By John Richardson WITH US oil prices now below $40 a barrel and so heading in the direction that I’ve warned about since the “fake recovery” in February-June, people will be panicking, quite understandably. The global collapse in stock markets will also be adding to this sense of panic. The immediate job will also be […]
Asian Chemical Connections
US Petchems: Last Piece Of Expansion Logic Fades On Falling Crude
By John Richardson THE demand was simply never going to be there to support anywhere close to the number of US cracker and derivatives projects listed in the table above. There long been two reasons for this: The US is a mature market with no demand growth since 2000 in ethylene and the biggest-volume derivative […]
Surviving The Crisis Depends On How You React
By John Richardson PEOPLE make up chemicals companies – not just ever-more ingeniously assembled molecules. So how people react from now onwards will determine which companies survive and which companies fail in the New Normal. The people who are on the boards of the world’s chemicals companies need to tear up their strategies and start […]
$30 A Barrel Crude: Six Reasons Why It Will Happen Again
Want to know what do next? Then contact ICIS Consulting at john.richardson@icis.com By John Richardson IT WAS clear as early as January 2013 that US shale-oil production was on the rise. Back then I warned that this new supply threatened an oil-price correction. If you stepped back from the consensus, it was also clear […]
US “Swimming In Ethylene” As Global Polyethylene Problems Build
If you are interested in my take on Asian polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) prices and margins going forward 12 months, then contact me at this email address – john.richardson@icis.com. I will then provide you with details on how to subscribe to our Asia PE and PP Forecast Reports. By John Richardson IT was […]
Yuan Devaluation: Pressure On Jobs Might Lead To 10% Fall
By John Richardson CHINA has set itself the target of creating 10 million jobs this year during a time when real GDP growth, as opposed to the fictional government numbers, is probably down in the single digits. GDP growth is also quite likely even negative in some of China’s hardest-hit provinces. Local newspapers are also […]
Yuan Devaluation: Why, What It Means Now And What Is Next
By John Richardson Why did the yuan devaluation take place, and what happens now and over the next few months? Here is my take on yesterday’s announcement. Although this might not be the main motive behind a move that I predicted would happen in February of this year, a cheaper yuan will provide support for […]
Saudi Arabia: It Has Never Been About Beating US Shale Oil
By John Richardson THE CONVENTIONAL view is that Saudi Arabia has launched its market-share campaign in oil markets in order to pretty much get rid of the US shale-oil industry. By so doing, it would secure its long-term economic future through driving global prices back up to the region of $100 a barrel, goes this […]
Global Polyethylene: The Bubble Continues To Burst
By John Richardson THERE are further reasons to believe that the bubble continues to burst for much of the global polyethylene (PE) industry, after what has been a misleadingly strong first half of the year. US ethylene capacity and production are on the increase as production issues lessen and as the US prepares to also […]
Asian Polypropylene: The Recent Past And Immediate Future
If you are interested in my take on Asian polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) prices and margins going forward 12 months, then contact me at this email address – john.richardson@icis.com. I can then provide you with details on how to subscribe to our Asia PE and PP Forecast Reports. By John Richardson AS with the […]
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