SPECIAL REPORT ICIS TOP 40 POWER PLAYERS IN ASSOCIATION WITH We are pleased to unveil the ICIS Top 40 Power Players, a global ranking of senior executives making the greatest positive impact on their companies and the industry. This year’s listing is in association with Korn Ferry, the global advisory firm that aims Marie Emmermann/Skizzomat to help organisations succeed by releasing the full power and potential of their people www.icis.com 14-20 December 2015 | ICIS Chemical Business | 27 SPECIAL REPORT ICIS TOP 40 POWER PLAYERS Dow Chemical CEO Liveris back on top Andrew Liveris has been the most active chemical industry CEO in making moves to build a solid foundation and position his company for growth JOSEPH CHANG NEW YORK riod a year ago. Coming off blockbuster Q3 results, Dow ow Chemical chairman, president Chemical under Liveris is making a series of and CEO Andrew Liveris has led moves towards exiting its Kuwait joint ven- the company through the worst of tures, potentially consolidating its Dow times during the financial crisis of Corning joint venture and evaluating options D 2008-2009, stabilising finances and engineer- for agricultural chemicals, all the while em- ing a huge turnaround. Dow is now firmly in phasising the benefits of its “structurally growth mode with substantial new cost-ad- hedged” portfolio of upstream and down- vantaged capacity coming on stream be- stream businesses. tween now and 2017. “You can’t artificially separate upstream Under Liveris’s leadership, Dow is – ac- and downstream when you can make cording to press reports on 9 December - money [at both ends] through the cycle,” planning to merge with rival DuPont in a said Liveris in an interview with ICIS. “As deal which would create a $90bn+ sales long as Dow is low cost, we can add value company (pre-divestitures) to rival BASF in through innovation – it’s two bites of the size. It is also making major capital invest- apple.” ments in the cost-advantaged US and Saudi Dow has actively managed its portfolio by Arabia, while divesting non-core assets. exiting commodities such as chlorine, ben- Dow’s Sadara joint venture with Aramco ANDREW LIVERIS zene and other aromatics through the years, in Saudi Arabia, in which it has a 35% stake, 1 CEO he noted. is the largest integrated chemical project in DOW CHEMICAL “We are deselecting commodities where history, and is starting up in stages from De- we can’t be low cost, and investing in areas cember 2015 and through 2016. where we can be low cost, such as ethylene Sadara is a mixed-feed project, using and propylene in the US and Saudi Arabia,” ethane as well as naphtha, allowing for a di- “You can’t artificially separate said Liveris. versified slate of downstream chemicals and upstream and downstream “We can allocate capital spending appro- polymers, including polyethylene (PE) and priately to upstream, and R&D and OPEX polypropylene (PP), ethylene oxide/propyl- when you can make money [operating expenditures] to downstream.” ene oxide (EO/PO) and derivatives, polyure- [at both ends] through the The key in downstream is to innovate in thanes (PU), butyl glycol ethers and propyl- product areas ahead of where competitors ene glycol. cycle. As long as Dow is low are commoditising, he said. On the US Gulf Coast, in Freeport, Texas, cost, we can add value through “Over time, we can keep selecting the Dow is ramping up propylene production at innovation – it’s two bites of businesses we can win at, and exit those we its 750,000 tonne/year propane dehydroge- can’t. We’re as good a portfolio manager as nation (PDH) plant, and plans to complete its the apple” anyone,” said Liveris. worldscale cracker and derivatives project ANDREW LIVERIS Dow Chemical’s planned reduction of eq- by 2017. CEO, Dow Chemical uity stakes in its Kuwait joint ventures is the Downstream from the 1.5m tonne/year start of a long process that may end with a cracker will be PE, elastomers and ethylene- complete exit. propylene-diene monomer (EPDM). of the decline in oil prices. And against most The company will reduce its stake in gly- Dow expects to generate around $2.5bn/ expectations, in China, Dow showed surpris- cols producer MEGlobal with the sale of the year in earnings before interest, tax, depreci- ing strength in its Q3 2015 results, with 12% business to Kuwaiti joint venture Greater ation and amortisation (EBITDA) from its US year-on-year volume gains, even amid wide- EQUATE for $3.2bn. Dow, which co-owns Gulf Coast projects, and about $500m/year in spread reports of a slowing economy. MEGlobal with Kuwait’s Petrochemical In- equity income from its stake in Sadara. The producer’s performance plastics seg- dustries Co (PIC), will receive $1.5bn in