By Malini Hariharan Reliance Industries’ bid to acquire LyondellBasell is progressing quite rapidly. I am told that a team of top executives from the company is in the US holding discussions with LyondellBasell. And according to this report in the Houston Chronicle, the team has also been enjoying Indian food in Houston. My source tells […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China’s Growth In 2010: Two Theories
More buying of junk in H1 next year that nobody really needs? Source: www.blogcleveland.com By John Richardson TWO theories about growth in China next year revolve around either an appreciation or devaluation of the Yuan. The appreciation theory is far more widespread as it assumes no global double-dip economic recession. It’s assumed that […]
Thai Start-ups: What A Muddle
A real head scratcher…… Source of picture: www/http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com By John Richardson Confused? Sorry, but so far we cannot be of much help bringing any precision to what the implications of Thailand’s Supreme Court ruling will mean for the timing of petrochemical start-ups. If you remember, last Friday we wrote about how the Supreme Court […]
China PE To Grow By 35% – Latest ’09 Forecast
Money to be made, or saved, again?….. Source of picture: www.evworld.com After last week’s estimates, a big producer (who wishes to remain anonymous) has given us his forecasts for the strength of 2009 growth in demand for polyolefins in China – see full details in the article below. Interestingly, he saw the dip in […]
Polyolefins And Football: An Historic Parallel?
Is history about to repeat itself? Source of picture: www.vietbao.vn The last year for polyolefins has been a bit like the wonderful 1980s and early 1990s for genuine football fans – when the often-repeated phrase of Manchester Utd supporters was “next year, definitely” when they were talking about their prospects for winning the […]
Thai Start-up Delays On Court Ruling: The Details
The Thai Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a September injunction halting development of $12bn of petrochemical and power projects could affect the on-schedule start-up of capacities of a large amount of petrochemicals capacity. Note the word could because, despite the court ruling supporting claims by environmentalists about the impact of pollution at the site, PTT […]
Reading The Minds of China’s Leadership
By John Richardson A lot of the projects which have pushed the world into severe overcapacity were based on the assumption that China would remain in big deficits for many basic commodity chemicals and polymers. It was thought that the world’s most-important market would remain a sink for surpluses for a very long time […]
Reliance Bid For LyondellBasell Confirmed
Reliance Industries has made an offer for LyondellBasell says an official statement released yesterday on the LyondellBasell website: “LyondellBasell has received a preliminary non-binding offer from Reliance Industries Limited to acquire for cash a controlling interest in the company contemporaneously with the company’s emergence from Chapter 11 reorganization. “This offer is in addition to the […]
“Middle East To Control Basic Chems In 3-5 Years”
Abu Dhabi ahead in the race? Source of picture: www.gulftrackservices.com By John Richardson The global basic chemicals industry is likely to end up under the dominant control of the Middle East, and possibly Asia, within the next 3-5 years, a senior chemicals industry source told this blog. “We have known for a long time that […]
Naphtha Highest Level For More Than A Year
Shelf-space to be in short supply again? Source of picture: www.zrdata.com ASIAN naphtha prices hit their highest level for more than a year yesterday – reaching $701/tonne CFR Japan for second-half December open-spec material on “improved market conditions”. Earlier this week we picked up more reports of bleak demand in styrenics and fibre intermediates that […]
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