Note that, as always, the views expressed here are personal. Thank you. By John Richardson Executive Summary The big Western energy companies – the International Oil Companies (IOCs) – are selling hydrocarbon assets as they strive to meet more aggressive emissions targets, some of which have been set by environmental activists. The assets are being […]
Asian Chemical Connections
The climate challenge can only be met if there is a global price on carbon
By John Richardson DEVELOPED WORLD oil and gas majors who faced rising investor pressure on greenhouse gas emissions accounted for just 15% of global energy production, said Jason Bordoff, co-founding Dean of the Columbia Climate School in this important article in Foreign Policy. The rest lay with the state-owned energy giants who were under far […]
China Turns A Corner On Shale Gas
By John Richardson CHINA has more shale gas reserves than the US, and, like the US six years ago, confronts a dangerous reliance on imported energy. But the development of the shale industry in China is being hampered by water shortages, poor intellectual property rights protection leading to lack of access to cutting edge US […]
China’s Environmental Balancing Act
A woman wearing a mask looks across the Pudong on 16 January this year Source of picure: Zuma/Rex Features By John Richardson A DISPUTE between state-owned refiners Sinopec and PetroChina and environmental regulators serves as a good example of the difficulties China faces in reforming its growth model. The debate about the environment is […]
US Support For Big China Shale Gas Challenge…..
……..Significant Commercial Production “At least Ten Years Away” By John Richardson A US-China Shale Gas Training Programme has been launched by the independent White House agency, the US Trade & Development Agency (USTDA). An initial $378,000 will be invested to enable the US industry to travel to China and “help introduce Chinese energy sector officials […]
Multiple Energy Options In China
Source of table: The Economist By John Richardson WHEN you are an energy giant such as Shell you can afford to explore multiple avenues in an effort to profit from China’s long-term energy needs. Thus Shell re-affirmed last week that it plans to invest $1bn in a year in exploiting the country’s vast shale-gas […]
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 […]
China Coal-to-Chems Challenges
By John Richardson CHINA’s coal reserves will last only another 38 years at their present rate of extraction, according to Kai Pflug, CEO of Shanghai-based consultancy, Management Consulting – Chemicals, in this article from ICIS Chemical Business. This suggests that the current enthusiasm for coal-based chemicals, as coal supplies become constrained, might wane among China’s […]
China Refining: Where Is It Heading?
By Malini Hariharan Yesterday’s post talked about refining capacity additions in China and India over the next few of years and how this will contribute to weak refining margins across the region. The blog obtained a preview of a presentation being made by Liao Na, information director of C1 Energy, at a China oil and […]
Is China getting serious?
By Malini Hariharan The Chinese government’s position on environmental safety has always been difficult to read. The official position for the last few years has been to reduce pollution by closing down old factories and forcing companies to invest in new technologies. But implementation has been sketchy as other priorities such as preserving jobs or […]