On Monday, the Financial Times broke a story that Shell is receiving bids for its US petrochemical business. Interest, the article says, is coming from rivals such as LyondellBasell Industries and ExxonMobil, as well as from the private equity firm Apollo Global Management and from Kuwait Petroleum. The business could fetch as much as $8 billion.
Presumably, the deal would include Shell’s new ethylene and polyethylene complex in Monaca, Pennsylvania, which started up in 2022 and cost Shell a staggering $14 billion. It might also include Shell sites in Deer Park, Texas, and Norco and Geismar, Louisiana.
LyondellBasell is an interesting suitor. It has bought newly constructed plants at bargain prices before, such as when it purchased half of a new Louisiana ethylene and polyethylene complex from Sasol. Other operations in Shell’s portfolio, such as linear α-olefins and ethoxylates, would be new to LyondellBasell. ExxonMobil, however, is in those businesses. For Kuwait Petroleum, Shell’s ethylene oxide derivatives might be an interesting pairing with its ethylene glycol affiliate MEGlobal.
C&EN will continue to track developments with this proposed sale.
Send any questions, comments, or tips to me, senior correspondent Alex Tullo, at [email protected].
Top stories from C&EN
Frontline health workers take care of a patient during the current Bundibugyo virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Credit:
AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa
Business in brief
US to dole out $500 million for battery materials
The US Department of Energy will provide $500 million in grants to seven projects for battery materials and recycling. The supported projects include Lilac Solutions’ direct lithium extraction site in Utah and Jervois’s planned cobalt refinery, which would be the only such operation in the US. Both minerals are used to make battery cathodes. Other awards will support battery recyclers Nth Cycle and Princeton NuEnergy, an Arcanum Ventures facility to make the battery electrolyte solvent ethylene carbonate, a Coreshell Technologies plant for making silicon anodes, and Elevated Materials’ plan to make lithium metal anodes. In 2021, Huntsman announced plans to produce ethylene carbonate in the US but suspended the project in 2023 because the company couldn’t compete with cheaper Chinese imports. Indorama also canceled plans for a US ethylene carbonate plant. The US showered the battery industry with cash during the Joe Biden administration, but the Donald J. Trump administration has been giving the industry mixed signals.
—Matt Blois
Ineos rescues insolvent Runcorn EDC plant
Ineos Inovyn’s site at Runcorn, UK, where it has taken control of an ethylene dichloride joint venture Credit:
Ineos
Ineos Inovyn is acquiring the UK’s only ethylene dichloride (EDC) plant from the troubled European chlorovinyl producer Vynova. It already owns half the site, in Runcorn, England, which entered insolvency proceedings in December 2025. By acquiring the 50% of shares owned by Vynova, Ineos is bringing the chlor-alkali and EDC operations at the site under a single owner. Runcorn is a key part of the UK’s chlor-alkali industry, supplying around 98% of the chlorine used in the UK for drinking-water treatment. Ineos CEO Stephen Dossett called the acquisition “an important step in strengthening the UK’s national resilience.” The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed later this year.
—Vanessa Zainzinger, special to C&EN
Fuller rebuffs activist investor’s offer for adhesives unit
H.B. Fuller’s board has unanimously rejected Ancora Holdings Group’s unsolicited offer to buy its building adhesives unit. In a letter to Ancora’s management, Fuller chair Teresa J. Rasmussen says the proposed bid for the unit, between $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion, “doesn’t represent full value for the business.” She writes that the business will be a future driver of Fuller’s earnings and should benefit from a recovery in the construction market as well as the data center buildout. In addition, she says, separating the unit from Fuller’s other adhesives business would generate inefficiencies. Ancora owns about 2% of Fuller and has been critical of the company’s strategy, most notably Fuller’s proposed $950 million purchase of the wound-care specialist Advanced Medical Solutions. Ancora subsequently reaffirmed its bid. In a statement the firm says it is baffled by the “Board’s decision to summarily dismiss a viable offer” and is willing to raise the offer if due diligence suggests it is warranted.
—Alex Tullo
Japanese chemical makers invest in electronic materials
Three Japanese chemical makers have launched or completed investments in materials used to produce semiconductors and other electronics. Mitsubishi Chemical Group says it will build a plant in Kitakyushu City, Japan, to produce ultra-high-purity colloidal silica for use in chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries, which are used to polish silicon wafers. Mitsubishi says it will create the silica with ultra-high-purity tetramethoxysilane as the raw material. Meanwhile, Nippon Chemical says it will expand output of high-purity red phosphorus and barium titanate in Fukushima, Japan. Red phosphorus is used as a semiconductor dopant and to make indium phosphide–based compound semiconductors. Barium titanate finds use in multilayer ceramic capacitors for data centers. And Fujifilm says it has completed construction of a facility in Oita, Japan, that produces cleaners used to remove particles, trace metals, and organic residue from the surface of silicon wafers after the CMP step. Fujifilm says its semiconductor materials business has been growing at an annual rate of about 20% over the past 4 years.
—Michael McCoy
DSM-Firmenich sues Chinese firms for sclareol patent infringement
The flavor and fragrance maker DSM-Firmenich says it has launched patent infringement litigation in a Chinese court against multiple Chinese entities. The company claims unauthorized use of its patent for producing sclareol, a fragrance intermediate. Sclareol is used to make amber-scented ingredients such as DSM-Firmenich’s Ambrox. Known generically as ambroxide, Ambrox is a component of ambergris, an excretion from the digestive tract of sperm whales. Because ambergris is rare, fragrance makers typically synthesize ambroxide from sclareol, which was once mainly isolated from the herb clary sage. DSM-Firmenich says its patent describes production of sclareol via fermentation.
