Goodbye to all of that Source of picture: www.gas2.org By John Richardson in Mumbai for the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) EXISTING Saudi Arabian crackers will continue to run at less than 100% until the Kingdom’s oil production returns to 10m bbl/day – and that’s not going happen for some considerable time, […]
Asian Chemical Connections
US-Asia PP Arbirtrage Remains Uncertain
By John Richardson THE jury is out over whether the recent decline in US propylene prices will re-open arbitrage to Asia for polypropylene (PP). Arbitrage for ethylene has remained strong with Dow Chemical disclosing that 20% of its US production went to Asia during Q1 US propylene contracts for May settled at a reduction of […]
China Muddle And Confusion Continues
By John Richardson The muddle and confusion that has characterises forecasts for Chinese chemicals demand continues – and with all this persistent uncertainty comes a great deal of nervousness about volumes in the second half of 2010. So far so good for this year, despite a 43% drop in bank lending during Q1 2010 compared […]
China Chems Liquidity Boost To Continue?
Lots more empty ones like these? Source of picture: http://www.chrismartenson.com By John Richardson THE dramatic increase in China’s money supply during 2009 – the result of an estimated 10 trillion Yuan increase in lending over the previous year – might continue to support plastics and chemicals demand growth during the rest 2010, an industry source suggested […]
UK General Election: Charisma Bypass
David Cameron Source picture: right up north By John Richardson Nothing to do with chemicals, but indulge me – this is a once-in-five-years event. I really miss, in some ways, the pantomime politics of the 1980s and early 1990s when you had clear enemies (in my case Thatcher, as she devastated large swathes […]
Singapore Value-add Chem Announcements Expected Soon
Ben van Beurden of Shell Chemicals Source of picture: Shell.com By John Richardson SINGAPORE looks set to soon make some further announcements on high-value investments downstream of the new Shell Eastern Petrochemical Co (SEPC) cracker. The complex – which comprises an 800,000 tonne/year mixed-feed cracker and a 750,000 tonne/year OMEGA process monoethylene glycol […]
US Olefins Price Falls Could Be Turning Point
Flagging-up the dangers… Source of picture: http://www.illusionsofdander.com/2007/08/car-dealerships-and-flag-companies-may.html By John Richardson THE recent 22% and 18% falls in US spot ethylene and propylene prices might be a sign that this yeat’s price rallies have been more the result of stronger crude and petrochemicals re-stocking and supply constraints than sustainable demand increases. As my colleague Nigel Davis, editor of the Insight section […]
Was The Chinaplas Optimism Justified?
Too good to be true?,.,,,,, Source of picture: http://www.arico.tw/en/index.php By John Richardson I VISITED the Chinaplas plastics exhibition in Shanghai late last month and was greeted with a wall of unremitting optimism. Here are a few samples of the incredibly bullish comments from senior industry executives (a fuller version of what was said […]
China Chlor-alkali A Real Industry Still Struggling
By John Richardson The mood on the proverbial factory floor can be very different to that in buoyant stock and other commodity markets as the impact of the economic crisis lingers, with the chor-alkali to vinyls industry in China just one an example of a real industry that is still struggling. “From the perspective of […]
Co-Monomer Shortage Provides LLDPE Respite
By John Richardson AN enormous amount of new linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) output should, in theory, be destabilising Asian markets right now due to recent start-ups and increased production at plants brought on-stream last year and in early 2010. But the big question is to what extent global production is being constrained by a shortage […]
Jump to page: