Episode 1083: Think Tank: Huge pressure to close petrochemical plants as global overcapacity grows

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As waves of new capacity come onstream in China and the Middle East, stagnant demand growth and falling margins are increasing pressure on chemical companies to permanently close older facilities.  -          Wave of oil-to-chemicals projects will flood market -          Global operating rates forecast at 80% to 2030, from 88% long term average-          Huge pressure on non-integrated/high-cost facilities to close-          More plant closures could be driven by high costs, low demand, decarbonization -          High closure costs include environmental cleanup, redundancy payments-          Upstream integration to refineries prevents closures-          Chemical industry could reinvent itself as service provider -          Q3 Europe margins low or negative-          Q4 cracker margins improve as oil prices fall -          No sign of improvement in downstream demand