Entries from Asian Chemical Connections tagged with 'US shale gas'

APIC And Demand

  Just an anomaly?   Source: American Chemistry Council   By John Richardson FEEDSTOCK advantage is, of course, crucially important, but so is demand. And yet the only subject that most people wanted to talk about in any depth at last...

Northeast Asia Confronts PVC Consolidation

By John Richardson ASIAN higher cost polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producers are facing the twin squeeze of increased electricity costs and very competitive exports from the US, according to an industry source the blog met with in Taipei, ahead of tomorrow...

Sinopec And The Blog's Favourite Triangle

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...

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...

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...

NATPET Warns On Saudi Gas Increase

By John Richardson SAUDI ARABIA'S National Petrochemical Industrial Co (NATPET) has gone public over an issue that has worried Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) petrochemical producers for several years now: The erosion of the GCC's competitive advantage over the US. "There...

"You Can't Turn Back The Demographic Tide"

  By John Richardson Our argument ument that demographics drive demand is gaining greater traction. Demographic challenges apply both to developed markets, where populations are rapidly ageing, and to emerging markets such as China, which confronts ithe consequences of...

US Oil: Nothing Is Uncertain As Certainty

By John Richardson ALL of yesterday's excitement about the US overtaking Saudi Arabia and Russia by 2017 to become the world's biggest oil producer - and exceeding Russia to become the world's biggest gas producer by 2015 - needs to...

KPMG Warns Of US Overcapacity

  By John Richardson A management consultancy has gone on the record to warn about what the blog has been warning about for months: That the US petrochemicals industry is in danger of pushing itself into oversupply. KPMG, in...

US Polyethylene Targets China

  By John Richardson SIGNIFICANT volumes of US polyethylene (PE) are heading to China as the States attempts to compensate for weaker domestic sales, understands the blog. Despite the fall in US prices, margins remain strong, creating arbitrage opportunities....

APIC: US Feedstock and Asia Optimism

By John Richardson FEEDSTOCK advantages in the US and the continued economic rise of Asia were some of the themes of last week's Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Steam crackers are being planned in abundance in...

The China Shale Gas Risk

By John Richardson FIVE years ago everybody had written-off the US petrochemicals industry, but now the industry is incredibly gung-ho, thanks to shale gas - even if the issue of demand is somewhat more problematic. In five years time,...

Costly Oil Hurts US Industry

  By John Richardson  THE higher that oil prices go the more the US petrochemical industry's margins have expanded. Petrochemical prices are oil-driven and, therefore, have to go higher as crude becomes more expensive, whereas the cost of shale gas-based ethane...

A Tough Q2 For The US

  By John Richardson THE hard numbers, in the chart above, support anecdotal evidence we have been picking up for over a month of increased Asian polyethylene (PE) exports to Brazil and other Latin American countries. It also confirms...

It's Always Helpful To Have A Plan

By John Richardson THERE are four major reasons why the first three quarters of 2011 have been excellent for chemicals companies, which are: 1.) Strong co-product credits have supported what have been weak commodity-grade polyolefin markets since March of this...

US Polyethylene Competitiveness To Surge in 2012

George Mitchell of Devon Energy - The "Father of Shale Gas" By John Richardson US polyethylene (PE) input costs will be 50% less than those in Europe and Asia beyond 2012, says a new report by Morgan Stanley. The extraordinary...