Chemical Process Engineer

UK plastic manufacturer could face legal action over toxic emissions. Exclusive: Environment Agency is considering whether to prosecute Huntsman Polyurethanes over emissions of carcinogenic benzene A plastic manufacturer in the north of England is facing potential legal action over emissions of benzene, a carcinogenic chemical with no safe level, the Guardian can reveal. The Environment Agency (EA) is considering taking legal action against Huntsman Polyurethanes in Teesside for a potential breach of licence, which is a criminal offence. Campaigners say it has shone a light on the toxic nature of the global plastics industry and that workers and the local community have been put at risk. Huntsman Polyurethanes, a petrochemical company that manufactures chemicals to produce plastic, sits within the sprawling Teesside chemical cluster in the seaside town of Redcar, North Yorkshire. The factory is part of Huntsman Corporation, a publicly traded global producer and marketer of chemical products which boasted revenues of $6bn in 2025. In 2023, Huntsman decommissioned a process that was reducing its benzene air emissions and replaced it with an alternative method controlled by a third party. However, EA documents show this new process "periodically paused", with benzene consequently emitted directly to the air. The documents also show the EA was aware of this problem in 2023, but did not investigate until this year. During this time, the benzene emissions from the site rose from 13 tonnes in 2022 to 17 tonnes in 2024, according to EA records. Benzene, which is used to make some plastics, is carcinogenic to humans and causes leukaemia. According to the World Health Organization there is no safe level of exposure. In an inspection report from March, the EA recorded several permit breaches in relation to the benzene emissions. The document states benzene is a carcinogen and it is "reasonably foreseeable that the deficiencies in the management system will cause multiple emissions, that when agglomerated, may result in a significant impact on the environment or human health until resolved through compliance". Failure to comply with an environmental permit is a criminal offence. A Huntsman spokesperson said the benzene emissions were not illegal and were "fully compliant with our permit conditions". However, the EA told the Guardian: "We are considering further enforcement action with our legal team in relation to these permit breaches and have informed the UK Health Security Agency and the Health and Safety Executive so that they can assess any public or occupational health risks". Huntsman was instructed by the EA to carry out modelling to assess the impact of the benzene emissions in March 2026. The modelling found "significant" breaches of air quality standards in all scenarios considered. These standards are legally binding and are set to protect human health from toxic pollutants. In one scenario, the benzene emissions were predicted to exceed the 24-hour limit by 933%. However, the EA told the Guardian an internal review of the modelling found the impacts to be "not insignificant but predicted environmental concentrations remain below the relevant environmental standards". "Our air quality experts have assessed environmental and human health impacts - their feedback indicates that these emissions do not pose a significant risk to local sites such as nearby schools," the spokesperson added. However, David Santillo, a senior scientist with the Greenpeace Research Laboratories at the University of Exeter, said these emissions are "very significant" and described the Environment Agency's slow action as a "travesty". "The Environment Agency should be there to prevent this kind of thing, not just to document it and request more and more reports," he said. The EA said Huntsman "failed to act proactively" but it also "recognised that further follow-up sooner could have supported more timely implementation". It added that its recent interventions have led to "significantly improved performance of the abatement system on site". Ally Lewis, professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of York, said benzene is one of the most harmful air pollutants to human health and that the EA "seems to be allowing an obvious degradation in air quality and an increase in a pollutant that causes cancer on the basis that it's fine as long as you stay below a somewhat arbitrary value". "If this is our national approach to managing risk and chemicals it seems remarkably laissez-faire and hands off," he said. Roel Vermeulen, professor of environmental epidemiology and exposome science at Utrecht University, said the modelling report flags a plausible problem that should be taken "very seriously". He said measurements of the benzene levels outside people's homes and in other places in the community should "begin immediately" and this should be in parallel with reducing emissions. A spokesperson from Huntsman said its own air monitoring data "indicates that concentrations beyond the site boundary are below applicable air quality standards". It also said its "long-term personal monitoring programme highlights that there are no real-world instances of exceedance of exposure limits for personnel on site." The company refused to share this data with the Guardian and has not shared it with the EA. Campaigners say the benzene emissions from this factory point to a broader problem with the global plastic industry. A recent Greenpeace report said pollution from plastic waste is only one aspect of the "devastating impacts of plastics", with the hazardous chemicals used in plastic production also "poisoning people and the natural world". International research has linked living close to plastic production facilities with negative health outcomes. The Boston College Global Observatory found that plastic production workers are at increased risk of a range of cancers, including leukaemia. "You can't manufacture plastics without creating pollution and the plastics then create pollution of their own. It's a messy business right the way through," Santillo said. Carole Zagrovic, who worked as a community development specialist in Redcar for Friends of the Earth for around a decade in the early 2000s, said back then people in the area "talked about cancer like it's the flu. They had become blase and hardened towards it," she said. Zagrovic said she was "appalled" that pollution like this was ongoing and said it seemed like nothing had changed despite her years of campaigning. A spokesperson for Huntsman said: "Huntsman's benzene emissions are fully compliant with our permit conditions, including our 2024 emissions, as governed by the Environment Agency." An EA spokesperson said: "We have been carrying out extensive regulatory work in response to concerns about emissions from this site, including inspections and compliance reporting which uncovered several breaches. We are considering further enforcement action in relation to these breaches and are working with the operator to ensure site improvements are rapidly delivered, due to our action, controls have been improved and emissions associated with process vent gases have reduced significantly since early February."

