By John Richardson OPEC’s decision to maintain crude quotas at current levels could give the banks further ammunition to manipulate opinion that the black stuff is genuinely in tight supply. There is plenty of evidence that oil is, in fact, still pretty long – and that this bull-run is yet again about speculators talking up […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Petchems And Tomorow’s OPEC Meeting
By John Richardson THE next OPEC meeting – which takes place in Ecuador this Saturday (11 December) – is crucial for petrochemicals for two reasons. Firstly, the crude market has turned bullish recently as a result of the early onset of winter in Europe and the growing belief that the oil-supply cushion is being reduced. […]
Oversupply In Petchems Still On The Way
Perhaps not just yet…. By John Richardson COULD it be that some chemicals industry players and observers, in the great galloping rush to join the supercycle stampede, have got ahead of themselves in predicting that we are already through the bottom of the margins trough? This distinct possibility was raised by Joe Duffy, consultant with […]
US Petrochemicals A World Beater
Shell’s refinery and petchems complex in Deer Park, Texas Source of picture http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ By John Richardson THE excellent third-quarter financial results of the likes of Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell further confirm the extraordinary turnaround in the cost positions of those with a big proportion of their global polyolefins production based in the US. Some […]
Facts, Fiction And Price-Rise Sustainability
Source of picture: tycoonreport.com By John Richardson This is a very dangerous time for petrochemicals producers as they attempt to separate real, sustainable demand from feedstock-cost related price rises and speculation. A bubble – as we discussed yesterday – seems to have formed in purified terephthalic (PTA) and, according to ICIS news, in […]
Supercycle Claims Dismissed
By John Richardson THE Morgan Stanley Supercycle report, which we first blogged on last Friday, has created a big stir among the blog’s contacts. Click herefor a copy of the report RI_PETROCHEM_BLUEPAPER2010.pdf As we said in this ICIS news article on both the Morgan Stanley report, and one from Merrill Lynch which is in a similar […]
Distorting The Outlook For 2011
Source of picture: http://www.intentblog.com By John Richardson and Malini Hariharan THE view from a particular geography, grade of polyolefin or end-use application might be distorting the outlook for 2011. In China and India and other emerging markets demand growth continues to astound and even though the rates of expansion might have slowed down […]
Ethylene Freight Rates Head For Collapse
“If I didn’t care what happens to you….” Source of picture: www.sydbarrett.com By John Richardson AS many as 25 new ethylene vessels could be in operation by 2013 as a result of what one shipping industry source told the blog was “irresponsible shipping brokers and consultants talking up the market”. He predicted that the […]
Asian Ethylene Market Uncertainty Continues
By John Richardson THE outlook for ethylene spot market availability remains muddled as a few weeks ago due to higher freight rates and uncertainties surrounding Middle East natural-gas feedstock supply. Freight rates for all Middle East, Asia and West Mediterranean routes were higher in August than their 12-month average, according to Singapore shipping broker Braemar […]
Picking The Winners And Losers
Source of picture: ICIS By John Richardson ICIS has just published its Top 100 listing for 2009, which, not surprisingly, reveals the nothing-short-of devastating impact of the global economic crisis on chemical company financial performances. “Unprecedented operating and financial conditions helped drive annual sales for industry giants down more than 30%,” writes my […]
Jump to page: