The blog spent a fruitful afternoon last week, going through ICIS news reports of cracker start-ups in the Middle East and China. The chart above is the fruit of its labours, which shows that 4.8MT of ethylene capacity started up last year in the ME, and 2.1MT in China. Whilst latest estimates suggest that another […]
Chemicals and the Economy
Butadiene supply tightens as cracker feeds lighten
One of the key conclusions in our 2008 Study, ‘Feedstocks for Profit’, was that butadiene had the potential to go very tight in a Global Downturn Scenario. And as the chart above shows, prices are now rising sharply in the 3 major Regions. The rationale for the lack of supply is that the gas-based crackers […]
Hope for recovery, plan for downturn
Surprisingly, our 7th European conference this week in Cologne (co-organised with ICIS), was one of our most successful. Delegate numbers were down, as companies cut travel budgets. But those attending said they had gained much more, than if they had stayed in the office. For a start, there was the opportunity to share experiences, and […]
BASF reduce 2008 global GDP forecast
BASF have now reduced their 2008 GDP forecast from 2.8% to 2.4%. This may sound a small amount, but it means it is now in line with the Global Downturn Scenario set out in our Feedstocks for Profit Study. Previously, it had been just below our Base Case Scenario. CEO Jurgen Hambrecht still sounds confident, […]
Jump to page: