By John Richardson CHEMICAL share prices have surged to the top of what one industry observer calls “buzz mountain” during the last six months. The buzz has been centred on the supercycle theory which holds that recent corrections in commodity prices are nothing more than a temporary blip. Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) and Formosa Chemicals […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Petro Rabigh phase 2 and Aramco’s ambition
By Malini Hariharan Petro Rabigh, the Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical joint venture, has moved to the next round of its ambitious phase 2 expansion which includes a new aromatics facility and a number of value-added derivatives. Construction tenders for seven packages have been issued and bidding is due to close on 1 October. Tenders […]
Misplaced Euphoria Threatens Industry
By John Richardson THE euphoria sweeping through the US petrochemicals industry seems to indicate strong support for the “supercycle” theory. Some of the comments made during the first-quarter results season certainly point that way, as does the upbeat mood of presentations made to investors over the past few months. A consensus view appears to have […]
LyondellBasell Plans US Capacity Additions
Jim Gallogly Source of picture: ICIS By John Richardson LYONDELLBASELL has joined the list of US producers that have disclosed ethylene expansion plans as a result of low-cost ethane and the belief that we are heading towards an up-cycle. Jim Gallogly, LyondellBasell’s CEO, said during an earnings call on Monday that debottleneckings are […]
Dow’s Liveris On The Mark On China?
By John Richardson Dow Chemical’s CEO, Andrew Liveris, was reassuringly upbeat about the state of demand in China last week when he described it as “quite robust” during an analysts’ call on the release of the company’s Q1 results And very significantly, given that we can trust that his comments were based on plenty of […]
Will the US lead the next olefins wave?
By Malini Hariharan A few weeks back after a post on the rise of shale gas the blog was asked a question about new petrochemical investments in North Americas. Were they feasible? Would ethane prices remain attractive for the long term especially considering the recent run up in spot prices. Well, companies are certainly confident, […]
The China Intellectual Property Right Dilemma
By John Richardson INTELLECTUAL property right protection has long been a nightmare in China thanks to the ability of government research institutions to rapidly and very effectively copy technologies. Blueprints for these technologies have to be handed over to local authorities by foreign joint-venture partners. The constant challenge is balancing this risk against the enormous […]
Intuitively The Problems Are Building
By John Richardson THE signs are ominous as they have been since the beginning of the crisis. Intuitively, it still feels as if we are heading for some major macroeconomic problems. As Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical, put it last week: “Overall, the world continues to recover to pre-recession levels. However, with inflation concerns […]
How Can This Year Not Be A Let Down?
Ali Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, suggests more oil supply could be on the way Source of picture: stonesoupstationblogspot.com By John Richardson CHEMICALS analysts at HSBC have added further weight to the argument that 2011 could well turn out to be a year of disappointment following the very high expectations set […]
A Toxic Combination: Sentiment And Oil Prices
By John Richardson Yesterday we suggested that demographic challenges in the West, the strain on resources resulting from rising consumption in emerging markets and rising inflation should heavily feature in discussions at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos. Chemical industry leaders who could be attending include Mohamed Al-Mady, CEO of SABIC, Andrew Liveris, CEO […]
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