An ageing population and record annual levels of oil prices create massive headwinds for Europe’s petrochemical producers. One means demand growth is much reduced from the SuperCycle. The other means these lower volumes cost more to produce. What a pity, you might say, that the industry is not part of the financial sector. Then it […]
Chemicals and the Economy
European cracker margins at ‘top of cycle levels’
European cracker margins are currently “at top of cycle levels” according to INEOS last week. But as the above chart shows (based on APPE data), they remain supported by supply issues rather than demand. Operating rates actually slipped to 81% in H1, a figure more normally associated with a downturn. Detailed output figures for Q2 […]
Unscheduled cracker outages back to historical levels
The above chart is a real labour of love by ICIS’ Sue Royse. It comes from the indispensable monthly ICIS Worldwide Ethylene Plant Report. This tracks global operating capacity (except Russia/CIS), and details both planned and unplanned shutdowns. It highlights a number of key issues: • Total nameplate capacity was basically flat during 2008 at […]
Pricing for profit
The price of a product is a key factor in determining the profitability of producing and using it. And a transparent pricing structure encourages liquidity, which enables price discovery to take place more easily between buyers and sellers. This is why I have long been a supporter of the London Metals Exchange (LME) initiative to […]
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