The Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, said on Sunday it had appointed Andrew Liveris, former chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical, as a special adviser.
Liveris will advise Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the chairman of PIF. Liveris will work closely with the fund on matters of strategic importance and assist the fund in its efforts to increase the value of its portfolio. PIF owns assets worth more than $250 billion, which it aims to increase to $400 billion by 2020. It holds stakes in some of the largest companies in Saudi Arabia, including SABIC, as well as banks and other financial institutions.
Liveris joined the board of Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company, in July. Aramco is negotiating with the PIF to acquire the majority of and possibly the fund’s entire 70% holding in SABIC, worth about $70 billion. The discussions follow a decision to postpone indefinitely the listing of 5% of Aramco’s shares on the domestic and international stock markets.
Banks including JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and HSBC, which were involved with the Aramco IPO, are working to assemble a debt package to fund the SABIC takeover.
By Natasha Alperowicz
Source: Chemical Week
France has launched an offshore green hydrogen production platform at the country’s Port of Saint-Nazaire this week, along with its first offshore wind farm. The hydrogen plant, which its operators say is the world’s first facility of its type, coincides with the launch of another “first of its kind” facility in Sweden dedicated to storing hydrogen in an underground lined rock cavern (LRC).
The project sets up the Hydrogen Valley in Rome, the first industrial-scale technological hub for the development of the national supply chain for the production, transport, storage and use of hydrogen for the decarbonization of industrial processes and for sustainable mobility.
At first glance, hydrogen seems to be the perfect solution to our energy needs. It doesn’t produce any carbon dioxide when used. It can store energy for long periods of time. It doesn’t leave behind hazardous waste materials, like nuclear does. And it doesn’t require large swathes of land to be flooded, like hydroelectricity. Seems too good to be true. So…what’s the catch?
