Shell announced today that it will close its finished lubricant manufacturing plant in Torzhok, Russia, and shut down its lubricants business in the country as part of a full withdrawal from Russian hydrocarbon industries.

Specialty chemical supplier Perstorp AB will begin this month to produce isononanoic acids at its factory in Stenungsund, Sweden. The Malmo, Sweden-based company is one of several suppliers to add capacity for the chemicals in recent years in response to growing demand for products such as a new generation of refrigeration lubricants.

BASF will build a new world-scale production plant for alkylethanolamines at its Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium, with start-up planned in 2024, the company announced on March 1. The company said the project will increase its global annual production capacity of its alkyethanolamines portfolio by nearly 30% to more than 140,000 metric tons per year.