Source of picture: robertsamsterdam By John Richardson IT will only be a question of making a large rather than a huge amount of money if you only take into account the relatively minor increases being forecast for Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical feedstock costs. The cost rises would have been far more dramatic if Saudi […]
Asian Chemical Connections
How Can This Year Not Be A Let Down?
Ali Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, suggests more oil supply could be on the way Source of picture: stonesoupstationblogspot.com By John Richardson CHEMICALS analysts at HSBC have added further weight to the argument that 2011 could well turn out to be a year of disappointment following the very high expectations set […]
A Toxic Combination: Sentiment And Oil Prices
By John Richardson Yesterday we suggested that demographic challenges in the West, the strain on resources resulting from rising consumption in emerging markets and rising inflation should heavily feature in discussions at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos. Chemical industry leaders who could be attending include Mohamed Al-Mady, CEO of SABIC, Andrew Liveris, CEO […]
Edgy And Nervous CEOs In Deep Contemplation
Davos 2011 Source of picture: eacci.net By John Richardson THE edginess and nervousness of Asian polyolefin markets we talked about last week is likely to be part of the mindset of any chemicals company CEO right now. As my colleague Nigel Davis wrote about last week, the industry’s financial results for 2010 are […]
Polyolefin Producers Maintain Their Control
Source of picture: Dallhouse University, Canada By John Richardson THE incredibly smart way in which polyolefin producers have managed production since the great collapse of September 2008 continues to defy what appear to remain some very uncertain, and some cases weak, macro-economic fundamentals. As we discussed on Wednesday, China faces a significant demand-growth gap […]
A Repeat Of The 2008 Collapse On The Cards
“Only another thousand or so years to go…..” Source of picture: Atlantic Council By John Richardson HERE we go again, eh? Yes, as rising crude-oil prices and overall inflation pose a major threat to the petrochemicals industry. Nothing the blog has read or heard over the last two weeks has given […]
Fears Rise Over China Long-term China Demand Dip
By John Richardson ANXIETY seems to be growing in the chemical industry over China’s plan to migrate its economy away from export dependence towards greater domestic consumption. The sense of nervousness picked up in several conversations with company executives over the past few weeks indicates how much is at stake for an industry that has […]
Bayer Material Science Outlines Global Strategy
Patrick Thomas Source of picture: Bayer Material Science By John Richardson SUCCESS in chemicals – whether you are into commodities or specialities – is largely about eking out maximum value from every single molecule in all the important markets. The almost obsessive focus on China and other emerging markets might give the impression that […]
NEW EO-Derivative Investments Planned For Singapore
Source of picture: chemindustry.org.sg By John Richardson NEW plants could be built in Singapore downstream of Shell Chemicals plans for optimising high-purity ethylene oxide (EO) production in the city state, the blog was told recently by a senior Shell Chemicals executive. We assume that the new facilities are likely to […]
Gaping Chasm Between Effective, Real Op Rates
By John Richardson A gaping chasm has opened up over the past 18 months between nameplate capacities and effective operating rates, resulting in much greater focus on the latter. It isn’t easy and it is getting ever-more complicated to assess the actual volumes likely to hit markets. There is a considerably well-supported school of thought […]
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