Entries from Asian Chemical Connections tagged with 'opec'
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...
Oil Prices, Wall Street And Economic Chaos
By John Richardson Crude oil and commodities markets have lost touch with the fundamental realities. This didn't just happen yesterday, but began a decade ago.That's the argument the blog put forward in the latest chapter of our new free eBook,...
Saudi Petchem Production Threatens Recovery
By John Richardson RISING oil production in Saudi Arabia has resulted in bigger volumes of polyethylene (PE) being delivered into Asia-Pacific markets, a source with a major plastics processor told the blog late last week. "Saudi Arabia has definitely, in...
European PE, PP below Euros1,000/tonne
By John Richardson JOURNALISTS are often accused of exaggeration for the sake a good story, but it is genuinely no exaggeration to say that markets are in free-fall. Last week we reported on how European polyolefin pricing was on a...
Chemicals Buying & The IEA Decision
By John Richardson CHEMICALS and polymer demand looks even less likely to be supported by "buying forward" following yesterday's decision by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release 60m barrels of crude into the market. Here is a bit...
Saudi Crackers Could Soon Be At 100%
By John Richardson SAUDI ARABIA'S crackers could soon be running at operating rates of 100% again following widespread reports quoting the al-Hayat newspaper that the country's crude production is set to rise to 10m barrels a day in July. Al-Hayat, a...
Saudi Petchem Output Increase
By John Richardson YESTERDAY'S fractious OPEC meeting - where members were unable to agree on a proposal by the four biggest members to raise output - may not necessarily be good news for petrochemicals. For a long time the...
Supply Constraints Should Mean A Healthy China
By John Richardson THE extent of the weakness in China 's polyolefins market has become more apparent as a result of reports that a much-anticipated increase in Middle East production hasn't happened. Back in February, oil production in Saudi...
Middle East Social Pressures & Gas Supply
By John Richardson THE blog held a fascinating discussion with a very well-placed industry observer last week, further underlining some of the key challenges facing the Middle East.. These include the well-documented feedstock shortages that will result in a dearth...
China Remains Weak On Government Tightening
By John Richardson CHINA'S polyethylene (PE) market - a reasonable proxy we often use for the chemicals and polymer industries as a whole - remains worryingly weak, according to several traders and producers interviewed by the blog this week. Modest...
Petchems Confront Another Lehman Bros
By John Richardson THE main issue facing Asian cracker operators a couple of weeks ago was how long co-product credits would continue to compensate for a moribund China polyethylene (PE) market. Feedstock cost is now the biggest immediate worry. A...
Saudi Producers Remain Confident
By John Richardson THE optimism of Saudi Arabian petrochemical producers remains extremely high, according to an industry observer who spoke to the blog. One might think we were to some extent stating the blatantly obvious as their margins will...
Saudi Oil And Gas Supply - Anyone's Guess
By John Richardson SAUDI Arabia's crude-oil reserves may have been overstated by as much as 40% or 300bn barrels, according to this article on February 8 in the Guardian, based on cables between Saudi and US diplomats...
How Can This Year Not Be A Let Down?
Ali Naimi, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, suggests more oil supply could be on the way Source of picture: stonesoupstationblogspot.com By John Richardson CHEMICALS analysts at HSBC have added further weight to the argument that 2011 could...
A Repeat Of The 2008 Collapse On The Cards
"Only another thousand or so years to go....." Source of picture: Atlantic Council By John Richardson HERE we go again, eh? Yes, as rising crude-oil prices and overall inflation pose a major threat to the petrochemicals...
Gaping Chasm Between Effective, Real Op Rates
By John Richardson A gaping chasm has opened up over the past 18 months between nameplate capacities and effective operating rates, resulting in much greater focus on the latter. It isn't easy and it is getting ever-more complicated to...
China Polyolefins Divorced From Fundamentals
A permanent separation? Source of picture: edu.com By John Richardson IT IS pretty easy to predict specific events that will cause declines in polyolefins pricing in China next year thanks to the big role that macro-economics now plays in...
OPEC, China Inflation And Petchems
By John Richardson OPEC's decision to maintain crude quotas at current levels could give the banks further ammunition to manipulate opinion that the black stuff is genuinely in tight supply. There is plenty of evidence that oil is, in fact,...
Petchems And Tomorow's OPEC Meeting
By John Richardson THE next OPEC meeting - which takes place in Ecuador this Saturday (11 December) - is crucial for petrochemicals for two reasons. Firstly, the crude market has turned bullish recently as a result of the early onset...
Oversupply In Petchems Still On The Way
Perhaps not just yet.... By John Richardson COULD it be that some chemicals industry players and observers, in the great galloping rush to join the supercycle stampede, have got ahead of themselves in predicting that we are already through the...
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