By Malini Hariharan There is finally some movement at Petronas. After last month’s joint announcement with BASF on a study for a Euro1bn investment in speciality chemicals, news has emerged that the Malaysian major is also exploring the feasibility of a new petrochemical complex at Kerteh. The complex would have a 1m tonnes/year ethane cracker […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Polyolefins Supply Surge Warning – Yet Again
By John Richardson A GREAT deal more polyolefins supply is expected to hit the Asian markets over the next few months resulting in what two chemicals analysts tell the blog will be depressed margins up until March next year. After that the analysts – one in Singapore and the other in South Korea – predict […]
Chandra Asri And TriPolyta To Merge
By John Richardson The consolidation talked about in Indonesia for more than ten years – that between cracker operator and polyethylene (PE) producer Chandra Asri and polypropylene (PP) producer TriPolyta – is finally set to happen by January next year. Now it will be up to the companies to make the synergies work with the most […]
When Does Consolidation Become A Strategic Problem?
All our yesterdays… the ICI Runcorn site in its heyday Source of picture: Chesterchronicle.co.uk By John Richardson Yesterday’s blog post on Petronas illustrates once again how the state-owned giants, albeit in this case one that is about to undergo a partial IPO, are increasingly dominating the global petrochemicals industry. The history of the […]
A sleeping giant awakens
By Malini Hariharan It’s a question that has puzzled many – why has Petronas, the state-owned Malaysian oil and gas major, not made any effort to scale up its petrochemicals business in the last five years. But there are signs that this is changing. Petronas has spun off the petrochemicals operations into a new company […]
What’s next for Honam?
By Malini Hariharan Honam Petrochemical’s plan to acquire Malaysia’s Titan Chemical could well be the start of the South Korean major’s foray overseas. “Honam will keep looking for other M&A opportunities in the chemicals space,” said a source close to the company. Their interest is not only in basic chemicals but also intermediates and speciality […]
Honam plans Titan expansion
By Malini Hariharan News is trickling in on Honam Petrochemical‘s plans for Titan Chemicals once it completes the acquisition at the end of the year. A source close to the company said that revamping of Titan’s two crackers have been evaluated including expansion of derivatives and building new downstream units at Titan’s Pasir Gudang complex […]
Honam Set For Further Buys After Titan Deal
The layout of the Pasir Gudang complex Source of picture: Titan Chemicals By John Richardson and Malini Hariharan HONAM Petrochemical’s plan to buy Malaysia’s Titan Chemicals for $1.5bn – which was announced today – is likely to be followed by further buys, including a refiner, an industry observer has told the blog. “I am […]
Petronas Restructuring Details Emerge
Petronas seeks to scale new heights Source of picture: www.mir.com By John Richardson MORE details have emerged concerning the major restructuring taking place at Petronas, the Malaysian state-owned oil, gas, refining and petrochemicals major. Vice-presidents have being appointed to head new downstream (refining and petrochemicals), upstream (exploration and production) and finance divisions, a source familiar […]
SEA Chemicals Need To Learn From The Past
By John Richardson THE whinging is getting almost unbearable in Southeast Asia over the Asean-China Free-Trade Agreement (ACFTA). The deal was under discussion for EIGHT years and yet chemicals and polymer producers and customers seem to have left it until after-the-fact to start raising objections. Indonesian industry association representatives have gone as far as to […]
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