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Asian Chemical Connections

Saudi Arabia’s energy challenge

By Malini Hariharan Saudi Arabia’s growing oil demand is rapidly becoming a matter of concern for the country’s planners. A new report forecasts that the Kingdom could fail to meet domestic demand in 2030 if current consumption trends are maintained. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter, is already consuming a third of its […]

Saudi Petchem Output Increase

By John Richardson YESTERDAY’S fractious OPEC meeting – where members were unable to agree on a proposal by the four biggest members to raise output – may not necessarily be good news for petrochemicals. For a long time the industry has worried about Saudi Arabia’s potential to raise crude output from approximately 8.5m barrels a […]

Middle East Social Pressures & Gas Supply

By John Richardson THE blog held a fascinating discussion with a very well-placed industry observer last week, further underlining some of the key challenges facing the Middle East.. These include the well-documented feedstock shortages that will result in a dearth of new capacity post 2012 – and the difficulty in executing the few projects that […]

Scenarios For China Refining & Petchem Output

By John Richardson IF exploration and production (E&P) is the dog and refining the tail on the dog, poor old petrochemicals is merely a flee on the tail of the dog, goes the old saying. Hence last November we reported on the strange case of how China’s drive to hit emissions targets under its 11th […]

China Remains Weak On Government Tightening

By John Richardson CHINA’S polyethylene (PE) market – a reasonable proxy we often use for the chemicals and polymer industries as a whole – remains worryingly weak, according to several traders and producers interviewed by the blog this week. Modest restocking did take place last week, leading to a very slight improvement in sentiment and […]

Polyolefins – A Ripple In A Teacup

By John Richardson THIS might amount to a little more than a ripple in a teacup if the Middle East crisis brings the global economy down (as we said on Monday, crude could go to $220 a barrel if the crisis spreads to Algeria. Equity and oil markets were jittery yesterday on the belief that […]

Asian C2 Muddle Reflects Wider Uncertainty

By John Richardson ASIAN ethylene markets appear to be in a muddle over the Middle East supply picture. Click here for a graph of the latest pricing – EhylenePrices1March2011.ppt  A shipping industry source we spoke to recently insisted that more rather than less C2s were being exported from the region as opposed to the reduced […]

Petchems Confront Another Lehman Bros

  By John Richardson THE main issue facing Asian cracker operators a couple of weeks ago was how long co-product credits would continue to compensate for a moribund China polyethylene (PE) market. Feedstock cost is now the biggest immediate worry. A hike in naphtha saw integrated low-density PE (LDPE) margins plummet by $172/tonne, according to the […]

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 […]

December Polyolefin Price-Rise Bid Will Fail

By John Richardson and Malini Hariharan in Shanghai A TWO-TIER China polyolefin market had developed in China over the last couple of years – but the $64,000 question right now is: At which of these two levels will most business be settled during December? The ever-volatile Dalian Commodity Exchange determines the day-by-day sentiment, while overseas […]

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