Last Resort – Western Chemical Markets Benefit As Natural Gas Prices Moderate, Likely A Short Holiday

Daily Chemical Reaction

Last Resort – Western Chemical Markets Benefit As Natural Gas Prices Moderate, Likely A Short Holiday

Key Points:

• Western chemical markets, on average, have experienced cost relief relative to Asia during the first month of 4Q, but we do not think this trend will persist into year-end.
• US natural gas and USGC ethane values fall notably relative to Brent Crude and Ex-US naphtha values WoW, a positive Western chemical cost development in early 4Q22.
• We highlight that global urea supply growth through 2025 is mainly outside North America, a development likely to work in favor of integrated domestic margins.
• The attraction of CCS is growing across more industries, and we flag a few recent CCS partnership announcements. We also discuss the growing adoption of renewables.
• US ports, on average, are seeing a slowdown in import product traffic, despite a strong US dollar, as bloated inventory in many chains has occurred amid falling demand.

See PDF below for all charts, tables and diagrams