Welcome to Distilled News for June 2026. I'm Jonathan Katz with the top stories.

Two of North America's major chemical producers are joining forces. Olin Corp. and Huntsman Corp. announced June 16 they have agreed to merge, creating a company with combined 2025 revenue of approximately $12.5 billion. The new entity, to be called OlinHuntsman Corp., will integrate Olin's upstream manufacturing and feedstock capabilities, including chlorine and caustic soda production, with Huntsman's downstream polyurethane systems, formulation technologies and advanced materials businesses. The companies say they've identified more than $400 million in cost synergies, with most expected within 24 months. Olin CEO Ken Lane will lead the combined company, with Peter Huntsman serving as non-executive chairman. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027, with the combined company based in The Woodlands, Texas.

In another major corporate announcement, Evonik announced June 18 plans to eliminate approximately 3,200 jobs globally between 2027 and the end of 2029, about 2,150 of them in Germany. The announcement is part of the company’s Tailor Made restructuring plan.

"The global political situation remains uncertain, and economic growth is persistently weak. At the same time, international competition is becoming increasingly fierce," said CEO Christian Kullmann in a statement. "We must become stronger in this environment. Our fate is in our own hands, and we are determined to seize our opportunities."

The company also will discontinue its global polyester business in 2027, citing years of unprofitability and structural disadvantages in Europe. The cuts come even as Evonik continues investing in biotechnology and sustainability, including a roughly 80-million-euro expansion of pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing in Slovakia.

The CEO of another German chemical giant warned that geopolitical instability is putting additional pressure on the already-strained European chemical sector. According to a Tribune News Service report, BASF chief executive Markus Kamieth warned that the U.S. war in Iran could trigger a new oil price shock if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. In a June 9 appearance before Frankfurt business journalists,  Kamieth said the chemical industry is likely experiencing its most difficult period in 25 years, with energy-intensive European production under significant pressure. With oil, we are now slowly reaching the point where reserves are gradually being depleted," Markus Kamieth said at the International Club of Frankfurt Business Journalists.

He said he still believes Europe will have a strong chemical industry a decade from now, though it may look considerably different.

And finally, on the sustainability front, Covestro announced June 15 it has launched a new EU-funded research project aimed at developing the first continuous production process for bio-based aniline, a key raw material in polyurethane manufacturing. The project involves a 10-partner consortium across seven countries with a total budget of approximately $9 million, including 7 million euros in EU funding. Fossil-based aniline production generates approximately 20 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually worldwide, according to the company. Covestro's existing bio-based process uses a tailored microorganism to convert industrial sugars from plant-based biomass into an intermediate product through fermentation, which is then converted into aniline through chemical catalysis using a fed-batch method, in which raw materials are added and product harvested in stages.

The project, which will last 42 months, will scale continuous fermentation technology to semi-industrial demonstration scale at pilot plants in Belgium and Germany.

"Demonstrating continuous fermentation at semi-industrial scale for a high-volume raw material like aniline will set a new benchmark for what biotech processes can achieve in the chemical industry. Biology and engineering, when combined at scale, can fundamentally reshape how we produce the materials the world depends on," contends Markus Dugal, head of Process Technology at Covestro, in a press statement.

I'm Jonathan Katz, and this has been Distilled News.