pre- Dow’s financial results have been solid, ment saw EBITDA margins rise to 29% in tax cash proceeds at the close, expected by especially in performance plastics, in spite the third quarter versus 22% in the same pe- the end of 2015. ■ 28 | ICIS Chemical Business | 14-20 December 2015 www.icis.com IN ASSOCIATION WITH im Ratcliffe’s innovative thinking and Most recently, in November, INEOS struck entrepreneurial approach to running his a supply deal with ExxonMobil and for company ensures that he keeps a place ethane supply to their joint venture cracker in near the top of the Top 40 Power Mossmorran, Scotland, from INEOS at nearby J Players. Grangemouth. Ethane should start flowing by Ratcliffe has not been quite as vocal as in 2017. previous years about the plight of Europe’s Work on the Grangemouth import facility chemical sector, reeling from high energy should be complete by mid-2016. costs and taxes. INEOS is also investing in North Sea explo- Perhaps the falling oil price and subse- ration. It agreed on 11 October to acquire all quent improvement in Europe’s feedstock po- North Sea gasfield assets owned by Deutsche sition has calmed his nerves a little. Erdol, near INEOS assets in Scotland and The collapsing oil price has not changed northeast England. the INEOS strategy of importing US ethane as Ratcliffe continues to hoover up unwanted JIM RATCLIFFE North Sea reserves continue to decline. commodity assets. InOctober, Axiall sold its This year Ratcliffe has focussed a lot of ef- aromatics division to INEOS for about $62.9m CHAIRMAN AND CEO 2 fort into developing UK shale gas reserves, in cash. INEOS whilst continuing projects in Scotland and In July INEOS also completed the merger Rafnes, Norway, to construct terminals to of its chlor-vinyl assets with Belgium’s Solvay handle US ethane imports. into a joint venture known as INOVYN. ■ t has been a difficult few months for BASF, have provided a fillip to many of BASF’s com- with the Germany-based chemicals giant petitors, are a mixed blessing for the firm in seeing almost a quarter of its market capi- light of its ownership of Wintershall, Germa- talisation wiped out during the six months ny’s largest exploration company. I to the end of October as the emerging market Despite the sharp writedowns to its share economic slowdown took hold, despite a price and investor pressure for action, Bock double-digit increase in third-quarter net in- has demurred against making any sharp read- come. justments to BASF’s course in pursuit of “Simple growth times are over”, said com- short-term gain, while being frank about the pany CEO Kurt Bock in October, noting his issues facing BASF and the market as a dissatisfaction with BASF’s performance whole. during the quarter in light of a failure to in- Instead, he has continued to focus on crease earnings in China despite maintaining strengthening the company’s base in markets sights on the Asia Pacific region as an engine he sees as a long-term bet, establishing an of growth. R&D complex in Shanghai as part of a drive to KURT BOCK As chief of one of the world’s largest rebalance research operations more evenly 3 CHAIRMAN AND CEO chemicals producers, Bock needs to navigate across key markets, and making the largest BASF the peaks and troughs of nearly all sectors ever investment in a single production facility and markets. at BASF’s Ludwigshafen home, despite bear- Even factors such as the low oil price, which ishness on Europe’s prospects. ■ t’s certainly been a busy year for Amin linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) Nasser, who took the reins of Saudi Ara- units. mco on a temporary basis in May. He suc- Another major project, PetroRabigh - a ceeded Khalid Al-Falih who was named joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Ja- I as Saudi Arabia’s health minister, and has pan’s Sumitomo Chemical – is expected to since been fully instated as CEO and complete the expansion of its ethane cracker president. to 1.6m tonnes/year in Saudi Arabia by the Nasser had been vice president upstream second quarter of 2016. operations at Saudi Aramco since 2008. The JV will also introduce new down- Nasser has taken the role at an exciting stream products such as acrylates, aromatics, time, particularly with several major projects ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and rubbers. introducing new chemical products to the In September, Germany’s LANXESS Kingdom and creating new downstream in- agreed the sale of a 50% stake in its synthetic dustries and jobs. rubbers operations to Saudi Aramco, AMIN NASSER The Sadara project - Saudi Aramco’s ambi- with the division to be operated as a joint tious JV with US-based Dow Chemical Com- venture.