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership has $13.81 million holdings in Huntsman Corporation $HUN. August 1, 2026 Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN - Free Report) by 117.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,037,635 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 559,585 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.59% of Huntsman worth $13,811,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Huntsman by 83.5% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 7,364,206 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $66,131,000 after purchasing an additional 3,351,265 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Huntsman by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,062,972 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $106,878,000 after buying an additional 2,772,563 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in Huntsman by 476.5% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,841,510 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $25,517,000 after buying an additional 2,348,598 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in Huntsman during the 2nd quarter worth about $21,953,000. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Huntsman by 4,003.2% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 1,806,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $18,062,000 after acquiring an additional 1,762,187 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.81% of the company's stock. Key Huntsman news. Here are the key news stories impacting Huntsman this week: * Positive Sentiment: Huntsman's second-quarter revenue increased 14.1% year over year to approximately $1.66 billion, exceeding the $1.60 billion consensus estimate. Revenue rose across all major segments, led by Polyurethanes, Advanced Materials and Performance Products. Huntsman Announces Second Quarter 2026 Earnings * Positive Sentiment: The net loss narrowed sharply to $6 million from $158 million a year earlier, while adjusted EBITDA reached $120 million. The improvement suggests operating conditions are recovering despite continued pressure on profitability. Huntsman Q2 Revenue and Net Loss * Positive Sentiment: The board declared another $0.0875-per-share quarterly dividend, payable September 30 to shareholders of record September 15. The ongoing payout may support income-oriented investors, although it is relatively modest compared with the company's earnings challenges. Huntsman Announces Third Quarter 2026 Common Dividend * Neutral Sentiment: Huntsman said its planned all-stock merger of equals with Olin remains in progress, with a shareholder vote scheduled for August 25, 2026. The transaction could create longer-term strategic benefits, but approval and integration remain important execution risks. Huntsman Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript * Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings were approximately breakeven, missing the Zacks consensus estimate of $0.06 per share. The company also used $90 million of free cash flow and reported $60 million of operating cash outflow, reinforcing concerns about near-term cash generation. Huntsman Reports Break-Even Earnings for Q2 Analyst ratings changes. A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Huntsman from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Huntsman from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Huntsman from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Huntsman from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $12.00 target price on Huntsman in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $13.83. Discover more ETF Screener Tool Stock Screener Tool Financial News Subscription Huntsman stock down 18.7%. Shares of HUN stock opened at $9.81 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $12.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.80. Huntsman Corporation has a 1 year low of $7.30 and a 1 year high of $16.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.43 and a beta of 0.69. Huntsman (NYSE:HUN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.23) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.39 billion. Huntsman had a negative return on equity of 3.49% and a negative net margin of 3.05%.Huntsman's quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.11) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Huntsman Corporation will post -0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year. Huntsman dividend announcement. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.0875 per share. This represents a $0.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Huntsman's payout ratio is presently -33.65%. Huntsman company profile. Huntsman Corporation is a global manufacturer and marketer of specialty chemicals with headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas. Founded in 1970 by entrepreneur Jon Huntsman Sr., the company has grown through strategic acquisitions and organic expansion to establish a broad portfolio of products serving diverse end markets. Huntsman maintains a presence in more than 30 countries, operating manufacturing facilities across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. The company organizes its operations into several core business segments, including Polyurethanes, Performance Products, Advanced Materials, and Textile Effects. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. Before you consider Huntsman, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Huntsman wasn't on the list. While Huntsman currently has a Hold rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. The AI boom extends far beyond the biggest tech names. Discover 10 companies supplying the memory, storage, networking, semiconductor manufacturing, and power infrastructure that make AI possible. Learn where the next wave of AI investment opportunities may emerge - and the key risks investors should watch as the global AI buildout accelerates.