The Middle East is probably the most important influence on the global petrochemical industry today and will remain so for many years to come. However, prospects of a war in Iraq are raising concerns, and logistical and feedstock challenges could hem in the region's growth. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., or SABIC, the majority of which is owned by the Saudi Arabian government, has grown to 40.6 million metric tons of petrochemical production and sales of $9 billion in 2002 to become the 11th largest petrochemical producer in the world. Iran, through the government-owned National Petrochemical Co., has made its petrochemical industry a strong second to Saudi Arabia. Iranian petrochemical output was 12.5 million metric tones in 2001. A number of other countries in the region, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Egypt, have either completed major petrochemical projects or are planning them.
SABIC, created 24 years ago to add value to Saudi Arabia's massive hydrocarbon resources, has grown into one of the world's largest and lowest-cost petrochemical producers, with more than 25 million m.t./year of capacity, almost all of which is joint ventures. SABIC vice chairman and managing director Mohamed H. Al-Mady says that the company will expand to keep pace with projected petrochemical demand growth of 5%-10%/year, adding a further 13 million m.t./year of new capacity by 2010. Access to cheap raw materials gives Sabic a big cost benefit over its competition.
It pays Saudi Aramco (Riyadh), another government controlled firm, 75 cts/million Btu for its gas feedstock, compared with more than $5/million Btu being paid by petrochemical producers on the U.S. Gulf Coast at CW press time. Most of Sabic's petrochemical complexes are based on gas. The company recently began production of aromatics, however, using the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-- based Cyclar process. Sabic obtains LPG at a discount of 30% to international prices. Sabic last year completed construction of two olefin plants based on liquid feeds as part of a strategy to diversify into other olefin derivatives.
SABIC has concentrated its production at two sites: Al Jubail, on the Persian Gulf coast, and Yanbu, on the Red Sea. SABIC raised its total production capacity from 7 million m.t./year to 25 million m.t./year between 1985 and 1998, and added a further 10 million m.t./year by end 2000. Sabic last year completed construction of three crackers that added a combined 2.3 million m.t./year ethylene capacity.
The internal SWOT analysis also revealed some potential areas for Methanex to grow within the future, particularly in providing methanol to high-growth potential markets like the energy industry. In order to stabilize business within these growing sectors, Methanex should implement long-term contracts whenever possible with these energy producers in order to avoid spot price buys and to better predict future demand for
Imperial Oil ltd. Limited (Esso) is a Canadian public corporation that produces crude oil and natural gas. Currently the headquarters are based out of Calgary, Alberta employing over 5000 people, with Exxon Mobil owning 69.6 percent of the company. Imperial Oil ltd. was previously located in Toronto and has recently moved all main facilities over to the Calgary, Alberta headquarters.1 Esso was incorporated in London, ON in 1880 and became a land mark in the development of crude oil and natural gases.1 Its retail business consists of service stations and "On the Run Express and Tiger Express-brand" convenience stores. Esso also owns a 25% portion of Syncrude, which are the world’s largest oil sands.1
These refineries are located in three different main locations: Steele City, Nebraska, Wood River and Patoka, Illinois and refineries located on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The pipeline carries three different kinds of oil, which are synthetic crude and diluted bitumen, and also light crude oil. Light crude oil comes from the Bakken formation located in North Dakota and Montana, while the synthetic crude and diluted bitumen come from the oil sands in Canada. There are already three phases of the pipeline in operation and a fourth proposed phase, which has yet to be built. The newest proposed phase has been met with mixed feelings.
The risk associated with these countries being the top oil producers is twofold. One, they are located half way around the world, making it expensive to transport the product logistically to a desired destination. And two, the U.S. has weak, if not contentious, relationships with them. The risks continue to mount, as America imported over 58% of its imported petroleum in 2013 from the Persian Gulf and OPEC. The players in OPEC are known globally to be hostile actors who do not have the best interest of any Western country....
Texas has prospered with many business such as through the cattle, cotton, and technology industry to keep the economy on top. One business in particular has set Texas economy a part from all the other businesses. The oil and gas industry has significantly changed Texas economy from the first discovery in the twentieth century until this exact moment.
The Olefins II Unit makes hydrocarbons from naphtha or natural gas using furnaces. After distillation, the p...
finding new ways to drill for oil and also refine it more efficiently to ensure that
OPEC was established in the 1960's and ever since, Saudi Arabia gained a reputation of being the major power of the organization. Saudi Arabia has the biggest oil reserves in the world and production costs lower than any country. (economist.com 2003)This means that it is a natural monopoly and economies of scale arises; when the long run average total cost falls as the quantity of output increases as illustrated in figure 1. (Gans, J. King, S., Mankiw, N., 2003) Saudi Arabia is the undisputed leader of OPEC.
