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 […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Digitisation Will Transform Petchems As Plant Reliability Increases
Global volatility in pricing will also be greatly reduced as unexpected outages largely become a thing of the past By John Richardson EUROPEAN polyolefins have painful memories of 2016 because it was a year of major supply shortages. Polyethylene (PE) production in the three major grades was down by an average of 2.3% compared […]
Petrochemicals Destocking Phase Likely As Crude Volatility Increases
By John Richardson WE COULD now be in a destocking phase in petrochemicals markets as oil prices are falling on a surge in US production. This would obviously mean lower petrochemicals pricing, leaving companies that have overbuilt raw material inventories with substantial financial losses. I hope that most companies have been prudent. In January, the […]
Asian Naphtha-PE Spreads Collapse By 80% As 2018 Challenges Build
By John Richardson ASIAN naphtha-to-polyethylene (PE) spreads collapsed by 80% in the first week of January compared with December last year because of the failure to pass on the rise in naphtha feedstock costs resulting from higher oil prices. In an update of the chart I’ve been running since late last year, what you see […]
Measuring Crude Prices And Asian Petchems Profitability
By John Richardson YESTERDAY I posted this slide on LinkedIn, in response to a lot of concern amongst the more than 150 or so delegates at the 5th ICIS Asian Polyolefins Conference in Bangkok about the impact of rising crude prices on profitability. The chart shows spreads between naphtha costs, CFR China injection grade HDPE […]
Asian Polyethylene Producers: What You Must Do Now $70 Crude Is More Likely
By John Richardson THE facts on the ground in global crude markets have shifted even further in just two days. Now it seems more likely that oil prices will rise to $70 a barrel or above in Q1 of next year, possibly even earlier. What has changed are the ramifications of Saudi Arabia’s anti-corruption campaign. […]
Crude Oil Prices In 2018: Impact On Naphtha-Based Polyethylene
By John Richardson I WILL explain the full significance of the above charts for the Asian and global polyethylene (PE) industries later on this is post. In short here, though, a great deal hinges on next year’s oil prices, with the possibility that there is more momentum left in today’s rally. And of course […]
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