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Lost in translation? Why the US feedstock advantage might not mean lower...
Talk to a plastics processor or buyer in South America, and watch their eyes light up when the subject turns to the shale gas boom and resulting petrochemical renaissance to their north. For the better...
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Immigration reform debate not lost on US petrochemical industry
The US petrochemical industry has the money, the cheap feedstocks, the technology and the projects to boom in a way perhaps never seen thanks to shale gas. What it lacks is enough skilled labor to see...
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Leave it to $80 crude to shake up US petrochemicals
There’s something about $80/barrel crude that gets petrochemical markets in the US all riled up. As the energy complex slowly emerges from its latest dip, let’s take a look at how some of these key...
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Then and now: How prices of key petrochemicals in the US behaved the last...
With oil prices at lows not seen in more than 5 1/2 years, the global petrochemical industry finds itself playing memory games as it craves some much-needed guidance regarding price behavior. Whether...
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China’s olefins future shaped by economics and environmental concerns
The dramatic drop in crude prices over the past year has sent shock waves throughout global markets. Petrochemical markets have also been touched, in some instances in a positive manner, as cheaper...
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To build, or not to build, that is the question with ethane crackers
The US is experiencing a renaissance in petrochemicals due to the abundance of ethane from shale gas. As a result, we saw many announcements of ethylene capacity expansions and ethane based projects in...
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Canada’s petchem sector looks for expansions on back of domestic feedstock
Prior to the drop in oil prices during the second half of 2014, the shale revolution was putting the US in a position to become less dependent on foreign oil, fueling job creation in the oil and gas...
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The effects of ethane steam crackers on the blink
The price of oil certainly has some effect on the petrochemical prices throughout the value chain, but supply/demand fundamentals will always be the biggest driver. It is the unplanned outages that...
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The world is flat … at least for global ethylene producers while oil prices...
On Jan. 20, WTI and Dated Brent closed at $26.54/b and 25.96/b, respectively, the lowest we have seen oil prices since 2003. Since then we have seen prices rise and hover around the $30/b level. Unlike...
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The challenges and opportunities around US NGL and petrochemical exports
Earlier this week we attended the NGL Feedstocks and Derivatives: Global Supply & Demand Dynamics 2016 conference in Houston, hosted by the American Business Conferences. During the presentations,...
View ArticleAFPM 2016: From Latin American polymers to US methanol, toluene, MX and more
Platts’ US petrochemical markets team was at the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers’ annual meeting in Dallas earlier this week, where they met with industry leaders, speakers, market...
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The long and short of ethane in the Northeast US
On March 9, the JS INEOS Intrepid departed Sunoco Logistics’ Marcus Hook terminal in Pennsylvania with the first waterborne ethane cargo. Arriving at the INEOS steam cracker in Rafnes, Norway, on March...
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Where will all the new US olefins go?
It is well known that shale-driven ethylene expansions are taking place in the North American market. The question is, will these growing supplies of olefins outstrip the ability of units downstream to...
View ArticleWith JV, Sabic makes bold move for North American petchem markets
Leave it to ExxonMobil Chemical and Sabic to do it big. The global petrochemical heavyweights made headlines recently in announcing they are considering a joint venture for a multibillion-dollar...
View ArticleUS ethane cracker updates in petrochemical Q3 earnings calls
The first in a wave of US Gulf Coast ethane cracker projects is slated to start up in the first quarter of 2017 when Occidental Petroleum Corp. and MexiChem’s new joint-venture 550,000 mt/year project...
View ArticleMany US cracker projects moving along as expected, earnings calls show
Total aims to decide this year whether to move forward with a second steam cracker at its refining and petrochemical complex in Port Arthur, Texas, executives said last week. The French oil major...
View ArticleBusiest US petchem port about to get even busier, compounding congestion
The cheap US natural gas boom triggered a slew of new and expanded chemical production that is poised to amplify vessel traffic in the already bustling Houston Ship Channel, home to the largest US...
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US propylene market faces long H2 as new capacity comes online
The US propylene market is looking bearish for the second half of 2017 as a major capacity addition in the US Gulf Coast is expected to further lengthen supply and lead to more exports, which have...
View ArticleUS shale gas casts a long shadow over petrochemicals
Middle Eastern petrochemical companies are known for their lavish hospitality, but at a cocktail party organized by a major Saudi company in Berlin recently, the atmosphere was quite somber. A...
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