Entries from Asian Chemical Connections tagged with 'shale gas'
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...
China PE Demand In 2013: Flat Or Declining
By John Richardson SENTIMENT continues to severely undermine polyethylene (PE) demand in China as converters, lacking confidence in a big new economic stimulus programme later this year, keep their raw-material purchases to an absolute minimum. "It used to be the case...
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...
The Saudi Feedstock Debate Intensifies
By John Richardson THE debate about the future competitiveness of Saudi petrochemicals versus the US is heating up. In January, we reported that Jamal Malaikah (see picture), the president of Saudi polypropylene (PP) producer National Petrochemical Industrial Co (NATPET), had...
Players In Europe And Asia Are Serious About Cheap US Ethane
A fascinating guest blog post by my colleague, Nigel Davis (see below) explores how excess US ethane supply could help raise the competitiveness of European and US crackers. Provided, of course, that there is sufficient demand. By Nigel Davis IT...
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...
Reviving Youngstown
By John Richardson THE blog turned 50 last week and so spare it some indulgence, as it is in a somewhat reflective mood. Yesterday, it attended a Bruce Springsteen concert in Melbourne, Australia - the great song writer/social commentator in...
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...
Damage Limitation
By John Richardson POLYETHYLENE (PE) prices crept up by $10-50/tonne for the week ending 22 February, according to ICIS pricing. But, as the above chart shows, integrated high-density PE variable cost margins in Southeast and Northeast Asia remained very weak,...
China Coal-To-Olefins Storm In A Teacup?
: Source: NRELC, China Coal Research Institute, HSBC estimates By John Richardson THERE has been a lot of interest in China's coals-to-olefins (CTO) industry, with arguments that it is a very economically viable method of production. On paper,...
US Petchems "Double Peak" Theory
Wall Street rounding up investors? Source of picture: Rex Features In a guest blog post, Joseph Chang, the global editor of our magazine, ICIS Chemical Business, echoes our own concerns that it is getting very frothy out there. The...
US Shale Row Flares UP
Sorry for the corny headline; we couldn't resist it. By John Richardson THE argument that the switch to natural gas from coal and oil is good for the environment has been further undermined by reports earlier this week of...
Ten Solutions For The Global Economy
By John Richardson LAST week we highlighted how a Boston Consulting Group study has reached many of the same conclusions as our e-book, Boom, Gloom & The New Normal, on the fault lines in the global economy. Similarly, many of...
Crude Oil Price Risks Escalate
By John Richardson FINANCIAL speculators began to play an increasing role in crude-oil markets following liberalisation of financial trading rules, signed into law by Bill Clinton in 2000, as we argued in chapter 3 of our e-book, Boom Gloom...
US Threat To Asian Polyolefins
So far so good...lack of arbitrage in 2012 By John Richardson Despite a strong recovery in China's polyethylene (PE) prices and sales over the last month-and-a-half, producers are viewing the coming year with great trepidation. One of the wild cards...
"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...
SABIC'S Al-Mady Issues Europe Warning
By John Richardson MOHAMED Al-Mady, the CEO of SABIC, told the Financial Times yesterday that he worries about Europe losing out on petrochemical investments because of its reluctance to embrace shale gas. "Some European companies already made the decision to go...
US Support For Big China Shale Gas Challenge.....
........Significant Commercial Production "At least Ten Years Away" By John Richardson A US-China Shale Gas Training Programme has been launched by the independent White House agency, the US Trade & Development Agency (USTDA). An initial $378,000 will be invested to...
European Petchems Face Tough Choices
By John Richardson AT LEAST one global polyolefins producer is rumoured to be shipping increased volumes of resin from the US to Europe in response to the shale gas-derived shift in competitiveness. "Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris is making...
US Petchems Face Competing Gas Interests
By John Richardson A MAJOR political battle is taking place in the US over the future of the booming natural gas industry which could well have major implications for the country's petrochemicals industry. There was angry reaction from Dow Chemical...
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