Entries from Chemicals & The Economy tagged with 'Sinopec'
Sinopec focuses on political and social targets
Sinopec is China's main company in refining and chemical markets. Although it is listed on world stock markets, the government remains its largest shareholder with a 76% stake. As such, it follows government priorities rather than western commercial logic. The...
US PE exports down 39% despite shale gas
Globalisation had a golden age between 1982-2007. Trade barriers fell almost everywhere. Companies focused on achieving a 'lowest cost' position, in order to maximise their competitive advantage. Today, however, the world is starting to look quite different. The chart above...
Sinopec adds capacity as China's ethylene growth stalls
Sinopec is China's leading petchem producer. Its H1 results, out this week, confirm the blog's concern that China's growth surge has stalled. The chart shows Sinopec's view of domestic demand growth for ethylene (blue line). After falling to zero in...
China's PE cutbacks suggest economy is slowing
China's stimulus programmes have been a major support for the global chemical industry over the past 2 years. In polyethylene (PE), for example, its total demand grew an astonishing 53% between 2008-10, from 11.7MT to 17.9MT. But now, China's rapid...
Saudi Aramco to extend shale gas search
The summer has seen several reports of reductions in ethane availability to Saudi petchem plants. This seems to have been due to two causes: • Saudi has cut back oil production by a third (4mbd) in order to comply with...
Companies remain cautious on the outlook
The good news is that the stabilisation seen in Q2 has been maintained. But companies remain cautious on the outlook, to judge from Q3 reports. CEOs are sceptical about the impact of government stimulus efforts in the West, and fear...
Sinopec cuts back (a little) on petchems
China's Sinopec has taken a lead in reviewing its petrochemical expansion plans. Speaking to employees last week, Wang Tianpu, CPC division President, noted that 'global crude prices may remain high and the petrochemical industry may become even more competitive'. Today,...
Sinopec receives $1bn subsidy in April
Sinopec is now losing 3000 yuan ($425) on every tonne of oil product sold, due to China's price freeze, according to Sinopec spokesman Chen Ge yesterday. And this is on top of official government subsidies paid to Sinopec, which rocketed...
Shanghai stock market crashes
China is well worth watching at the moment. Quietly, away from the headlines, the Shanghai stock exchange has been collapsing. It is now down 44% since its October peak, and fell over 5% on Wednesday. This matters to the chemical...
China’s olefin imports surge as government subsidises gasoline/diesel demand
China’s ethylene and propylene imports have surged in recent months, as the country has diverted naphtha to supply gasoline and diesel needs. ICIS news, reporting official China Customs figures, says 2007 ethylene imports were over 400% higher at 510KT,...
China’s Finance Minister resigns
You may remember that the Chairman of Sinopec, Chen Tonghai, suddenly resigned last June. This prompted plenty of discussion about whether there had been a disagreement with the government over the level of subsidies paid to keep domestic oil product...
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