rongsheng petrochemical bloomberg free sample

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is launching an $85 million campaign to curb the spread of petrochemical and plastic pollution across the country, his philanthropic foundation announced on Wednesday.

The so-called “Beyond Petrochemicals” initiative aims to “turbocharge existing efforts led by frontline communities to block the expansion of more than 120 proposed petrochemical projects” in Louisiana, Texas and the Ohio River Valley, a statement from Bloomberg Philanthropies said.

Such a fossil fuel expansion would double the emissions generated by the petrochemical and refinery industries to 15 percent of the U.S. carbon budget — preventing the country from fulfilling international climate commitments, the foundation warned.

“Petrochemical plants poison our air and water — killing Americans and harming the health of entire communities,” the former mayor said in a statement.

The Beyond Petrochemicals campaign draws from Bloomberg’s Beyond Coal and Beyond Carbon initiatives, which have sought to shutter coal plants and smoothen the global transition to clean energy.

In addition to blocking the expansion of planned petrochemical projects, Bloomberg’s new initiative will promote stricter rules for existing facilities, according to the foundation.

“This campaign will help ensure more local victories, support laws that protect communities from harm, and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are fueling the climate crisis,” Bloomberg said.

In response to Bloomberg’s announcement, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) — a U.S. chemical and plastics industry trade group — said that the campaign was being launched “due to unfounded environmental concerns.”

The premiums for cargoes of some of Asia’s favorite grades such as ESPO of Russia and Al-Shaheen of Qatar have jumped in recent days to their highest in months, traders told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

In the UK, for example, fuel sales surged earlier this month to their highest level since the first lockdown in March last year, according to government data cited by Bloomberg.

According to Bloomberg, Rongsheng Petrochemical Co of China bought as much as 12 million barrels of oil from Middle Eastern producers Iraq, Oman, and Abu Dhabi. This was the biggest purchase in seven months.

Japan’s refiners, for their part, have bought at least five oil cargoes of the Al-Shaheen grade from Qatar at the biggest premium this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

* Sinopec Corp, Asia’s largest refiner, will strive to lower its petrochemical production costs and optimize its product mix to meet the threat of cheap rival U.S. supply in the future, a top executive said.

* China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group Holdings Ltd won its first orders to build two jack-up rigs worth more than $360 million in Singapore as it makes further inroads into offshore engineering.