Mitsubishi Gas Chemical has signed an MOU with Australia's Gold Hydrogen to study green methanol made from natural hydrogen in South Australia. Here is why a Tokyo chemical maker is going to the wellhead abroad, what the Toyota-ENEOS consortium is really buying, and how the global race for natural hydrogen is splitting along national lines.
JX Advanced Metals, maker of roughly 60% of the world's sputtering targets, is investing about 23 billion yen to expand its Hitachinaka plant by 1.6x and selling its Chilean copper mine stake to Lundin Mining for $215 million, redirecting the cash into chip materials. A look at a 120-year-old miner remaking itself as an advanced-materials company.
About 283,000 barrels of Azerbaijani crude procured by ENEOS arrive at Negishi Refinery in Yokohama on May 12 — the first Central Asian crude ever to reach Japan. We unpack the type of oil, Azerbaijan's production capacity, and the wider patchwork now stitched together from the US, Mexico, Russia (Sakhalin-2), and beyond — plus the paint-thinner shortage that won't go away.