—Michael McCoy
Asahi Kasei gets support for hydrogen equipment expansion
Asahi Kasei has been awarded regional economic incentives for the construction of a new plant to make water electrolysis equipment at its facility in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The company plans to build 2 GW of capacity for both cell frames and membranes by 2028. The equipment is used in hydrogen production. The company is receiving support from Kanagawa Prefecture and the City of Kawasaki. In 2024, Asahi estimated that the new project would cost $220 million to build and was seeking about $70 million in support. The firm also makes components for chlor-alkali electrolysis equipment.
—Alex Tullo
Syzygy Plasmonics eyes Latin America for sustainable aviation fuel
The photocatalysis start-up Syzygy Plasmonics is working with the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group, to develop a series of sustainable aviation fuel projects in Latin America, starting with Uruguay. Syzygy’s reactor uses light to convert methane-rich biogas into hydrocarbons, which the firm says produces fuels with a tenth the net carbon dioxide emissions of conventional petroleum fuels. The first project out of the gate will be a commercial-scale jet fuel plant in Durazno, Uruguay, that the firm says will be up and running in 2028. In a press release, Syzygy says Durazno is one of several locations in Latin America with an abundant supply of both biogas and renewable electricity.
—Craig Bettenhausen
Clariant opens two specialty chemical R&D centers in China
Clariant’s new lab in Huizhou, China, is focused on developing flame retardant products. Credit:
Clariant
The specialty chemical firm Clariant has opened two R&D centers in China focused on additives for engineering, construction, and manufacturing materials, including polymers and semiconductors. One site, in Huizhou, is part of a flame retardants facility where Clariant has invested more than $120 million in expansions since 2023. The lab has a full suite of synthesis and analytical equipment, including for high-pressure processes. The other site is part of the One Clariant Campus, in Shanghai, and is set up for work on antioxidants, light stabilizers, and waxes at the bench and pilot scale. Clariant aims to develop a complete domestic innovation and supply chain within China.
—Craig Bettenhausen
Quote of the week
“For many years, the idea of creating an mRNA treatment designed specifically for an individual patient’s cancer was aspirational. We are now helping turn that vision into a reality”
Genentech announces a $750 million investment for injectables
Roche-owned Genentech plans to inject $750 million into its campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, to speed up the manufacturing of prefilled syringes and autoinjectors. “These devices play an increasingly important role in how medicines are delivered and can provide patients with more convenient ways to receive treatment outside of a hospital setting,” Genentech says in a press release. The facility, expected to be operational by 2031, will create over 200 new jobs. The company is increasingly ramping up US-based manufacturing. In January, Genentech said it would put $2 billion into its new Holly Springs, North Carolina, site to support the production of metabolic medicine candidates.
—Aayushi Pratap
More AI agents for chemistry R&D come to market
Albert Invent, a chemistry-focused artificial intelligence company, has launched a new AI agent called Ask Albert. The platform promises faster searches of scientific literature than traditional methods and automates tasks such as data analysis. “Unlike generic AI bolted to R&D solutions, Ask Albert’s architecture is fundamentally built for chemistry,” the company says in a press release. Adhesives maker Henkel, one of Albert AI’s clients, is already using Ask Albert to find alternatives for raw materials. Meanwhile, Benchling, another AI firm, has developed a chemistry-focused platform called Reactions. The agent helps chemists search across reactions and notebook entries. It also helps plan and model single-step synthesis. “A chemist designing a new analog can search related molecules and past reactions, plan synthesis with automatically calculated stoichiometry, account for salts and solvates, and capture the resulting product in the same scientific record,” the company says in an announcement.
—Aayushi Pratap
Ultragenyx gets FDA approval for gene therapy
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Ultragenyx’s gene therapy for glycogen storage disease type Ia (GSDIa) in what Leerink Partners analysts call “a needed win” for the company. The drug, Genglycos, works by delivering a copy of the G6PC gene to the liver of people with GSDIa, thus allowing the organ to make its own glucose-6-phosphatase, an enzyme that breaks down stored glycogen into glucose. The FDA gave Genglycos accelerated approval based on its ability to reduce burdensome daily intake of cornstarch to replace glucose. Ultragenyx will need to complete a confirmatory trial as a condition of the approval. The company expects to sell the drug at $2.7 million per patient beginning in the next 2 months.
—Rowan Walrath
Lilly taps start-up Amplitude for taRNA vaccine deal
Eli Lilly and Company has entered a partnership with the biotechnology start-up Amplitude Therapeutics, which will develop its trans-amplifying RNA, or taRNA, as vaccine candidates for infectious diseases. The deal covers one unnamed target with “high unmet need,” according to a press release, and Lilly has the option to add up to two more targets. The companies did not disclose financial terms. Amplitude is a resident start-up at Lilly Gateway Labs, an incubator housed within the pharma giant’s Boston-based Lilly Seaport Innovation Center, which focuses on RNA- and DNA-based drug development.
—Rowan Walrath
Genentech licenses South Korean weight-loss drug candidate in $2.3 billion deal
Roche’s Genentech has licensed a new cardiometabolic drug candidate from Seoul, South Korea–based Hanmi Pharmaceutical in a deal worth up to $2.3 billion. The drug candidate, HM17321, is a urocortin-2 analog meant to serve as an alternative to glucagon-like receptor 1 (GLP-1) agonists such as tirzepatide and semaglutide. Hanmi says in a press release that it’s designed to promote weight loss while preserving lean body mass—a critical distinction from GLP-1s, which are known to reduce muscle in addition to fat. HM17321 is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial. Under the terms of the agreement, Hanmi will finish the Phase 1 study, and Genentech will take over development afterward. Genentech has agreed to pay Hanmi $190 million up front; potential milestone payments bring the total value to $2.3 billion.
—Rowan Walrath
