The chemical industry comprises the companies and other organizations that develop and produce industrial, specialty and other chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into commodity chemicals for industrial and consumer products. It includes industries for petrochemicals such as polymers for plastics and synthetic fibers; inorganic chemicals such as acids and alkalis; agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides; and other categories such as industrial gases, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Petrochemicals are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as maize, palm fruit or sugar cane.
Shell USA, Inc. is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation "oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,000 Shell employees are based in the U.S. Its U.S. headquarters are in Houston, Texas. Shell USA, including its consolidated companies and its share in equity companies, is one of America's largest oil and natural gas producers, natural gas marketers, fuel marketers and petrochemical manufacturers.
Sasol Limited is an integrated energy and chemical company based in Sandton, South Africa. The company was formed in 1950 in Sasolburg, South Africa, and built on processes that German chemists and engineers first developed in the early 1900s. Today, Sasol develops and commercializes technologies, including synthetic fuel technologies, and produces different liquid fuels, chemicals, coal tar, and electricity.
LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is an American multinational chemical company incorporated in the Netherlands with U.S. operations headquartered in Houston, Texas, and offices in London, UK. LBI produces ethylene, propylene, polyolefins, and oxyfuels.
NOVA Chemicals Corporation is a Canadian petrochemical company that has been in operation since 1954. NOVA was formed as provincial crown corporation called the Alberta Gas Trunk Line Company Limited to manage Alberta's natural gas collection system. During the 1970s, the company diversified into petroleum exploration and production, manufacturing, and petrochemicals. In 1980 the AGTL was renamed NOVA, An Alberta Corporation. After a decade of financial struggles, in 1998 NOVA sold its petroleum and pipeline business to TransCanada Pipelines and continued as solely a petrochemicals operation. The gas collection system run by TransCanada is now called the NOVA Gas Transmission Line.
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, known as SABIC, is a Saudi chemical manufacturing company. 70% of SABIC's shares are owned by Saudi Aramco. It is active in petrochemicals, chemicals, industrial polymers, fertilizers, and metals. It is the second largest public company in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia as listed in Tadawul.
Ineos Group Limited is a British multinational conglomerate headquartered and registered in London. As of 2021, it is the fourth largest chemical company in the world, with additional operations in fuel, packaging and food, construction, automotive, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and professional sports. Ineos is organised into about 20 standalone business units, each with its own board and operating almost entirely independently, although founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who owns a controlling interest, and his associates, who collectively own a minority share, sit on their boards occasionally.
Showa Denko K. K., founded in 1939 by the merger of Nihon Electrical Industries and Showa Fertilizers, both established by a Japanese entrepreneur Nobuteru Mori, is a Japanese chemical company producing chemical products and industrial materials.
Asahi Kasei Corporation is a multinational Japanese chemical company. Its main products are chemicals and materials science.
The National Petrochemical Company (NPC), a subsidiary to the Iranian Petroleum Ministry, is owned by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is responsible for the development and operation of the country's petrochemical sector. Founded in 1964, NPC began its activities by operating a small fertilizer plant in Shiraz.
Mitsui & Co., Ltd. is one of the largest sogo shosha in Japan; it is part of the Mitsui Group.
Borealis AG is an Austrian chemical company and is the world's eighth largest producer of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). It is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.
Ras Lanuf Oil and Gas Processing Company (Rasco) is a subsidiary of the state-owned National Oil Corporation of Libya. Rasco operates the Ras Lanuf Refinery.
Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. is a major Japanese chemical company. The company is listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the on the Nikkei 225 stock index. It's a member of the Sumitomo group and was founded in 1913 as a fertilizer manufacturing plant.
OQ, formerly known as Oman Oil Company, is an energy investment company headquartered in Muscat, Oman. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Government of Oman through the Oman Investment Authority.
Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Sdn Bhd engages in the ownership and operation of polypropylene plants, polyethylene plants, ethylene crackers, and aromatic plants. It offers high-density polyethylene (HDPE), Low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) for various kinds of applications, room household goods to automotives products. The company also manufactures low-density polyethylene for injection molding for cosmetic containers, bottle closures, and food containers, and is based in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia.
Mekog was a chemical company founded 1928, that manufactured fertilizer using hydrogen from coke oven gas as a feedstock. The company's facilities were located on the site of the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken steelworks near IJmuiden in the Netherlands.
PTT Global Chemical, also known as PTTGC, is a petrochemical company that specializes in synthesizing olefins and aromatics. It was founded in 2011 and is a subsidiary of PTT Public Company Limited.
Heysham oil refinery was located between Heysham and Middleton on the Heysham peninsula, Lancashire. It was built during the Second World War to produce high octane fuel for combat aircraft. It was later adapted to refine crude oil with a processing capacity of two million tonnes per year and was in operation from 1948 to 1976. It worked in conjunction with a chemical plant which produced ammonium nitrate fertilizer and other products, using feedstocks from the refinery.
