By John Richardson LUNCH with a chemicals analyst yesterday, during the blog’s latest trip to Singapore, gave an intriguing glimpse into the world of those who invest in the chemicals industry. “The Morgan Stanely “Supercycle” report (which the blog wrote about late last year) seems to be on every fund managers desks,” he said. “These […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Growing in confidence
By Malini Hariharan After sorting out their merger, PTT Chem and PTT Aromatics and Refining (PTTAR) are looking at a major new investment to take care of their future. In an interview with the blog’s colleague Tahir Ikram, PTT Chem’s president and CEO disclosed that the two companies are jointly studying a cracker project. “We […]
Growing Uncertainties Cloud Chemicals Outlook
By John Richardson THE global growth outlook grows ever murkier as a result of credit tightening in China (or is the problem instead continued strong growth in lending?), inflation problems throughout Asia, possible monetary tightening in the West, the direction of oil prices and the Japanese tsunami-earthquake. We feel that this is making the rest […]
Was NPRA Off The Mark On China?
By John Richardson I HAVE been speaking to my colleagues who attended this week’s NPRA conference in San Antonio, Texas, and it didn’t appear from discussions during the event that a potential slowdown in China was high on anyone’s radar screen. In fact, for many of the delegates it didn’t seem to be blinking on […]
China Quiet Market Persists
By John Richardson LACK of credit and inflation are becoming even greater problems in China, which is reflected in polyolefin markets that remain very quiet indeed. “It is ice cold out there with very little activity. Importers are waiting and hoping for some kind of improvement,” a Singapore-based polyolefin trader told the blog today. A […]
Shale gas spurs optimism but questions remain
By Malini Hariharan The mood at this year’s International Petrochemical Conference, hosted by the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA) in San Antonio,US, is quite bullish and is evident in the reports being filed by the blog’s colleagues on ICIS news. An improvement in profitability and increased availability of ethane has prompted companies such as […]
Middle East Social Pressures & Gas Supply
By John Richardson THE blog held a fascinating discussion with a very well-placed industry observer last week, further underlining some of the key challenges facing the Middle East.. These include the well-documented feedstock shortages that will result in a dearth of new capacity post 2012 – and the difficulty in executing the few projects that […]
Japan Disaster: Plants and markets update
By Malini Hariharan Japan’s benzene supply is expected to drop by 10% following plant shutdowns and diversion of product for gasoline blending, reports my colleague Mahua Chakravarty. This works out to about 40,000 tonnes/month, which is lower than the initial estimate of 100,000 tonnes/month made immediately after the earthquake. Traders have started booking cargoes from […]
China PE Re-exported To Europe
By John Richardson CHINA’S polyethylene (PE) market is in such a bad state that re-exports are now being considered to Europe. The wide disparity between a flat China market and strong pricing in European has created this exceptionally rare arbitrage opportunity, which, according to an industry observer “has happened before, many moons ago, but not […]
Japan Disaster – Update On Lost Production
By John Richardson and Nigel Davis THE humanitarian side of this disaster is foremost in everyone’s minds with more than 18,000 people now estimated to have died in the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Of equal concern is the crisis at the country’s stricken nuclear power plants which the International Atomic Agency describes as “very serious”. […]
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