Page 161 - CW E-Magazine (6-5-2025)

News from Abroad

RESTRUCTURING

TotalEnergies to stop operating Antwerp steam

cracker by end-2027

French oil major TotalEnergies will
shut its oldest steam cracker in Antwerp
by end-2027, the company said, citing a
“significant surplus of ethylene expec-
ted in Europe.” The unit shutdown will
not result in layoffs, but 253 employees
will be offered a retirement package or
an internal transfer.

TotalEnergies said the cracker to
be shut, historically produced most of
its ethylene for one major client, who
declined to renew a contract expiring
in 2027. As a result, the steam cracker, industrial units in Antwerp and and Covestro announced a permanent
which is not integrated to TotalEner- Feluy,” the company said. The chemical shutdown of some production units in
gies’ downstream polymer production, industry has been grappling with weak the Netherlands.
will no longer have any outlets for its demand and high input costs in Europe
ethylene production. in recent years, prompting several firms The Antwerp site is already undergo-
to close or convert units. ExxonMobil ing changes to begin producing sustaina-
“The unit shutdown will allow the Chemical France moved to close its ble aviation fuels this year, with plans to
site to focus on its more recent steam steam cracker and petrochemical pro- use green hydrogen made from Total’s
cracker, whose ethylene production is duction at Port Jerome in the country’s offshore wind farms to make more
entirely consumed by TotalEnergies’ north last year, while LyondellBasell renewable transport fuels by 2027.

Carbogen Amcis’ Shanghai site gets drug manu-

facturing license in China
Carbogen Amcis, a Switzerland-
based pharmaceutical process deve-
lopment and Active Pharmaceutical
Ingredient (API) manufacturing com-
pany and part of Ahmedabad-based
Dishman group, has announced that its
Shanghai facility has obtained its first
Drug Manufacturing License (DML)
from China’s National Medical Pro-
ducts Administration (NMPA). strength of its quality systems, the and commercial GMP manufacture.
company said. Its services range from raw materials
The NMPA approval followed to APIs, including high potency mate-
a rigorous review focused on GMP Located in the Shanghai Chemical rial handling and micronisation. With
compliance and operational readiness. Industry Park (SCIP), the 40,000-m² equipment in four segregated units
The Shanghai site successfully met all site is a fully self-supporting facility and reactor capacities from 50 to 6,300
regulatory expectations, reflecting the equipped for early-phase research and litres, the facility is built for flexibility,
maturing of its operations and the development, pilot scale production efficiency and scalability.

Chemical Weekly May 6, 2025 161

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