The Risk Of Exhausted Optimism Source of picture: http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/double-dip-recession/ By John Richardson Global polyethylene (PE) oversupply will be “challenging but manageable” over the next year-and-a-half provided there is no double-dip economic downturn, said Joe Duffy, consultant with DeWitt & Co. “My analysis suggests that if economic growth continues into 2011 at the […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China’s Unstoppable Consumption Juggernaut?
The major long-term shift in US refinery economics and C3s Source of picture: blueplanetgreenliving.com By John Richardson CHINA will account for around one-third of global polypropylene (PP) consumption by the middle of this decade, up from the current 25%, as domestic demand continues to grow at more than 10% a […]
Saudi PP producers react; put pressure on India
By Malini Hariharan The Gulf Petrochemical and Chemicals Association (GPCA) is speaking up on behalf of Saudi producers who are worried about the Indian government’s recent ruling on dumping of polypropylene (PP). The Indian position, outlined in a disclosure statement, was that the Saudi price formula for propane gave local PP producers an ‘unfair advantage’. […]
Saudi Feedstock Problems Worsen
SABIC headquarters in Riyadh Source of picture: france24.com By John Richardson The days when the price of future ethane supply in Saudi Arabia – at the time called an advantaged feedstock because nobody knew what else to do with it – was based only on the cost of separation and distribution have long […]
ExxonMobil Says Qatar C2s Still On
By John Richardson EXXONMOBIL is insisting that its cracker and derivatives project with Qatar Petroleum is still on despite a media report to the contrary. It certainly seems as if there are several suitors for this particular bride – perhaps the last major feedstock parcel available for petrochemicals in Qatar for some time. The economics […]
China’s coal chemical projects take shape
By Malini Hariharan The first of China’s major coal-based chemical projects has finally started trial operations. ICIS news reports that methanol has been fed at Shenhua Baotou’s 600,000 tonnes/year methanol-to-olefins (MTO) plant at Baotou, in inner Mongolia. The unit can produce 300,000 tonnes/year each of ethylene and propylene. But the downstream polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene […]
ExxonMobil Formally Out Of Qatar C2s – Report
Qatar Builds Its Future Source of picture: The New York Times By John Richardson EXXONMOBIL and Qatar Petroleum have formally ended their agreement to build a $6bn petrochemical complex in Qatar, says a report by the Middle East Economic Digest. This follows the earlier MEED report that discussions to break-up the JV had […]
Qatar Petroleum in Algerian cracker jv
By Malini Hariharan Qatar Petroleum’s (QP) ambition to extend its global reach has taken the company to Algeria. QP is reported to have picked up a 10% stake in the Total-Sonatrach joint-venture petrochemicals project at Arzew, Algeria. The entry of QP would result in a dilution of Total’s stake in the project to 41% with […]
Port congestion hits Saudi shipments
By Malini Hariharan The blog is hearing a number of reports about delays in polymer shipments from Saudi Arabia because of port congestion. This is being attributed to a shortage of containers and labour ahead of Ramadan. “It is now takes us 25-30 days to get material out of Saudi Arabia as against the usual […]
Asian Polyolefins Face Two-Year Freight Squeeze
Container Freight Rates: Luck Before Brains Source of picture: blogs.princeton.edu By John Richardson ASIA’S polyolefin industry is facing additional pressure from new Middle East capacity due to higher freight rates from the Middle East to Europe, the blog has been told. This is also contributing to tighness in European polyolefin markets, we also understand. Increased freight rates in […]
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