Call for new liquid feedstock pricing formulas

04 November 2008 13:12  [Source: ICIS news]

DUBAI (ICIS news)--A new pricing formula for liquid feedstocks such as naphtha and condensates is needed in the Middle East to create incentives to invest in petrochemicals and new jobs, an industry official said on Tuesday.

“Governments of this region need to work out a new pricing mechanism for liquid feedstocks as done earlier for natural gas,” said Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) secretary general Abdullah bin Zaid al-Hagbani in an address to the Methanol Forum.

He added that downstream industry opportunities needed to be created by going down the value chain.

Al-Hagbani said that feedstock shortages could be overcome by a pipeline network connecting feedstock-rich countries with the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC), and by having greater synergy between refineries and the petrochemical industry.

A challenge facing the GCC industry, he said, is the sourcing of manpower at all levels due to the global shortages of construction workers and chemical engineers, which results in longer lead times.

“More emphasis needs to be made on regional talent and more synergies between educational institutions and industries,” said al-Hagbani.

The 2008 Methanol Forum is co-sponsored by Houston-based consultants Jim Jordan & Associates and the Washington, DC-based Methanol Institute (MI).

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By: Peter Taffe
+44 20 8652 3214

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