By John Richardson EARLIER this week we answered this question – “How bad will it get in China before it gets good?” – in this blog post and a follow-up post that looked at some the immense, long-term uncertainties. Now it is the turn of the other two questions, posed by a senior chemicals industry […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China Coal-To-Olefins “A Net Water Producer”
By John Richardson IT has become the accepted wisdom over the last few years that the coal-to-olefins (CTO) process in China consumes a lot of water. This theory has been expressed in so many conference papers and in research papers that this “truism” is part of just about every discussion on the viability of CTO […]
China Will Not Shut Down. It Will Instead Run Harder.
By John Richardson EVERY $10 decline in the iron ore price knocks more than $2bn off the annual revenues of Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billion and around $250m from those of Anglo American. We can see a similar dynamic playing out in chemicals and polymers markets, but on a scale that has yet to […]
China Exceeds US 20th Century Cement Output In Just Two Years
By John Richardson CHINA produced more cement in 2011 and 2012 than the US produced in the whole of the 20th century. Yes, that’s right, China produced more cement in just two years than the States produced in 100 years. Statistics such as this leave the blog scratching its head as to how anybody could […]
Finding A Home For US Polyethylene Expansions
By John Richardson EVEN if you take a benign view of the future of the US economy (which, separately, we think is the wrong view), the planned increases in US polyethylene (PE) capacity still raise this very important question: Where on earth will all of this stuff go? The chart above illustrates our assessment of […]
Modi: Great Words, All The Best, But We Are Watching You
By John Richardson IT IS once again fantastic news that Narendra Modi has highlighted the need to improve sanitation in India, as he also did last month. During his National Day speech last week, India’s prime minister called on listeners to join him in a nationwide campaign to improve sanitation, noting that many women, lacking […]
Demographics And “The Internet Of Things”
A DECADE from now, you might wake up in the morning and: Step on scales that quickly shoot data to a service provider that helps you decide how long and hard to exercise on the treadmill that day. Brush your teeth with a toothbrush that sends data to a local dentist. This will give early […]
European Energy Sovereign Wealth Fund Needed
By John Richardson THE blog met with an old friend on its recent trip to the UK, a scientist, who moaned about her local MP’s ignorance about why energy self-sufficiency was vital for any economy. “He is opposed to shale gas and shale oil because of all the concerns about fracking causing earthquakes and water […]
US To Lose Out To China In Energy Race
By John Richardson ARE you either a “tree hugger” or a “climate science denier”? If you fall into one of these two categories, you will be one of the dwindling minority of people who support a multi-faceted approach to US energy policy, according to a US petrochemicals industry source. “The tree huggers are those who […]
Thailand’s Coup: The Economic Suspension Has Gone
By John Richardson WE are going to feel every political, social and economic bump in the road from now on because the suspension on the proverbial automobile has gone. No longer can Asian economies compensate for their domestic problems in the way they did during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, which was largely through raising […]
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