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Oil has touched $135/bbl today. Probably time to start assessing impact of $200 oil a figure that is now being widely predicted. 2009 will be interesting - new capacities will exert downward pressure on petchem prices but my guess is that oil will set the floor to how low prices can sink.
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It is hard to assess. I remember when crude touched $70 there were concerns that the petrochemical industry and the global economy would not be able to absorb such high prices. There was a lot of talk of resistance building up in the downstream community. However, we have seen crude entrenched well above this number without any serious damage to demand
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How about Dow’s Andrew Liveris? He was conspicuously absent from last year’s list. But the deal with Kuwait’s PIC and also the project with Saudi Armaco have secured Dow’s future. And the announcement by Borealis of a mega joint venture in Abu Dhabi should ensure Mark Garrett’s entry to the list this year.
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Yes, but if I buy packaged fruits I would also be helping demand for plastics.
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Well, I am sure you are washing fruits and vegetables to take care of pesticide residue. And that should take care of the sweat and grime from people handling the produce!
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Wonder if the study measured the cost of recovering packaging waste and recycling. Consumer psychology is interesting. I was told recently by a retailer that plastic shrink wrapped vegetables sold faster at his shops than those offered loose although there was no differnce in quality. Looks like consumers associate quality with packaging - if a product
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We can start with the blast at Jilin Chemical's aniline plant which resulted in a benzene spill in the Songhua river. This became an international incident as the river flows into Russia. China's State Environmental Protection Agency also became more proactive after this accident.
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It is quite easy to eliminate sodium laureth sulfate. I have found some excellent herbal shampoos which don't list this ingredient (and I am assuming that it not present in some miniscule percentage). And they work quite well!
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I have been told there is quite a wide gap in Asia and that's one of the reasons why graduates are being drawn to other industries. Maybe there are regional differences. It would be interesting to research this further.
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Thanks. It is a complicated situation. China is facing a severe power shortage partly due to this year's heavy winter and the closure of small power plants. At the same time the government has also been closing coal mines with a poor safety record. I wonder if the government will decide to prioritise coal supplies to the power sector over chemicals