OMV and ADNOC Strike Deal to Create New Chemicals Giant.
Austria’s OMV and Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC have struck a deal to combine their polyolefins business, creating a $60-billion major in the space, ADNOC said in a statement. The new company will be the fourth-largest polyolefins producer.
The new company will also acquire Nova Chemicals for $13.4 billion to immediately boost its position in the chemicals and plastics market, the Austrian partner in the pair said in its press release on the news. Nova Chemicals is a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s infrastructure giant Mubadala.
Petrochemicals and plastics are widely seen as the biggest driver of global oil demand over the long term, on the basis that energy transition efforts would undermine demand for transport fuels, which is currently the biggest driver of demand for crude.
Energy trading major Vitol became the latest to point to petrochemicals as the main source of oil demand in its first long-term oil demand outlook. The company’s analysts expect petrochemicals demand to add some 6 million barrels daily by 2040 when it would come to account for 20% of all crude oil consumed globally. Meanwhile, gasoline demand is seen declining by 4.5 million barrels daily over the next 15 years. Liquefied petroleum gas demand was also set for growth over the next decade and a half, Vitol said.
Source: OILPRICE