By John Richardson How might China benefit from its decision to stick with the COP21 climate-change deal as the US withdraws? Here are some thoughts. Easier to Escape the Middle Income Trap China is already leading the global charge on renewable power generation, and on electric batteries for cars – and in many other areas of the global green […]
Asian Chemical Connections
US Polyethylene Industry: Scenarios For 2017-2020
By John Richardson IT has been a remarkably strong few years for the US polyethylene (PE) business. The shale gas revolution has sent ethane costs plummeting, resulting in the kind of margins that you can see in the above chart. Lower oil prices have made naphtha cracking a lot more competitive of late, but the […]
New Petchems Business Model Based On Trading Blocs
By John Richardson THE above chart should give every analyst who thinks low feedstock costs are by themselves guarantee of success in petrochemicals pause for thought: US net polyethylene (PE) exports in 2016 were 5,000 tonnes lower than in 2015, even though one would have expected exports to have been ramped-up last year. Increased exports would have helped […]
Polyethylene Markets To Become More Regional, Less Global
By John Richardson THE GREAT US author Mark Twain, pictured on the right, needed to pay off his debts. So in May 1897, he was in London during a round-the-world speaking tour designed to raise the money to pay off his debts. People don’t usually turn up to see dead people speak. He was therefore a […]
China Becomes Dominant Superpower: Implications For Petchems
By John Richardson CHINA can become the world’s No1 Superpower, replacing the US, if it can rise to challenges such as these: Asia needs US$8trn of investment in the decade to 2020 to deal with its infrastructure deficit. As countries with urban populations expand, demand for transport, logistics and utilities will place a major burden […]
Oil Prices Over The Next Six Months: What You Need To Know
By John Richardson SURPRISED by the latest decline in crude prices following the US Energy Administration’s (EIA) report that more oil went in to storage last week than in any other week in 34 years? You really shouldn’t be if you have taken note of another extraordinary data set from the EIA that shows the […]
The OPEC “Deal”: What It Really Means
By John Richardson THE OPEC decision to cut oil production for the first time since 2008, if indeed it does amount to a real cut in production, could end up being self-defeating. As I discussed last month, US shale oil production efficiency continues to go quite literally through the roof of most forecasters expectations. Between […]
What Exclusion From China’s One Belt, One Road Looks Like
By John Richardson IS the whole world really turning again free trade? No, if you consider the potential improvement in trade flows between the 65 mainly developing countries which make up China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative. What we could instead see is the creation of the world’s biggest free-trade bloc, accounting for 40% […]
Paraxylene: Another Chemicals World Turned Upside Down
By John Richardson THE PARAXYLENE (PX) industry is enjoying an unprecedented period of demand growth, according to the above chart from our recently updated Supply & Demand database: Between 2000 and 2016, global demand for PX will have jumped by 135%. China will be the major driver because of its role as the workshop of […]
Polyethylene: A World Turned Upside Down
By John Richardson THE recent history of polyethylene (PE) shows a global competitive landscape very different from that which most people expected two years ago. Two years ago, we were told that the natural price for oil was $100/bbl because of limited supply and robust demand growth. The consensus view was also that whilst costly oil meant that […]
Jump to page: