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Heading for extinction

Unbelievable, incredible - what prehistoric planet do these people live on? Please see below for a rant from a-soon-to-be-extinct species of business leader - the US chemicals executive against Barack Obama. I have my doubts about Obama, but at least he has a brain bigger than a shrivelled pea (unlike...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 11-04-2008
The big challenges

As delegates gather for this year's European Petrochemical Association meeting in the unreal world of Monaco (unrealf or 99.9 per cent recurring of us), I thought it was worth summarising some of the issues discussed on this blog over the last few months. We've dealt with: *Oil-price volatility...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 09-27-2008
Changing nature of demand

As oil prices keep on falling, it might be tempting to forget the big picture. I had another frustrating conversation yesterday with a contact who believes that there's nothing to worry about on crude (it was all downs to speculators, he said) and so we could carry on as normal once the economic...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 09-19-2008
History will repeat itself

It is September 2025 and the financial system has imploded due to the collapse in value of collaterised green obligations (CGOs). So how did we end up in this sorry state? Here is a guide to how the crisis developed: Governments (often sovereign wealth funds that had made a fortune from selling oil and...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 09-17-2008
Go on, stick your head in deeper

Apparently it's a fallacy - ostriches don't stick their heads in the sand. Investment bankers frequently do, though, especially all the greedy ones who only cared about their end-of-year bonuses when they new perfectly well that the credit crisis was on its way. I am sitting here sipping a beer...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 09-15-2008
A drowning man will clutch onto anything

A drowning man will grab hold of any floating debris - even a plastic bag made from standard-grade Chinese polyethylene (PE). Hence, last Friday a statement by Wang Tianpu led to a few days of excited speculation about the cancellation of several Chinese cracker projects . The president of Sinopec Corp...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 09-12-2008
Uncle Sam back from the dead?

A very interesting report by McKinsey (you can sign up free for their online newsletter which only takes a minute) expands on the theme of reverse globalisation which I talked about last week. The cost of shipping a standard 40-foot container has tripled since 2000 and labour cost increases have risen...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 09-10-2008
Do you ever get that sinking feeling?

I am afraid I do when it comes to climate change and, as a result, don't always switch off lights when I leave rooms, don't always say no to unnecesssary plastic bags when I buy anything and will happily (and this could be the worst damage of all) jet anywhere in the world either for business...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 09-02-2008
China's growth conundrum

I couldn't let today pass without including a picture of the Olympic Stadium in Beijing where the opening ceremony is about to take place. The purpose of this redefined blog is not to look at the short term, though. For expert commentaey on the effects of the Olympics and other macroeconomic factors...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 08-08-2008
BASF seeks "decisive" change

Now this is old but not widely publicised - Jurgen Hambrecht's comments during the BASF Segment Day Chemicals event which took place in London on 8 July. Navigate down, click on the webcast, and listen to the Q&A session after Dr Hambrecht's presentation. You can listen yourself, of course...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 08-07-2008

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