Issue 16/2021 - Global Chemicals Quick Facts

Demand for petrochemicals from the Middle East is rising

Demand for petrochemicals from the Middle East is on the rise during the summer, while market participants continue to deal with high freight rates and severe container shortages
.
China's PE and PP import market remained weak in the second quarter due to sluggish demand for manufactured goods, but plastic demand is expected to grow
from September.
Syms market analyst Lorenzo Meazza said demand in China is expected to remain strong for the rest of 2021 and exports from the Middle East are expected to increase
.
But logistical issues persist, which can reduce flexibility
to respond to changes in demand.
Even taking into account that global PE capacity will increase, due to the distribution of these projects in different regions, the effective and timely supply of new production where it is needed (importing country) is still at risk
.

The performance of North American enterprises in the second quarter was generally gratifying

Recently, chemical companies in North America have successively announced their second-quarter results
.
Driven by the continuous recovery of demand and tight supply, the profits of various chemical companies generally rose
.
At the same time, the production costs of chemical companies are also rising
.
Dow Chemical Company's sales revenue and profit in the second quarter increased year-on-year, and product prices and sales volume increased in all sectors: its net sales revenue increased 66% year-on-year and 17% sequentially; Net income increased 94% sequentially to US$1.
932 billion; Earnings per share were $2.
72
.
U.
S.
acetic acid giant Celanese reported net income of $540 million in the second quarter, up from $109 million in the same period last year and $326 million in the first quarter of this year, and adjusted earnings per share of $5.
02, higher than the average analyst forecast of $
4.
49.

In the first half of this year, Japan's lubricant demand grew strongly year-on-year

According to data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan's lubricant consumption and production in June were more than 20% higher than the same period last year, and the consumption and output in the first half of this year also increased
year-on-year.
In June, domestic lubricant consumption in Japan increased by 22% year-on-year to 128,000 tons, and lubricant production (including for exports) increased by 23% year-on-year to 161,000 tons, both well above the same period in 2019
.
In the first half of this year, Japan's lubricant consumption increased by 13% to 708,000 tons from 626,000 tons in the same period last year, and lubricant production increased by 3% to 956,000 tons from 929,000 tons
in the same period last year.

Large energy and chemical companies have ventured into CCS projects

Large energy and chemical companies are increasingly looking to capture, utilize and store_CO2 (CCS) to deal with greenhouse gases
produced during their operations.
In France, industrial gas giant Air Liquide, chemical manufacturers Borealis and Yara, and oil companies ExxonMobil and Total have agreed to explore CCS infrastructure to collect CO2 from their Normandy plants and store it on the North Sea floor to study the technical and economic feasibility
of capturing 3 million tons of_CO2 per year by 2030.
In Canada, Shell is expanding carbon capture
at its facility in Scotford, Alberta.
The project, called Polaris CCS, will capture 750,000 tons of_CO2
per year from the plant's methane reforming and glycol production processes.
In Australia, Chevron said it would soon recover 5 million tonnes of carbon
from its natural gas facilities.