By Malini Hariharan Some projects never die. JG Summit has been planning a cracker since 1995 but has always had problems in securing funding. The project was revived in 2005 even as questions were raised about its viability. It would help JG Summit secure feedstock for its polyethylene and polypropylene plants, but how would it […]
Asian Chemical Connections
China PO demand will continue to expand but slower than capacity
By John Richardson China’s capacity to produce polyethylene and polypropylene will expand at a double-digit pace next year, while demand growth is expected to ease, says Longston Li, analyst at Shanghai-based CBI. CBI expects China’s polyethylene (PE) capacity would jump by 1.99m tonnes in 2010 to 11.1m tonnes, while its polypropylene (PP) capacity would increase […]
Has Shell Made The Right Choices on MEG?
Looking pretty – the new Shell plant at night: Sourceof picture: Shell Chemicals By John Richardson WHEN Shell Chemicals officially opened its OMEGA process 750,000 tonne/year monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant in Singapore today, it mentioned how its global production share of the fibre intermediate was only 7%. One might wonder how effective this is […]
Map Ta Phut projects – work has not stopped
By Malini Hariharan I have been trying to get some clarity on what is happening at Map Ta Phut and what companies are planning to do. Construction activity has not yet stopped despite the Supreme Court ruling last week which suspended 65 projects, says a PTT source. The government has yet to issue a notice […]
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 […]
Disappointment in India…speculation on Rabigh
By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) The 17 Nov public hearing arranged by the Indian government at Delhi to discuss provisional anti dumping duties levied on PP imports from Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Oman was postponed at the very last minute causing a great deal frustration among lawyers and […]
The more the merrier
By Malini Hariharan (Malini is now joint blogger for Asian Chemical Connections) Sumitomo Chemical and Saudi Aramco appear to be in a generous mood. After successfully launching the first phase of their joint venture and starting work on the second phase the two are willing to welcome others to the Rabigh party. Pic source: Saudi […]
Qatar-Shell Sing Deal Feedstock, Investment Options
Singapore’s Jurong Island Source of picture: www.pcs.com Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) sees Singapore as a good base for expanding in to the Far East, said CEO Nasser Al-Jaidah yesterday after the announcement of the new partnership with Shell. QPI and Shell signed a series of agreements on Wednesday to jointly own 50% of Petrochemical Corporation of […]
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