Lyondellbasell Appoints Peter Vanacker as Chief Executive Officer
December 13, 2021 at 06:45 am EST
Share
LyondellBasell announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Peter Vanacker, President and CEO of Neste Corporation, as its new Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Vanacker succeeds Bhavesh V. "Bob" Patel, who will retire from the Company on December 31, 2021, as previously announced. Mr. Vanacker will assume his role no later than June 2022, upon satisfaction of the notice period under his current employment agreement, at which time he will also join the Company's Board of Directors. The Board also announced that Kenneth (Ken) Lane, executive vice president, Global Olefins & Polyolefins (O&P) for LyondellBasell, will serve as interim CEO upon Mr. Patel's retirement. Mr. Vanacker brings more than 30 years of industry experience to his new role, including serving as President and CEO of Neste, an renewable products company that has seen substantial growth and transformation under his leadership since 2018. Prior to that role, Mr. Vanacker was CEO and Managing Director of the CABB Group, a leader in the fine chemicals global market, and he was CEO and Managing Director of Treofan Group, a global leader in the polypropylene films business. He previously had a succession of roles at Bayer AG, including as EVP and Head of the Global Polyurethanes business and member of the Executive Committee of Bayer Material Science, now Covestro. During his tenure with Bayer, Peter worked across various subsidiaries, including in Belgium, Brazil, Germany and the United States. He is the Chair of the Advisory Board for the European Institute for Industrial Leadership and a member of the Supervisory Board of Symrise AG.
LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is one of the world's largest chemical groups. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- production of olefins and polyolefin (50.2%): ethylene, propylene, butadiene, polypropylene components, etc.;
- manufacturing of intermediate chemical products (21.6%): propylene oxide, acetyl, ethanol, ethylene oxide, etc.;
- refining of highly sulfide crude oil (15.6%): activity ensured in the Gulf Coast region of the United States. The group also produces oxy-fuel;
- manufacturing of advanced polymer solutions (11.1%): polypropylene compounds, engineering plastics, composite materials, advanced polymers, etc. ;
- development of chemical and polyolefin process technologies (1.5%). The group also manufactures polyolefin catalysts.
At the end of 2021, the group had 34 production sites worldwide.
Net sales break down geographically as follows: the Netherlands (3%), the United States (48.8%), Germany (7.4%), China (5%), Italy (4%), Mexico (3.4%), Japan (3.1%), France (3%), Poland (2.5%) and other (19.8%).
LYONDELLBASELL INDUSTRIES N.V. 
