By John Richardson ONE of Sinopec’s subsidiaries, Shanghai Petrochemical, has weighed-in to the debate over US shale gas by warning that cheap petrochemicals imports from the States could erode the whole of China’s competitiveness. “We can’t tell how severe the blow will be, but it will pose a serious challenge, and the entire industry will […]
Asian Chemical Connections
The Saudi Feedstock Debate Intensifies
By John Richardson THE debate about the future competitiveness of Saudi petrochemicals versus the US is heating up. In January, we reported that Jamal Malaikah (see picture), the president of Saudi polypropylene (PP) producer National Petrochemical Industrial Co (NATPET), had warned about an eroding Middle East advantage as a result of US shale gas. And […]
Players In Europe And Asia Are Serious About Cheap US Ethane
A fascinating guest blog post by my colleague, Nigel Davis (see below) explores how excess US ethane supply could help raise the competitiveness of European and US crackers. Provided, of course, that there is sufficient demand. By Nigel Davis IT is becoming clear that European companies aside from INEOS are looking seriously at importing ethane […]
US Energy Supply: Morning In America
Source: ICIS Chemical Business By John Richardson SEVEN grassroots crackers are now being planned in the US, along with numerous ethylene derivatives facilities (see the above table). The mood at last month’s the 38th American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) International Petrochemical meeting (IPC) in San Antonio, Texas, was incredibly buoyant on record current […]
Reviving Youngstown
By John Richardson THE blog turned 50 last week and so spare it some indulgence, as it is in a somewhat reflective mood. Yesterday, it attended a Bruce Springsteen concert in Melbourne, Australia – the great song writer/social commentator in the fine tradition of Woody Guthrie etc. His iconic song, Youngstown – about the “former” […]
US has “23 Years” Of Gas Reserves
By John Richardson Amidst all the continued excitement about abundant supplies of ethane in the US, some sceptics are still warning that all may not as it seems during petrochemicals company investor presentations. “The US does not have 100 years of natural gas supply,” said the author of this post on the Oil Drum blog. […]
Damage Limitation
By John Richardson POLYETHYLENE (PE) prices crept up by $10-50/tonne for the week ending 22 February, according to ICIS pricing. But, as the above chart shows, integrated high-density PE variable cost margins in Southeast and Northeast Asia remained very weak, and were way below all the other regions – again, up until the week ending […]
China Coal-To-Olefins Storm In A Teacup?
: Source: NRELC, China Coal Research Institute, HSBC estimates By John Richardson THERE has been a lot of interest in China’s coals-to-olefins (CTO) industry, with arguments that it is a very economically viable method of production. On paper, there is even more capacity due on-stream than in the US as it forges ahead with […]
US Petchems “Double Peak” Theory
Wall Street rounding up investors? Source of picture: Rex Features In a guest blog post, Joseph Chang, the global editor of our magazine, ICIS Chemical Business, echoes our own concerns that it is getting very frothy out there. The “this time it will be different” school of thought sems to be controlling the sentiment […]
US Shale Row Flares UP
Sorry for the corny headline; we couldn’t resist it. By John Richardson THE argument that the switch to natural gas from coal and oil is good for the environment has been further undermined by reports earlier this week of the big increase in the amount of gas-flaring in the US. When the blog visited […]
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