ICIS and the UK–based chemicals company International eChem had the privilege of making a presentation during the Knowledge Sharing Partners event at last month’s GPCA Forum in Dubai. The conference was organised by our excellent ICIS Conferences team. Please click this link for a copy of our slides: ICISConsultingPresentationGPCA2018 If you would like to further discuss […]
Asian Chemical Connections
The Next Game Changer: Ample Saudi Ethane
Picture: US shale gas worker Source: Image Broker/Rex Features By John Richardson SHALE-GAS exploration in northern Saudi Arabia shows tremendous promise, said an industry observer on the sidelines of last week’s seventh Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) conference in Dubai. “The main purpose of the Saudi Aramco project is to generate methane for […]
Demographics And Saudi Arabia
Source of picture: Wikimedia Commons By John Richardson EIGHTY percent of Saudi Arabian families get by on incomes of less than $3,300 a month, whereas Saudi Aramco makes $900m of profits every day, says Leslie McCune, managing director of the UK-based chemicals logistics consultancy, Chemical Management Resources Ltd. But he adds that in order to […]
Don’t Underestimate The Middle East
Source of picture: Wikimedia Commons By John Richardson THE theme of last week’s Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) conference in Dubai was “Moving Downstream, Creating Added Value and Sustainable Growth”. There is a huge effort underway in the Gulf region, as we have discussed before, to move away from only basic petrochemical […]
The Risks Of Being An Outlier
By John Richardson THE blog has been mystified throughout this year over why senior industry executives appear to remain “in denial” over the weakness of global petrochemicals markets. Time and again we have heard the comment that the falls in demand were only the result of de-stocking. The public mood of the industry has soured […]
December Polyolefin Price Rises Flounder
“I am so happy to be supporting polyethylene film pricing”…. Source of picture: Canada-China Agriculture and Food Development Exchange By John Richardson IT looks as if attempts by polyolefin producers to raise prices for December deliveries have, as we predicted last week, been largely unsuccessful. Some grades of polypropylene (PP) edged up by $10-20/tonne […]
Saudi PP producers react; put pressure on India
By Malini Hariharan The Gulf Petrochemical and Chemicals Association (GPCA) is speaking up on behalf of Saudi producers who are worried about the Indian government’s recent ruling on dumping of polypropylene (PP). The Indian position, outlined in a disclosure statement, was that the Saudi price formula for propane gave local PP producers an ‘unfair advantage’. […]
A fight to the finish
By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) The Indian government has announced 17 November as the date for a public hearing to discuss the provisional anti dumping duties that it had imposed in June on imports of polypropylene (PP) from Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Oman. The hearing will give a […]