By Malini Hariharan A question that every butadiene buyer has been asking for a long time is when will prices ease? There are no signs yet although buyers are threatening to cut production. Butadiene rose by more than $200/tonne last week to $3,080-3,120/tonne CFR Northeast Asia, reports my colleague Helen Yan on ICIS news. Prices […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Petchems Could Enjoy Abundant Naphtha
By John Richardson THE refining industry enjoyed a golden era before the global economic crisis thanks to a booming economy and gasoline shortages caused by Hurricane Katrina. Inevitably, therefore, as is so often the case with commodity industries, too much new capacity was planned that came on-stream at the worst possible time. But recently some […]
US Petchems Overconfident On Shale Gas
By John Richardson THE soaring confidence of the US petrochemicals industry over abundant ethane feedstock from shale gas could end up being colossally misplaced, as we have discussed before on the blog. America is the most NIMBY (not in my backyard) of all societies and so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody that […]
One more US expansion
By Malini Hariharan The shale gas based ethane rush in the US continues with Westlake Chemical the latest to announce big expansions at its two crackers in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Each of Westlake’s two light feedstock crackers will be expanded to provide ethylene for existing internal derivatives units and the merchant market, said the producer. […]
Growing in confidence
By Malini Hariharan After sorting out their merger, PTT Chem and PTT Aromatics and Refining (PTTAR) are looking at a major new investment to take care of their future. In an interview with the blog’s colleague Tahir Ikram, PTT Chem’s president and CEO disclosed that the two companies are jointly studying a cracker project. “We […]
Growing Uncertainties Cloud Chemicals Outlook
By John Richardson THE global growth outlook grows ever murkier as a result of credit tightening in China (or is the problem instead continued strong growth in lending?), inflation problems throughout Asia, possible monetary tightening in the West, the direction of oil prices and the Japanese tsunami-earthquake. We feel that this is making the rest […]
NPRA highlights: Chevron Philips, Nova, Sabic and MEG
By Malini Hariharan The blog has been reading some more interesting reports filed by ICIS colleagues from the International Petrochemical Conference at San Antonio, US. The conference, hosted by the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA) concluded yesterday. * Chevron Philip Chemical’s announcement of a a feasibility study on a ethane cracker at an existing […]
China Quiet Market Persists
By John Richardson LACK of credit and inflation are becoming even greater problems in China, which is reflected in polyolefin markets that remain very quiet indeed. “It is ice cold out there with very little activity. Importers are waiting and hoping for some kind of improvement,” a Singapore-based polyolefin trader told the blog today. A […]
Shale gas spurs optimism but questions remain
By Malini Hariharan The mood at this year’s International Petrochemical Conference, hosted by the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA) in San Antonio,US, is quite bullish and is evident in the reports being filed by the blog’s colleagues on ICIS news. An improvement in profitability and increased availability of ethane has prompted companies such as […]
Middle East Social Pressures & Gas Supply
By John Richardson THE blog held a fascinating discussion with a very well-placed industry observer last week, further underlining some of the key challenges facing the Middle East.. These include the well-documented feedstock shortages that will result in a dearth of new capacity post 2012 – and the difficulty in executing the few projects that […]
Jump to page: