By John Richardson SAUDI Arabia’s crude-oil reserves may have been overstated by as much as 40% or 300bn barrels, according to this article on February 8 in the Guardian, based on cables between Saudi and US diplomats obtained by Wikileaks. The blog the Oil Drum used the occasion of the article to […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Accident spurs US ethylene; Asia holds steady
By Malini Hariharan Spot ethylene prices in the US have moved up following a fire at Enterprise Products natural gas liquids (NGL) complex at Mont Belvieu, Texas, on 8th February. The complex is said to be among the world’s largest underground storage centres for NGLs. Pic source: ICIS Spot ethylene offers rose to 49cents/lb, up […]
Intuitively The Problems Are Building
By John Richardson THE signs are ominous as they have been since the beginning of the crisis. Intuitively, it still feels as if we are heading for some major macroeconomic problems. As Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical, put it last week: “Overall, the world continues to recover to pre-recession levels. However, with inflation concerns […]
Saudi Ethane Prices Set To Rise To $2/mBTU
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 […]
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 […]
Looking West for support
By Malini Hariharan As Asian markets head towards a quiet week, producers are probably hoping that developments in other regions will support their efforts to raise prices once trading resumes after the Chinese New Year holidays in the first week of February. European producers successfully raised February ethylene contract price by Euro25/tonne while propylene moved […]
Petronas gets busy
By Malini Hariharan How many projects is Petronas Chemical planning? Last week the blog had covered an ICIS news report which referred to a study on 1m tonnes/year ethane cracker and derivative units at Kerteh. Now a report from UBS says Petronas Chemical is looking at making operational improvements at its two existing crackers at […]
India’s OPaL inches forward
By Malini Hariharan Regular readers of the blog will remember a November post that had highlighted delays at ONGC Petro-Additions Ltd’s (OPaL) 1.1m tonnes/year cracker project at Dahej on the west coast of India. This time there is some progress to report. OPaL has finally selected Chevron Philips Chemical to provide technology for a standalone […]
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 […]
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