By John Richardson ExxonMobil’s purchase of XTO Energy for US$41bn seems to support the widely-held view that natural gas is the fuel for the future. XTO specialises in the technology necessary to exploit shale gas and other hard-to-get-at unconventional gas reserves, including the large amounts of shale gas in the US – one of […]
Asian Chemical Connections
“Middle East To Control Basic Chems In 3-5 Years”
Abu Dhabi ahead in the race? Source of picture: www.gulftrackservices.com By John Richardson The global basic chemicals industry is likely to end up under the dominant control of the Middle East, and possibly Asia, within the next 3-5 years, a senior chemicals industry source told this blog. “We have known for a long time that […]
Reliance-LyondellBasell talks resurface
By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) Talk of Reliance Industries acquiring LyondellBasell is once again gaining momentum. A report in today’s Economic Times says that the company is close to announcing a major overseas acquisition with the target being part of the assets of LyondellBasell. The announcement is likely […]
The Iranian investment struggle
Source of picture: www.textually.org The political sensitivity surrounding Iran is so great that US-based companies are not even allowed to attend presentations by Iranian officials at conferences, a source said. “I witnessed a recent walk-out during a presentation by the National Iranian Oil & Distribution Company (NIODC),” he said. But a European office […]
Western Polymers: Get Out Or Get Cleverer?
MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION (SORRY, OUCH….!) Source of Picture: www.autospies.com The automobile industry in the West has been bought more time by economic stimulus, as this article in The Economist points out. But some of the discussions at the Frankfurt International Motor Show, which takes place on 15-27 September, will be about the future […]
It’s about scaling down rather than up
One of the new skills being learnt in this current crisis is how to run plants efficiently at low operating rates. “It’s funny that for years now, we’ve worried about how to scale up profitably. Now industry is faced with just the opposite, how to scale down profitably,” says Mark Matzopoulos, chief operating officer at […]
Chem engineers back with avengeance
chemical engineers, financial meltdown, Nigel Davis, inventory management, H2 2009 recovery
The new frugal and greener consumer
Trendspotting, green conscience, eco-buying, recycling, environmental footprint, cost saving, greed-guilt
Will the US dinosaurs ever learn?
yet-more US dinosaurs, dinosoars, carbon capture and storage, Alberta tar sands, shale sands, renewable energy, wind power, solar power, second-generation biofuels
The big challenges
As delegates gather for this year’s European Petrochemical Association meeting in the unreal world of Monaco (unreal for the 99.9 per cent recurring of us who don’t own Ferraris), I thought it was worth summarising some of the issues discussed on this blog over the last few months. We’ve dealt with: *Oil-price volatility and the […]
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