Peak Oil, falling crude, being Scottish, Asian shares collapse, Brent crude
Asian Chemical Connections
Japan’s corporate hero
manga, Japanese conformism, losing face, Lost Decade
Shell plans for the long-term
See below for an extended interview with Shell Chemicals vice president, Ben van Beurden, who talks of the search for new feedstock sources. He raises the possiblity of using syngas from the Pearl GTL project in Qatar to make methanol and then olefins. Or perhaps the high paraffinic naphtha and ethane from the same project […]
Aromatics become ever-more challenging
If the refining industry is the tail that certainly does not wag the dog of oil exploration, where does that leave aromatics? Quite probably, the flea on the coat of the dog. And it gets ever-more complicated and the risks keep multiplying for the industry What would be the effect on aromatics if the Goldman […]
The search for more basic petrochemicals
Very interesting speech from Alan Kirkley, Vice President of Strategy and Portfolio for Shell Chemicals, which first of all goes over the predictable ground of where we are in the cycle and the threat from the Middle East. However, he then makes the valid point – which I made earlier this week – that the […]
History will surely repeat itself
The mood at the recent NPRA International Petrochemical Conference in San Antonio, Texas, was mixed, despite all the economic gloom. Some producers said they were still making money – especially those selling into manufacturing sectors benefiting from a rise in exports due to the weak dollar. What’s certain, of course, though is that things will […]
Is the last margin grab over?
Shortly after I wrote this article (see below) on the doom and gloom surrounding China polyolefins markets, hey presto, prices rallied and I was wondering whether I needed to be wiping egg off my face. But shortly after the slight rally occurred, a polyolefins trade told me it was likely to be the last margin […]
If I had a dollar for every time………
…….I had heard a company saying it was moving up the value chain (or rather a Euro or a British pound these days), I wouldn’t be writing this blog entry while smelling the wonderful aroma of pork sausages being cooked for my tea. Brown sauce and mash as well, of course. Can Dow Chemical make […]
Life gets more complicated for methanol
In the good or maybe the bad old days depending on your standpoint, methanol was a fairly straightforward product. You had chemicals demand and that was more or less it. But as the extended analysis below explains, chemical producers who use methanol as feedstock have to factor in direct blending of gasoline into methanol, DME, […]
Here we go again – 1997 is back…..
I sincerely hope not, but all the signs are there because of: *A financial crisis which nobody again saw coming, this time with global implications *What could prove to be too much spending on new equipment and capacity. This time high equity prices have paid for these investments rather than US dollar-denominated bank loans, as […]
Jump to page: