Latest Update on the UN Plastics Treaty
Latest developments on the UN Plastics Treaty ahead of crucial negotiations taking place in Bangkok soon.
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Europe Created Its Own Petrochemical Crisis
Europe’s shrinking petrochemical capacity leaves it increasingly exposed as geopolitical disruptions tighten global chemical supplies.
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South Korea Protects Its Petrochemical Industry
South Korea protects domestic naphtha supplies as global competition for petrochemical feedstocks intensifies amid disruptions.
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Petrochemical Winners of the Iran War
War-driven supply disruptions reshuffled petrochemical fortunes, boosting Western producers’ margins while Middle Eastern competitors struggled with production and logistics.
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War Hits Arab Petrochemical Giants
Middle Eastern petrochemical producers took a direct hit from the regional war. Saudi Arabia’s SABIC saw operating income fall 27%, while UAE-based Borouge reported a 27% decline in net profit and 18% lower sales volumes. Saudi Kayan and Sipchem also suffered from weaker volumes and higher costs, while Yansab bucked the trend, posting its strongest…
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Japan Resonac Dumps Petrochemicals on Shareholders
Resonac separates its petrochemicals operations, handing control of Crasus to shareholders as the Japanese group shifts towards higher-value businesses.
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Saudi Arabia Abandons Europe’s Chemical Recycling Ship
SABIC’s European exit and Plastic Energy’s collapse expose growing cracks in Europe’s chemical recycling ambitions as German investors take over.
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PetroChina Bets on Petrochemicals
PetroChina accelerates its petrochemical and advanced-materials expansion as declining transport-fuel demand reshapes China’s oil refining and chemicals industry.
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Trump Strikes World’s Biggest Oil Deal
A landmark US-Venezuela oil agreement gives American interests majority control over 65 billion barrels while promising investment and increased production.
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Refinery Attacks Cut Russian Gasoline Supply by 30%
Russia’s Fuel Crisis Adds Pressure to Fragile Global Market
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