The world’s richest energy company just put three Saudi chemical projects on hold. It’s not about the money — Aramco can fund anything it wants. It’s about timing. Margins are scraping the bottom… yet projects in Asia are still full speed ahead. So why the sudden pause at home? 🏠 Home turf usually wins — until it doesn’t Building domestically normally has clear advantages: 1️⃣ Capital safety – When the world’s unpredictable, it’s safer to spend close to home. Think return of

Another wave of job cuts has hit Oil & Gas. After  bp ,  Chevron , and   ConocoPhillips  earlier this year,  ExxonMobil  announced ~2,500 layoffs last week. 👉 Regional offices in Calgary, Brussels, and Singapore are being shut down. Retained employees must relocate closer to industrial sites. 📰 The media wasted no time pointing fingers: Europe blamed regulatory complexity. Canada pointed to policy uncertainty and an unfriendly business climate. Singapore stood apart — the c

Brazil’s new 9–11 c/lb anti-dumping duties on U.S. & Canadian PE have traders on edge. It sounds like a game-changer — but the reality is more predictable: global trade flows will absorb the shock, just like they always do. 🔎 Fresh analysis from BIC Advisory Group’s released on September 1 in an Executive Brief to clients shows: Braskem gets a ~$225M short-term uplift in profitability. CANUSA PE exports to Brazil don’t “go to zero” — they’ll reroute. First to China, then reb

The big news out of Seoul last week caught many by surprise: 👉 Ten petrochemical companies have agreed to restructure, cutting 2.7–3.7 million tons of ethylene capacity (plus derivatives). This isn’t the first time Korea has gone big on restructuring. Back in 1999, during the Asian financial crisis, government-led consolidation reshaped the industry. The difference today? No financial crisis in sight, just a profitability crisis driven by chronic overcapacity and squeezed ma

Tracing its roots to the invention and commercialization of High-Density  #Polyethylene  and  #Polypropylene  in the 1950’s, Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) was launched as a 50/50 Joint-Venture in 2000 between Chevron U.S.A. and Phillips 66 company. Since inception, CPChem has had much success, self-funding a growing asset base from 6 G$ in 2000 to more than 20 G$ by the end of 2024. Along the way, both partners have indicated that the JV is a prized asset. So why now is

A project executive would rather eat a bag of rusty nails than announce a delay of a multi-billion-dollar mega-project. However, that is what was announced by Dow’s CEO last week as part of the Q1 earnings call. Reason provided was to preserve cash. Along with the project delay, Dow announced an initiative to save cash cost amounting to 300 M$/y in 2025 and an additional 700 M$/y in 2026. A day later, LyondellBasell announced weak Q1 earnings along with its own Cash Improveme