To follow all the breaking news on the crisis and the implications for petrochemicals and energy markets, please click here for the ICIS subscription topic page. If you need a trial of ICIS news, please let me know. By John Richardson NOW THAT an invasion has started, the critical issue for petrochemicals companies is whether they can […]
Asian Chemical Connections
US/China trade war: G20 deal would not solve deep-seated differences
By John Richardson NOBODY should be surprised by warm smiles, firm handshakes and an agreement to freeze the trade war when President Trump and President Xi meet on 30 November. Equally possible is that when the two leaders meet at the G20 Summit in Argentina no deal will be done and the trade war will […]
European Petchems: Necessity is Again The Mother Of Invention
By John Richardson WHEN has a European cracker gone beyond its useful life? Forty or 50 years? Or maybe if you spend the right amount of money, it can last for a great deal longer. Devoting enough ingenuity and capital on boosting your cracker’s energy efficiency and feedstock flexibility can also secure the future of […]
Bio-based Local Ethylene Plants A Good Alternative
By John Richardson THE proven approach for success in petrochemicals is, of course, to find cheap feedstocks somewhere and build a world-scale cracker complex. That “somewhere” doesn’t necessarily have to be close to the final customers in emerging markets. For example, the Middle East and more more recently the US can afford to ship large […]
Life After The “Sugar High”: Oil Prices And Petrochemicals
By John Richardson WHY is it that even though demand in the US for petrochemicals is still well below the 2007 peak, as indicated by the latest American Chemistry Council capacity utilisation chart, the November ICIS Petrochemical (IPEX) for the US shows pricing at such elevated levels? (see the charts below). “Never mind,” one might […]
Uncertainties Over US Gas Pricing
By John Richardson NOBODY saw the shale gas technological breakthroughs coming and thus the revival of the US petrochemicals industry took everybody by surprise. Today the accepted wisdom is that the US industry will remain a license to print money for many years to come. But as we have discussed before, the substantial amount of […]
Northeast Asia PE Weakest Margins
Source: ICIS pricing Weekly Asian PE Margin Report By John Richardson The slide above shows how Northeast Asian naphtha-based polyethylene (PE) producers are struggling as a result of the weak China market (dark blue bars). And it confirms what we were discussing yesterday: The US, with its ethane advantage and with reportedly high […]
US Polyethylene Targets China
By John Richardson SIGNIFICANT volumes of US polyethylene (PE) are heading to China as the States attempts to compensate for weaker domestic sales, understands the blog. Despite the fall in US prices, margins remain strong, creating arbitrage opportunities. US May contracts for polyethylene (PE) settled down by 7 cents/lb ($154/tonne, €125/tonne) from April, following […]
China coal-based MEG moves ahead
By Malini Hariharan China’s second coal-based monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant is due to start in the second half of 2012, reports ICIS news. The plant, located in Hebi, Henan province, will have a capacity of 250,000 tonnes/year and will be operated by Wuhan Engineering, Haiso Technology, and Hebi Baoma Group. The three companies successfully tested […]
Middle East looks overseas for growth
By Malini Hariharan The US shale gas buzz is now drawing Middle East companies with Sabic’s CEO revealing yesterday that the company is considering investing in a US cracker. Sabic would pursue the US cracker on its own or with a partner, reports ICIS news. A shortage of ethane in Saudi Arabia means Sabic has […]