By John Richardson IT just isn’t logical. There is a lot of excitement in polyethylene (PE) markets about how China’s heavy restrictions on imports of scrap plastic will deliver a permanent boost to imports of virgin PE resins. But plastic waste is in the long term plastic waste, regardless of where it comes from. Sure, […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Polyethylene Margins Face Collapse On Overcapacity
By John Richardson THE consensus view is that whilst global polyethylene (PE) margins have further to fall from their levels so far in 2018 (see the above chart), they will not get that much worse. It is thought that the PE downcycle will be brief and very shallow because of booming global demand for PE […]
How Europe Can Move To Polyolefins Self-Sufficiency
By John Richardson THE CONSENSUS assumption is that Europe will remain a major importer of polyolefins for the foreseeable future. Lack of feedstock advantage is said to be a reason why rising deficits will not be met by local production. But few of the people who attended the 1900 Easter Parade in New York saw […]
Success And Failure In Polyolefins Redefined By Sustainability
By John Richardson YOU DON’T have to be an oil and gas producer to be successful in polyolefins. Anyone with integration upstream as far as refining is in a strong commercial position. It is also good enough to be integrated from the steam cracker downwards; in fact, more than good enough given the strength of […]
China Aims To End Petrochemicals Imports
By John Richardson CHINA HAS changed its strategy for the petrochemicals and polymers where it is in deficit. Previously, the government accepted China’s position as a major importer. Now the plan is to move into balanced or long positions with any surpluses exported via the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Petrochemicals are seen as a […]
Plastic Waste Crisis: Virgin Polymers Growth Will Be Below GDP
By John Richardson AS the demand for transportation fuels declines, oil and refining companies are increasingly viewing petrochemicals as compensation for this lost demand. Their logic is based on the theory that whilst gasoline and diesel consumption is set to fall on sustainability concerns, petrochemicals growth will remain strong. The companies have of course tremendous […]
Single-Use Plastics: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
By John Richardson AN ENVIRONMENTALIST I used to know would often say, “The world is already choking to death on plastics. We don’t need any more. We must shut plastics plants down and stop building new ones.” She was only partly right. Her anger at plastics pollution was often driven more by emotion than solid […]
Europe Polyolefins Must Confront Plastics Rubbish Crisis
By John Richardson THE European polyolefins industry is quite often viewed as an industry with limited growth opportunities. But provided companies take the right upstream and downstream approach, the growth opportunities are substantial. Success will hinge on how successful the industry is in dealing with the plastics rubbish crisis. This will be one the themes […]
Plastic Rubbish Backlash Will Lead To New Polymer Manufacturing Processes…
….as sustainability replaces globalisation as the new industry value driver By John Richardson IT HAS always been illogical to claim that as Peak Oil Demand approaches this provides a great new opportunity for lots of cheap refinery feedstocks to meet booming polymers demand. Firstly, nobody knows what the decline in demand growth for oil will mean […]
How To Replace Billions Of Dollars Of Polymer Sales Lost To New Recycling Rules
By John Richardson THE EU’s requirement that all plastics packaging must be recyclable by 2030 will result in billions of dollars in lost sales across the 28 members of the EU. To give you an example, my preliminary guesstimate suggests that some €6bn of EU sales could be lost in LLDPE alone in the 12 […]