The world petrochemical conference was held in Texas during 19-22 March 2019. The leaders from various premier chemical organizations shared their views and insights with the attendees which not only included the petrochemical producers, but also the players from downstream and upstream industries. The key opportunity areas highlighted in the conference can be summarized as given below.

• Opportunities in Argentina: The companies at the conference illustrated on the opportunities in various parts of the geographies. Federico Veller from YPF (Buenos Aires), state owned organization in Argentina, emphasized on the shale gas downstream opportunities available in Argentina. He stated this can serve the South American consumers which already have huge and dependable downstream market currently relying on imports. He further highlighted that the opportunities from Vaca Muerta are too big to be developed by single company expecting cluster of chemical companies coming in the region to reap benefits from the shale resources.


• Chinese Market Growth: The market players are still relying on the Chinese market growth, although they are more optimistic for domestic market than potential export opportunities. ExxonMobil proposed a petrochemical complex in Chinese Guangdong Province including 1.2 million tons capacity ethylene cracker and more than 2 million tons polyolefins capacity. The company expects these investments to generate sales of around $4.4 billion annually with earnings of $700 million (based on 2017 spread margins).


• Objective Solution for Plastic Waste: Premier representative from LyondellBasell highlighted that the industry should be address waste management with higher priority, seeking resolution from all the stakeholders.

Thus, amid the uncertainties of the US-China trade war, BREXIT, Venezuela instability, and crude oil fluctuations via Iran and Russia, the market is still hopeful and making investments in the market where the opportunities arrive. The leaders in the organizations are not only keeping an eye on the developments in the uncertain areas, but also are moving ahead with the opportunities to maximize the shareholders’ value.

- Ankur Kalra
Manager – Chemicals & Materials
Infoholic Research