The implications of last week’s disappointing COP26 meeting in Glasgow are so complex and so numerous that is going to take more than one blog post to provide adequate coverage. In this first post, I look at the failure of COP26 to agree on a global carbon tax, in my view essential, and discuss the […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Europe to become much more self-sufficient in polyethylene because of sustainability
Yes, I know I promised to focus on Asia and its cracker-to-PE industry today and how the region will not see shutdowns that will make way for the big increase in US production. This will still be a theme of a later post. But it occurred to me, after my post on Sunday, that I […]
Asian Polyolefins Profits To Test 2012 Lows As Global Economy Slows
By John Richardson PETROCHEMICALS are a great barometer for economic growth as they are the raw materials for so many finished goods. So, if petrochemicals producers see their profits slip, this provides an early signal that something is wrong with wider economies. It is not just petchems producers that should therefore take note of the […]
Asian Polyolefins Markets Still Indicate Economic Slowdown
By John Richardson ANOTHER week has led to another fall in Asian polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) prices despite higher naphtha feedstock costs on stronger crude oil. Pricing has been weak since the Lunar New Year Holidays, (15-21 February). Market participants had expected the opposite on a recovery in demand following the holidays and tight […]
Asian Petchems Profits Could Test Historic Lows In 2018
By John Richardson THE ASIAN steam cracker business has struggled to pass on higher oil prices as the above chart further underlines. As you can see, high-density polyethylene (LLDPE) injection grade spreads including selected co-products have slipped over the last few months. Spreads are a rough but still useful measure of profitability, and so tell […]
Asian Naphtha Cracker Spreads To Fall By 50% In 2018
By John Richardson ASIAN naphtha cracker operators will see a 50% decline in average spreads, or differentials, between their raw-material costs and finished product prices in 2018 compared with last year, according to my forecasts in the above chart. This will be the result of a further steep rise in oil prices and increased polyethylene […]
How US Could Be Squeezed Out Of Europe’s Polyethylene Market
By John Richardson EARLIER this year a commonly held view was that globalisation would slip into reverse gear with the very real prospect of a global trade war. But this view didn’t take into account China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, the launch of which predated the election of Donald Trump as US president […]
China’s Pollution/Economic Campaign To Reshape Petchems
By John Richardson I BELIEVE that China’s environmental crackdown will continue to disrupt petrochemicals and polymers markets for the next few years. This is not a temporary phenomenon that will largely go away with the end of the September 2017-March 2018 campaign to minimise air pollution in 28 northern cities. Further waves of environmental inspections […]
The LPG Cracking Myth Debunked
We are deeply ashamed of ourselves…. By John Richardson AT the risk of boring you completely senseless let us once again return to the subject of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and its likely usefulness as a cracker feedstock over the coming years. The reason why we keep going on and on about this subject […]