By John Richardson JUST about everyone now recognises, albeit very belatedly, that China isn’t going to grow in the future in the way that it did in the past because of the bad-debt issues left behind by the 2008-2013 credit binge. It is now accepted wisdom that Beijing simply cannot more pour money down the […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Saudi Arabia: It Has Never Been About Beating US Shale Oil
By John Richardson THE CONVENTIONAL view is that Saudi Arabia has launched its market-share campaign in oil markets in order to pretty much get rid of the US shale-oil industry. By so doing, it would secure its long-term economic future through driving global prices back up to the region of $100 a barrel, goes this […]
Sunset For Oil? You Must Be Kidding, Surely?
By John Richardson SURE, you can very easily argue that the oil industry is many, many decades away from going down the same path as the coal industry, where, in countries such as the US, it is going bankrupt. The biggest case for oil’s longevity is its role in transportation, it is altogether from […]
Oil Prices: Why We Are Where We Are Today
By John Richardson TWO months ago, when I was delivering a training course, people responded with deep scepticism when I suggested that oil-price stability at around $65 a barrel wouldn’t be sustained during the second half of the year. And when I suggested the price would soon fall to below $50 a barrel, the […]
A World Of Driverless Cars: What It Will Mean
By John Richardson SURE, whenever a computer-driven, driverless car is involved in an accident there will be lots of doubters who worry that this not a viable breakthrough. We will also see lots of people worried that malignant hackers will take over the wheels of your self-driven car and do something evil (this, of course, […]
Oil, Gas,Chemicals: A Trove Of Financially Toxic Assets
By John Richardson OIL and gas companies might very well find themselves holding on to what Izabella Kaminska of the FT has aptly called “a trove of financially toxic assets” as a result of the growing, and irreversible, consensus that climate change is man-made. She was basing her phrase on the work of the consultancy, […]
Burying Your Head In The Sand Is Not The Answer
By John Richardson YOU are a US polyethylene (PE) producer or any other chemicals producer in a country that remains on the wrong side of the new consensus about climate change. Sure, you can choose to bury your head in the sand and pretend that this shift in this consensus isn’t permanent. But with your head […]
Pricing Climate Change Into Import Tariffs
By John Richardson SO, following on from my blog post yesterday, how might developing countries calculate import tariffs on petrochemicals in response to the rising social, political and economic costs of climate change? One good starting point in just a few years’ time, when these tariffs are sure to be under serious evaluation, might be […]
India HasTo Focus On Sanitation And Education
By John Richardson SO far so good, perhaps: During the last financial year (March 31 2014 to 1 April 2015), 58.6 million new toilets were constructed in India, according to official government statistics. This compares with 48.9 million during the financial year 2013-2014. Narendra Modi has thus made some progress towards tackling the “toilet test” […]
Rudderless Australia Drifts On
By John Richardson THERE used to be two certainties in life that everyone in Australia could depend on. We all know that the first certainty was, and sadly still is, death. But the second certainty was China acting as the “bankroller” of the Australian economy. This has all but vanished since late 2013. The second […]