As the photos from New York in 1900 and 1913 remind us, transitions happen very quickly once they get underway. One day, we are saying “it will never happen”. The next, we are telling our friends “I can’t understand why it took so long”. So it seems safe to assume that the auto industry will see major change in the next few years.
Chemicals and the Economy
Global auto fleet goes electric as “the electrification of everything” begins
The ‘digitalization of everything’ has transformed the global economy over the past 30 years. The rise of the internet is just one example. Now electrification is set to have a similar impact, starting with the world’s largest manufacturing industry. Fasten your seatbelts for the ride!
The car market is crashing
Winners and Losers are becoming inevitable in the world’s largest manufacturing industry. Companies and their suppliers have to manage fixed costs to survive the recession. But they also have to invest in EV/AVs if they want to have a business in the future.
Europe’s plastics companies need to step up the pace on recycling if they want to stay in business
Europe’s plastic industry is at a critical turning point. Profitability is falling as the recession bites. But it cannot just cut back and hunker down. Instead, it has to take a lead in building major new recycling capacity as today’s markets and feedstocks start to disappear.
Batttery swapping at service stations set to overcome ‘range anxiety’ for Electric Vehicles
BP are aiming for their new joint venture in China to provide drivers with a fresh, fully-charged battery in less than a minute – and save 2 million tonnes of CO2
Europe’s Green Deal will transform its economy, as floods confirm urgency of tackling climate change
The floods raging in Germany and Benelux highlight the scale of the Climate Change challenge ahead. Last week, Europe announced its roadmap towards a Net Zero economy. It emphasised that achieving Net Zero, even by 2050, will be impossible if we don’t start now. As the Commission noted in presenting the strategy: “Climate change is […]
Oil market supply/demand finally begins to matter again as commodity funds withdraw
Its been a long time since oil market supply/demand was based on physical barrels rather than financial flows: First there was the subprime period, when the Fed artificially boosted demand and caused Brent to hit $147/bbl Then there was QE, where central banks gave free cash to commodity hedge funds and led Brent to hit […]
Hurricane Harvey: lack of insurance will hit Houston’s recovery
“By Monday, the third straight day of flooding, the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey had left much of the region underwater, and the city of Houston looked like a sea dotted by small islands. ‘This event is unprecedented,’ the National Weather Service tweeted. ‘All impacts are unknown and beyond anything experienced.’” This summary from the New […]
Sinopec’s results confirm China’s focus on employment and self-sufficiency, not profit
China’s strategies for oil, refining and petrochemical production are very different from those in the West, as analysis of Sinopec’s Annual and 20-F Reports confirms. As the above chart shows, it doesn’t aim to maximise profit: □ Since 1998, it has spent $45bn on capex in the refining sector, and $38bn in the chemicals sector □ […]
Oil market rebalancing myth looks close to its sell-by date
The myth of oil market rebalancing has been a great money-maker for financial markets. Hedge funds were the first to benefit in H2 last year, as Reuters has reported, when: “OPEC and some of the most important hedge funds active in commodities reached an understanding on oil market rebalancing during informal briefings held in the […]