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Asian Chemical Connections

Saudi Gas Costs Head Higher

By John Richardson SAUDI Arabia’s petrochemical producers could soon, or may already, be paying $1.50-2.00/mmBTU for their ethane supplies. “We are not sure whether the proposed increase from $0.75/mmBTU will take place from 1 January this year or from early 2013, but we think it is going to happen,” said one industry source on the sidelines […]

Don’t Underestimate The Middle East

  Source of picture: Wikimedia Commons   By John Richardson THE theme of last week’s Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) conference in Dubai was “Moving Downstream, Creating Added Value and Sustainable Growth”. There is a huge effort underway in the Gulf region, as we have discussed before, to move away from only basic petrochemical […]

Middle East looks overseas for growth

By Malini Hariharan The US shale gas buzz is now drawing Middle East companies with Sabic’s CEO revealing yesterday that the company is considering investing in a US cracker. Sabic would pursue the US cracker on its own or with a partner, reports ICIS news. A shortage of ethane in Saudi Arabia means Sabic has […]

US shale gas buzz in the Middle East

By Malini Hariharan The US shale gas advantage is a recurring theme at this year’s GPCA forum with companies giving more details about their expansion plans. Chevron Philips Chemical confirmed that it will build a 1.5m tonnes/year cracker at its Cedar Bayou complex in Texas, reports ICIS news Permits for the project are being filed, […]

Middle East builds downstream

By Malini Hariharan After years of making money in basic petrochemicals the Middle East focus has firmly shifted to downstream chemicals, a topic that is being discussed in great detail at this year’s GPCA forum being held in Dubai on 13-15 December. As highlighted by the blog in previous posts a combination of factors including […]

The Murkiest Of Outlooks

By John Richardson LACK OF visibility over what the New Year will bring for the global chemicals industry is a key feature of just about every conversation held with industry executives at the moment. Perfect forecasting is, of course, always impossible, but with the Eurozone in deep crisis and even China potentially facing its own bad-debt crisis, […]

Fresh US sanctions to target Iran petchems

By Malini Hariharan The US is looking to introduce fresh measures targeted at the petrochemicals industry. The specifics of the new sanctions are not yet available but the goal, says this report, is to bar foreign companies from doing business with Iran’s petrochemical industry by threatening them with being banned from U.S. markets. US companies […]

A question of balance

By Malini Hariharan It is not surprising to read that at a time when many producers around the world are cutting production, cost-advantaged producers in the Middle East will be maintaining operations at their polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) plants. Producers in the region with access to cheap feedstockts are expected to run their plants […]

US And Europe Polyolefins Raise Exports

By John Richardson in Houston, Texas DESPERATELY weak polyolefin demand in both the US and Europe is resulting in an increased focus on export markets. The US market appears to be in particularly severe distress with, as we discussed last week, large polyethylene (PE) volumes already on the water heading to China. More evidence of […]

Middle East-China PE Exports Up 60%

By John Richardson NORTHEAST Asian polyethylene (PE) exports to China fell by 34% in January-August this year compared with the same period in 2010 as Middle East shipments surged by 60%, according to Global Trade Information Services – click here for a graph: ChinaPEImportsJan-Aug2011.ppt Exports from the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) region, which […]

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