Mail and Guardian (2013)Nigeria’s dangote uses $3.3bn loan to build Africa’s biggest oil refinery .6:23.Available at: http://mg.co.za/article/2013-09-05-dangote-33bn-refinery-to-turn-nigeria-into-oil-exporter [Accessed: 5 September 2013]
MSCI, a budgetary investigation firm with extraordinary aptitude in surveying the estimation of intangibles like carbon hazard, examined the petroleum business ' execution in five key classifications: operations, wellbeing and security; capacity to get to assets in developing markets; carbon discharges; interest in option vitality; and interest in unpredictable fossil powers like oil sands and oil shale, coal bed methane and coal crease gas, and both gas-to-fluid and coal-to-fluid energizes.
Over the past 200 years, mankind discovered the fossil fuels and they used this source to produce hug energy. This affects the environment in many negative ways and caused many issues worldwide such as urban air pollution and acid rain, oil spills and the high temperature of earth. Saudi Arabia has the biggest oil reserves in the world by 19.66% (the world factbook, 2011) and the second oil producer country in the world with roughly 10.121 million barrels a day – which account for 12% of the total world production of oil in 2010 (Fontinelle,2011). Moreover, the country relies heavily on oil industry. And the most successful companies in the country are thus whose work in oil industry such as ARAMCO Company. The reason behind this success is because most of these companies get financial support and attention from the Saudi government and sometimes the government owes these companies. Because of the massive reserve of oil and the high income that generated from oil, the country has less attention to seek for other sources of clean energy such as solar energy and wind energy which leads to the increase of air pollution in the country. However, oil is expected to last in the next 50 to 100 years (Hubbert, 1956). Furthermore, the International organizations have made many decisions to protect the environment and environmental resource such as Kyoto Protocol which decided to raise the use of solar energy to 50%of the total global energy use by 2020 (UNFCCC ,2005 ). Recently, these issues lead the Saudi government to realize problems, such as air pollutions, and start to invest in clean energy area but not as expected. These days many people in Saudi Arabia argue the uses of clean energy and replace with the fossil fuels. And they d...
Since its discovery back in the year 1858 crude oil has been become one of the most sought after resources on the face of the planet. It is due to this fact that the oil industry has fallen into a rather odd category in the case of globalization and seeking out new markets, new labor and new customers. The reason being that the need for crude oil and fuel is always present therefore the product of oil in its basic sense sells itself and the companies do not have to go out and publicly advertise it in the sense that clothing lines and other commodities do. Oil companies must focus more on the matter of why an individual should buy their oil and along with other alternative fuels over their competitors even though in the end the companies products are the same thing. The company ExxonMobil has been the superior company in the oil industry for quite sometime now, and had plenty of success as individual companies before their merger in 1999. The reason for there success is partially due to the power they wield as the most successful company, leading to many new refineries around the world, making deals with smaller companies to gain access to new markets and are leading the world in alternative fuel research. However these things all come naturally to the biggest oil company in the industry, the real question is how they became the powerhouse they are now. That question can be answered by the way in which the company has not focused in globalizing their product of fuel and oil, but globalizing the image of the company company. This is achieved by focusing on charity in which they donate hundreds of millions of dollars, Foreign Direct Investment in areas in which they wish to expand by attempting to provide these impoverished areas wit...
It is not a surprise that fast food has become a way of life in America. Every day about a quarter of the adult population n United States visits the fast food restaurant. Every month about 90 percent of children aged 3-9 visit McDonald's. According to Schlosser, Americans spent more than $110 billion a year on the fast food. In his book "Fast Food Nation" Eric Schlosser is not chiefly interested in the consumption of fast food, but his primary objective is to explore manufacturing starting with the unemployment. His book deals with United States politics and raises many social issues.
The industry is divided into three distinct sectors including the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors. The upstream sector includes the exploration and production of crude oil as well as the exploration and production of natural gas. This sector has experienced the largest amount of deals in terms of mergers and acquisitions, which will be further discuss in section III. The midstream sector involves the transportation of extracted petroleum from the upstream sector through pipelines, rail, barge, truck as well as storage. Finally, the downstream sector connects the end consumers through derived products such as gasoline, liquefied natural gas (LPG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), kerosene (aircrafts), and diesel…
The oil refinery converts crude oil into valuable products and supplies. These products are made and sent to many countries abroad, in which are transported on land or along rivers and canals. Crude oil is then arranged and categorized into segments by fractional distillation. Raw crude oil, or unprocessed crude oil, is not normally beneficial in most industrial applications. Low sulfur crude oil has been valuable as a burner fuel to construct steam for the force of seagoing vessels. The lighter elements have the ability to construct explosive and dangerous vapors in the gas tanks. There are extremely hazardous, and are often used in war ships. The remaining hydrocarbon molecules are filtered from crude oil and used towards lubricants, feedstock, plastics, and fuels.