A popular topic of conversation among industry participants at recent petrochemical gatherings in the US and abroad has been the looming US ethylene boom.
More specifically, how real it is and what, if anything, might stop it from happening.
Archive for the ‘petrochemicals’ Category
Building boom: five things keeping US ethylene producers up at night
By Bernardo Fallas | April 19, 2013 12:01 AM Comments (1)
How afraid should you be of ethane rejection?
By Samantha Santa Maria | February 26, 2013 12:38 PM Comments (0)
If you have any dabblings in the natural gas or natural gas liquids business: be very, very afraid.
Because it is growing and it is *everywhere*.
China’s PTA industry: a victim of its own success
By Sok Peng Chua | February 8, 2013 01:12 PM Comments (0)
In five short years, China’s purified terephthalic acid industry has gone from boom and to bust, a victim of its own success as it expanded swiftly, confident that China’s status as the world’s largest garment exporter would not be challenged.
Demand for PTA, a key polyester feedstock, was huge before the bust. China Customs data showed that in 2008, 4.97 million mt of PTA was imported. The figure rose to a record high of 5.4 million mt by 2010. Despite the flood of imports, profit margins for local PTA makers were also at an all-time high, at $120.85/mt compared to $30.83/mt in 2009, Platts data showed.
Fuelled by healthy profits, Chinese PTA producers started to expand rapidly and build ever-larger plants. In the past, a 500,000 mt/year plant was considered big. By 2010, the new plants were 1 million mt/year, and by 2012, the average size had doubled to 2 million mt/year. Last year, China’s total PTA capacity reached 26 million mt/year, of which 10.2 million mt/year started up in 2012. By 2014, the country’s PTA capacity is projected to increase by another 12 million mt/year or 48%.
US chemical makers stuffing their piggy banks ahead of expansion boom, expenses
By Bernardo Fallas | January 29, 2013 12:23 AM Comments (1)
Make no mistake: The US chemical industry faces its share of challenges, whether on the regulatory or market dynamics front, as it seeks to bask in the feedstock advantage afforded by shale gas.
But capital should not be one of them. Read the rest of this entry »
European cracker maintenance season brings cheer to petrochemicals market
By Monicca Egoy | December 21, 2012 11:47 AM Comments (0)
The heavy turnaround season for European steam crackers has brought bullish expectations for the olefins and polymers markets in the crisis-hit region for the first quarter of 2013.
Production of ethylene and propylene, already constrained by the cutbacks in the fourth quarter of 2012 because of poor demand, is expected to be curbed further by maintenance shutdowns toward the end of Q1 and into the second quarter.
At least three crackers — Shell’s 940,000 mt/year site at Moerdijk in the Netherlands, BASF’s 1.08 million mt/year Antwerp, Belgium, facility and BP Refining and Petrochemical’s 540,000 mt/year cracker at its Gelsenkirchen site in Germany — will be offline between May and June. The Antwerp cracker, which will be down for six weeks in the second quarter, is the biggest in Europe and is only shut every five to six years for maintenance work.
Why a potential role for the US as oil production king needs an asterisk
By John Kingston | December 11, 2012 04:01 PM Comments (5)
The peak oil folks have been saying it for years, but now a Wall Street house is sending out a caution flag as well.
One of the arguments long made by followers of peak oil is that organizations such as the International Energy Agency count crude and natural gas liquids equally.So the world market of 89 million b/d of liquids contains mostly energy-intensive versatile hydrocarbons such as crude oil–versatile in the sense that they can be processed to make products that do everything from propelling cars to making carbon black–and a lesser amount of NGLs with a far more limited use.
The IRS hands the US petrochemical industry a favorable ruling
By Bernardo Fallas | October 19, 2012 11:54 AM Comments (0)
Even the tax man seems to smiling at ethylene makers these days.
Just as US olefins producers bask in near record-high margins thanks to cheap feedstock and healthy downstream demand, the Internal Revenue Service has decided that, at least in one particular instance, these petrochemical players might be eligible for a more favorable tax structure going forward.
Yes, you’ve read that right.
European propylene sellers face a tough fourth quarter market
By Monicca Egoy | September 28, 2012 05:27 PM Comments (0)
The propylene market in Europe is facing another challenging fourth quarter in 2012. The October contract price was settled Thursday at Eur1,140/mt ($1,475/mt) down Eur20/mt from September, ending two months of hefty rises. But even before that bearish news, most industry players are convinced that the market has peaked as pressure mounts, mainly on the back of the economic downturn in Europe and a highly volatile feedstock environment.
The monthly contract price for propylene, a main feedstock used in the manufacture of plastic products, had jumped over the prior two months. It soared by by 24%, or Eur225/mt, between July and September, propelled by rising crude and products benchmarks.
That baffled downstream consumers who had to contend with paying high feedstock prices while European economies slid deeply into recession, dragging down their customer orders.
July PX Asia contract price fails to settle, shows disconnect between traders, end-users
By News Desk | July 20, 2012 03:58 AM Comments (0)
The Asian paraxylene contract price for July was left in limbo as PX producers and downstream purified terephthalic acid makers failed to reach an agreement. The ACP monthly negotiation is led by four PX producers — ExxonMobil, JX Nippon Oil and Energy, Idemitsu Kosan and S-Oil — and six PTA makers — BP, Capco, Mitsui Chemicals Corp., Mitsubishi Chemical Corp., Oriental Petrochemical (Taiwan) Corp. and Yisheng Petrochemicals.
Cheap NGLs giving US ethylene makers plenty to smile about
By Bernardo Fallas | May 25, 2012 09:55 AM Comments (0)
Even as ethylene prices plunge around the world, US olefins producers are laughing all the way to the bank.
And make no mistake: their counterparts in Europe and Asia must be green with envy.