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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
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
"Reports of my death......

are greatly exaggerated" wrote Mark Twain who twice had the misfortune (or perhaps good fortune, given that he was still breathing!) to read his obituary in newspapers. A full list of all those whose deaths were reported prematurely is included here in this A-Z of journalistic blunders from Wikipedia...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 08-29-2008
Stop chewing on that now!!!

I was driving to work this morning when I heard, for the first time, the re-broadcast of a BBC World Service from April. Reporter Mukul Devichand interviewed environmental activists in Beijing who quite understandably claimed not to understand his questions when he uttered the dreaded "D" word...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 08-14-2008
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
Innovate or lose your job

Continuing my environmental theme, I've been musing over building a new training course around helping companies help their employees to think outside the box. This is a tough task in certain companies and cultures. As Benjamin Franklin so wisely said, "insanity is doing the same things over...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 08-05-2008

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