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1 View of lobby of Marriott Rivercenter Hotel
2 Meetings in the ICIS suite, Marriott
Riverwalk Hotel
3 AFPM General Session with Nigel Davis
Tuesday afternoon and the final day's AFPM meetings are still going strong in the lobbies of the Grand Hyatt and the Marriott Rivercenter. Outside it is another hot day, and delegates are leaving to drive back to Houston or take cabs to San Antonio airport.
News that two tornadoes have hit Dallas, Texas is spreading around the delegates and we hear that some home-going travelers are already stranded at San Antonio airport because all connecting flights through Dallas-Fort Worth have been cancelled.
The ICIS press team returns from the AFPM Luncheon to say that the speaker, former US Defense Secretary Robert Gates was very good. The final AFPM 2012 conference articles, on "Europe producers stand to lose in N America shale gale," and "Canada's NOVA studies building two PE plants" are filed. The computers, pricing reports, and banners are packed away. The coffee pots and floral decorations disappear, the Houston crew get in their cars, and now it's all over.
Click here for all 108 ICIS news articles from AFPM '12 ...
1 AFPM Opening Reception Sunday.
2 In the ICIS suite
3 AFPM President Charles Drevna
4 AFPM Opening Reception
5 Nigel Davis chairing General Session Monday
Roof gardens created by expandable polystyrene (Styrofoam) roof insulation are advertised by Dow in today's glossy AFPM special publication. It is part of the continuing trend for petchem companies to promote the green credentials of petrochemicals.
Day One of AFPM starts undesirably early with a jet-lagged awakening long before dawn. In the idle hours before the start of the business day, I browse through the 37th AFPM IPC 2012 delegate booklet to see if anyone I know has an updated photo.
I see our own Nigel Davis has his photo prominently on page 10, because he is the moderator for the first General Session on Monday: "Shale plays implications for the global petrochemical industry - a panel discussion." The session is at 8.00-9.30 on Monday and I am planning to be there to support Nigel. At this rate, the early start will not be any problem at all.
The delegate booklet had gone to print with the photo of Dick Cheney, before his recent heart operation. I understand that AFPM has confirmed the replacement luncheon speaker will be former CIA Director and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
I expect there will be a lot of suits about today, as the conference attire is now "business". At the Kolmar cocktail yesterday evening, the preferred attire for men was navy blazer and tan trousers, always popular for the US crowd.
It was a hot evening for standing around outside, and every slight breeze brought down a shower of pollen from the ancient spreading trees in the courtyard.
During the party, news was coming out about the explosion at Marl, and there was speculation about which plant it was. By the time I was back at the hotel, the article was on ICIS news from our German stringer.
(photo: San Antonio panorama Saturday afternoon)
On my way back from registration for AFPM in the Grand Hyatt on Saturday afternoon, I run into Bernard who tells me that he is just back from the tropical paradise of Praia do Forte in Brazil, where he was attending the 6th EBDQUIM conference hosted by the Brazilian association of chemical and petrochemical distributors Associquim.
It was great, he says, only while he was there he was bitten by wild dog and ended up having to have five rabies shots. He indicates the parts of his body where the five needles were plunged. I can tell he is still feeling this was a bit of an over-reaction to what he describes as a slight scratch. He also wasn't too impressed with his colleague Joe, who made a quick departure from the scene crying "I'll get a doctor."
A thick pea-souper fog shrouds San Antonio as the jet-lagged early risers wake to the Saturday morning of AFPM (the conference formerly known as NPRA). A few suits are already in a meeting in the breakfast room of the Marriott Riverwalk Hotel, but most delegates arriving a day early are focussing on going for a run on the Riverwalk, checking out the hotel gym or setting off shopping.
The remaining stragglers from San Antonio's previous conference are still wandering around town with their badges on. By mid-morning the sky is blue and the temperature is set to reach 32 deg C (91 deg F). I read an article on ICIS news that AFPM attendance is expected to be well over 2,900 and possibly more than 3,000 for the first time in a few years.
It is boom time for sales of plastic petrol cans in the UK, after a government minister mistakenly advised people to stockpile petrol at home. The UK press is full of articles about panic buying of fuel, dry petrol stations and domestic accidents caused by petrol storage in homes.
One article in Friday's FT reported "a 225% jump in sales of fuel cans at Halfords, including a 500% rise in 20 litre jerry cans, which are too large to store domestic petrol legally."
(photo: Rex)
I feel sorry for the guy sitting next to me on the plane to Houston, with me blowing my nose every five minutes. Still, right after take-off he falls asleep, and stays sound asleep for five hours. How does he do that?
I've read the paper, done some Chinese homework and then watched a couple of films. The second one is Contagion. It is about people like us who move around from place to place, spreading their contagion. Gwyneth Paltrow has a leading but very short-lived role. I don't want to spoil the film for anyone, but she's dead within the first ten minutes. After that, the characters are dropping like flies.
The disease spreads through people on buses, in schools, in casinos, on planes, through touching surfaces, coughing and sneezing. They don't even have to get on to people gathering at conferences, shaking hands or air-kissing. After watching the film I resolve to keep a clear metre away from everyone in meetings this weekend. And to be prepared for the next mass outbreak of a deadly virus, as soon as I get home, I'm going to fill up the freezer and put a few multi-packs of bottled water in the shed.
This full page advert for Mitsui was in today's Financial Times. The section "Feed the World" at the foot of the page is all about Mitsui's fertilizer marketing and trading, with a handy aide memoire on which fertilizer nourishes which part of the growing plant.
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