Business Roundup

Wintershall Dea, the oil and gas affiliate of BASF, has completed the sale of its exploration and production assets to Harbour Energy for $2.2 billion in cash, plus Harbour stock. The deal excludes activities in Russia.

Citroniq Chemicals has raised $12 million in series A financing from Lummus Technology Ventures and another energy technology firm. Citroniq plans to build a plant in Nebraska that will make polypropylene from corn-based ethanol.

Genvor, a start-up that develops biological disease controls for crops, will get access to lab space and equipment at a Bayer research campus in California. Genvor hopes to start selling antimicrobial peptides to control bacteria and fungi infections this year.

Orlen has started bringing its chemical and refinery operations at its site in Litvínov, Czech Republic, back on line after a WWII bomb found on the site was made safe. As of Sept. 3, the company expected all its production units to be operational within 1 week.

Carbon Clean and Petronas have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on point source carbon capture. The main focus of the deal will be Carbon Clean’s sorbent technology based on rotating packed beds.

Wanhua Chemical has opened a 48,000-metric-ton-per-year citral plant, the world’s largest, at its site in Yantai, China. The company says the aroma chemical is often called the crown jewel of fine chemicals because of its intricate production process.

Mitsui Chemicals will close plants in Japan that make styrene-acrylic and polyester resins used as toner binders. The firm attributes the closures in part to reduced demand for printing ink since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Olon Group has acquired a pharmaceutical chemical plant in Garessio, Italy, from Huvepharma Italia. Olon says the purchase reinforces its status as one of Europe’s largest producers of active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug intermediates.