Entries from Asian Chemical Connections tagged with 'crude oil'
Butadiene Market Standoff
By Malini Hariharan Just days after a recovery in butadiene prices, downstream synthetic rubber producers are once again threatening to cut production as weak demand has pushed them in to a tight corner. Asian major Korea Kumho Petrochemical is looking at...
North America's Oil and Gas Potential
By Malini Hariharan The energy landscape in North America is rapidly changing. After shale gas the focus has shifted to rising oil production from various unconventional sources, which has prompted some commentators to predict that the region will regain its...
Oil demand set to slip, will prices follow?
By Malini Hariharan The International Energy Agency (IEA) has once again trimmed its oil demand forecast for 2011. And rising fears of a sustained global economic slowdown have also prompted the agency to cut the forecast for 2012. The IEA...
Yet another week of price corrections
By Malini Hariharan Asian petrochemical markets continue to face downward pressure on concerns about the health of the global economy. Market sentiment for most products remains poor with buyers in no rush to resume purchases. Polyolefin markets closed last week...
India polymers slide once again
By Malini Hariharan The messenger's prediction has turned out to be correct. Indian polymer producers have been forced to reduce domestic prices to match levels seen in the wider Asian market. The week started with a downward revision to polypropylene...
HSBC: Speculation Adds $30 To Oil
By Malini Hariharan GROWTH in China and other leading economies has slowed and oil prices have slipped but analysts are predicting strong prices for the rest of 2011 and 2012. Their reasoning is based on continued speculative activity in this commodity...
Pulled in all directions
By Malini Hariharan Asian polyolefin producers face a difficult time with markets being pulled in different directions. Feedstock costs have steadily moved up at a time when downstream demand and price direction remains uncertain. Political upheaval in Libya and Bahrain...
Crude firm but naphtha under pressure
By Malini Hariharan Asian naphtha prices, which were expected to remain firm this quarter, have come under pressure as large volumes of European material are heading towards this region. Naphtha was trading at around $885/tonne cfr Japan last evening supported...
Are you feeling the pinch?
By Malini Hariharan With crude oil at around $88/bbl and naphtha hitting $890/tonne cfr Japan on Monday, the pressure is building up along the olefins chain. Ethylene is trading at around $1200/tonne cfr NEA while propylene is at $1280/tonne cfr...
China Economic Hype And Crude Oil
Let's catch the bus from now on.... Source of picture: hybridcars.com By John Richardson THE blog has long been worried about the difficulty, probably the impossibility, of accurately measuring real Chinese growth. And it gets harder as the country...
GCC gas shortage expected to last till 2015
By Malini Hariharan After enjoying years of plentiful supplies the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries face a gas shortage that could last another five years, says consultancy Booz & Co. And this is happening at a time when other...
Fall in futures leads physical markets
By Malini Hariharan The weakness in Asian petrochemical markets is continuing with buyers taking cues from developments in the crude oil and stock markets. In polymers, despite a slight rebound in polyethylene (PE) prices late last week the buying sentiment...
Aromatics get complicated
By Malini Hariharan Asian aromatics markets are getting increasingly hard to read not merely because of volatile crude prices. Demand, usually strong at this time of the year, has so far failed to materialise. The US gasoline season has...
Petchem stocks attract buying interest
By Malini Hariharan Is this the right time to buy petrochemical stocks? Asian equity analysts are having a tough time answering this question being posed by portfolio managers across the region. They are seeing a 'mini downcycle' emerging with a...
Price slide intensifies
By Malini Hariharan The weakness in Asian markets is spreading with steep drops also being reported in olefin prices. Ethylene prices dropped by $160-170/tonnes last week while propylene declined $90-110/tonne, writes my colleague Soo Hwee, ICIS pricing editor for olefins....
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