Home Blogs Asian Chemical Connections Is ExxonMobil taking a gamble?

Is ExxonMobil taking a gamble?

Aromatics, China, Olefins, Polyolefins, Projects
By John Richardson on 30-Mar-2007

Will China relax the price controls that have led to wallopping great losses for domestic refiners, thereby justifying ExxonMobil’s Fujian investment?
As we can see from this Bloomberg article, Exxon is pinning many of its hopes on these controls being relaxed. Does the US giant know something we don’t or are they taking a punt?
All very nice to talk about China’s demand growth for petrochemicals also being the driver behind the refinery-to-petchem project, but what about growing competition in an ever more crowded market?
Give me a call Exxon and tell me all your demand versus supply growth projections in detail, and give me an inside track on what’s happening in Beijing over fuel pricing policy.
If that happens, flotillas of pigs (can a collection of pigs be called a flotilla?) will fly past my window.
Actually, don’t call Exxon as that could be very dangerous – I am near Changi Airport in Singapore and so the pigs could get in the way of the flight path. Better to keep on feeding journalists unbacked-up arguments.