By Malini Hariharan Shell Chemicals has become the latest entrant to a steadily growing list of companies looking at new cracker investments in the US. As we wrote about last week, Shell Chemicals told us in an interview at the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in Fukuoka, Japan, that it was evaluating brown and greenfield […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Petronas set to unveil new refinery and petchem venture
By Malini Hariharan Malaysia’s Petronas is expected to soon announce plans for a new refinery and petrochemical complex Pengerang, Johor, a project that the blog had discussed a few months back. A report in the Malaysian newspaper Star says the project, named Rapid or Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development, would involve an investment of close […]
Butadiene – will the good times last?
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
Japan Disaster: Plants and markets update
By Malini Hariharan Japan’s benzene supply is expected to drop by 10% following plant shutdowns and diversion of product for gasoline blending, reports my colleague Mahua Chakravarty. This works out to about 40,000 tonnes/month, which is lower than the initial estimate of 100,000 tonnes/month made immediately after the earthquake. Traders have started booking cargoes from […]
Japan Disaster – Some petchem plants shut; markets stable
By Malini Hariharan News is slowly trickling in on the status of Japanese petrochemical plants. Only four of the country’s 14 crackers have shut down while a few are running at reduced rates, reports ICIS news. JX Nippon Oil & Energy has shut its 460,000 tonnes/year cracker at Kawasaki while Maruzen Petrochemical has shut its […]
Consolidation Thai style
By Malini Hariharan The long-awaited merger between PTT Chem and PTT Aromatics (PTTAR) was finally announced last week. A presentation made to financial analysts gave details on what the merged entity will look like, planned synergies and opportunities for growth. The new company with a total petrochemical capacity of 8.261m tonnes/year and petroleum products capacity […]
India projects see more delays
By Malini Hariharan The blog has been updating the status of Indian petrochemical projects and has found that many are running behind schedule. Reliance Industries’ mega cracker at Jamnagar has yet to get off the starting block. The company is holding on to an end-2014 start schedule for the 1.4m-1.6m tonnes/year cracker which will be […]
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 […]
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