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• Dow forced to halt work at Chakan

  In yet another blow to Dow Chemical's plans for India the company has had to halt work on its new R&D centre at Chakan , near Pune, following instructions from the Maharashtra chief minister. The government's directive was aimed at appeasing... Posted Oct 01 2008, 08:15 AM by India Chemicals Blog Filed under: India, R&D, Dow Chemical, Companies, Government Policy, Chakan

• Even Middle East funding is under threat

  The reach of the credit crisis is such that liquidity is even becoming hard to come by in the hugely wealthy Middle East, according to this report. With so few petrochemical projects officially announced for the region post-2012 (although I am hearing... Posted Sep 24 2008, 02:44 PM by Asian Chemical Connections Filed under: US, China, Dow Chemical, Middle East, Business, Naphtha & other feedstocks, Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, Saudi Aramco, financial meltdown, financial rescue package, the deadly duo, Ras Ta Nura, Ras Tanura

• Sarah Palin gives Dow a plug

  Dow Chemical got a plug for one of their famous old products today - from none other than Sarah Palin. On the basis that no publicity is bad publicity, this could be a short in the arm for the beleaguered polystyrene industry. In a withering, brilliant... Posted Sep 04 2008, 02:34 PM by Asian Chemical Connections Filed under: US, technology, Dow Chemical, Styrenics, Business, Oil & Gas, Obama, sustainability, Company Strategy, Peak Oil, false prophets, US presidential electiont, Sarah Palin

• Can I have those coconuts, please?

  This article, by David Strahan, author of The Last Oil Shock, says that it would take three million coconuts to power one flight from London to Amsterdam on 100% biofuels. Some of the comments posted at the end of this excellent article, first published... Posted Aug 27 2008, 09:12 AM by Asian Chemical Connections Filed under: US, Economics, China, Environment, Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical, Business, Oil & Gas, Naphtha & other feedstocks, sustainability, Google, YouTube, Managing people, New Scientist, David Strahan, The Last Oil Shock, Joseph Kennedy

• Liveris gets liverish on energy

  Great stuff from the big boss of Dow Chemical in this article from USA Today. Gems from the interview include "corn-based ethanol, one of the dumbest ideas of all time" and "the whole hydrogen (fuel cell) approach is dumb." He adds... Posted Aug 26 2008, 10:52 AM by Asian Chemical Connections Filed under: China, Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical, Middle East, Oil & Gas, Naphtha & other feedstocks, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, hydrogen fuel cells, corn-based ethanol

• I've got ten of these

  A report by the Hay Group on world pay, surprise surprise, concludes that the Middle East tops the world in terms of disposable income because of the region's economic boom and the absence of income tax. This has serious implications for the chemicals... Posted Aug 20 2008, 03:08 PM by Asian Chemical Connections Filed under: Indonesia, India, BASF, Dow Chemical, Fischer Tropsch, The Hay Group, renumeration

• Dow jv hits a roadblock

  India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has deferred making a decision on a proposed chloromethanes joint venture between a subsidiary of Dow Chemical and Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd (GACL) as the government would like more time 'to... Posted Aug 20 2008, 01:16 PM by India Chemicals Blog Filed under: Dow Chemical, Companies, Petrochemicals, GACL, Dahej, Government Policy, Speciality Chemicals, Bhopal, chloromethanes, Gujarat

• The river doesn't just run black

  China and the environment might not be only about rivers changing colour several times a day and factories belching out air pollution that kills hundreds of thousands of people prematurely every year. Elizabeth Economy outlined the extent of China's... Posted Aug 17 2008, 04:01 PM by Asian Chemical Connections Filed under: US, Economics, China, Environment, Europe, BP, Dow Chemical, Billy Connolly, harmonious society, The Climate Group, leftover venison, Den Xiaoping

• Dow buys Rohm & Haas

  Dow's potential interest in Rohm & Haas had been much rumoured since December , when it announced the petchem/polymer JV with Kuwait's PIC. That deal has yet to close, but further evidence of the growing link with Kuwait comes with the news... Posted Jul 11 2008, 08:01 AM by Chemicals & The Economy Filed under: BASF, Economic growth, Oil markets, Financial Events, M & A, Dow Chemical, PIC, Rohm & Haas, Kuwait Investment Authority

• The blog's first birthday

  Its now a year since the blog started. Since then, 213 postings have appeared. It is now read in 72 countries and 620 cities (shown above). Most encouragingly, readership continues to steadily increase. Since January, it has risen a further 301%. The... Posted Jul 05 2008, 10:37 AM by Chemicals & The Economy Filed under: China, India, Wal-Mart, Economic growth, Oil markets, Currencies, Financial Events, credit crunch, food and energy costs, Futures trading, inflation, M & A, Leverage, Northern Rock, Dow Chemical, subprime mortgage crisis, Thailand, Warren Buffett, crude oil prices, Bear Stearns, global downturn, auto sales, Pension funds, feedstock pricing, Maserati, Tesco, Gisele Bundchen

• Dow warns on US economy

  US economic conditions are 'ominous", and may worsen into 2009, according to Dow CEO, Andrew Liveris. "A month ago we might have said ... the US slowdown could be bottoming, but I don't think it is bottoming," Liveris said in response... Posted Jun 05 2008, 08:27 AM by Chemicals & The Economy Filed under: Economic growth, Oil markets, Dow Chemical, global downturn, US housing

• Dow raises prices by up to 20%

  Dow today announced that it is raising prices for 'all of its products by up to 20 percent - depending on their exposure to rising energy, feedstock and transportation costs - and will review all terms to all customers'. Dow CEO, Andrew Liveris... Posted May 28 2008, 07:43 PM by Chemicals & The Economy Filed under: Economic growth, Oil markets, Currencies, Financial Events, Futures trading, M & A, Leverage, Dow Chemical, crude oil prices, global downturn, Rohm & Haas

• Spotlight on Bhopal

  Indian papers and news channels are once again buzzing with reports about Dow Chemical and Bhopal. This time it is about the law ministry's view on whether the company should clean up the Bhopal site. The law ministry's comments on a note to the... Posted May 14 2008, 10:23 AM by India Chemicals Blog Filed under: Dow Chemical, Companies, Fine Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Government Policy, Speciality Chemicals, Bhopal

• The caustic-chlorine dilemma

  Indian demand for caustic soda has been steadily expanding thanks to the alumina sector but investments in new chlor-alkali facilities are being held back by limited demand growth for chlorine. As is usually the case, India’s low per capita consumption... Posted May 12 2008, 11:17 AM by India Chemicals Blog Filed under: Dow Chemical, Companies, Petrochemicals, ONGC, Reliance Industries, GACL, Dahej, Speciality Chemicals, chloromethanes, Meghmani, vinyls, propylene oxide, Demand Drivers, Chemplast, caustic soda, chlor-alkali, isocynates, chlorine, PVC

• Projects and protests

  I am back from my holiday and have discovered no earthshaking developments in the last few weeks. But the following news articles caught my eye. First, Dow Chemical’s European arm and GACL have agreed on a 50:50 joint venture to produce 200,000 tonnes... Posted Apr 23 2008, 08:40 AM by India Chemicals Blog Filed under: Environment, aromatics, R&D, Dow Chemical, Companies, Refining, Petrochemicals, GACL, Government Policy, Speciality Chemicals, Bhopal, IOC, Olefins, Paradip, MRPL, Vishakhapatnam, chloromethanes, Kakinada, Mangalore