Daily Chemical Reactions

Rock The Boat – Cost Curve Movements & Outages May Keep Prices Afloat, Squeeze Specialty Margins
January 26, 2023
Commodities Mentioned:
Plastics (PVC, PP, PE, PU, PC, PET, etc.), Clean Energy Minerals, Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen, Natural Gas/NGLs, Crude/Naphtha
Companies Mentioned:
Dow, ExxonMobil, Shell, BASF, LyondellBasell, Sherwin-Williams, PPG, AkzoNobel, Axalta, Valero, Xcel Energy, Hexcel, Methanex, Eastman Chemical, Exolon Group, Air Liquide, Sasol, Tesco, Eni, Sonatrach, Cargill, Vertex Hydrogen, Tata Chemicals, Apex Clean Energy, Murphy Oil, Berry Global Group, Atlas Copco, NextEra Energy, Cepsa, Enagas, Novozymes, Cabot, Fairbrics, Plug Power, ADM, Mastercard

Daily Chemical Reaction

Rock The Boat – Cost Curve Movements & Outages May Keep Prices Afloat, Squeeze Specialty Margins

Key Points:

  • The global chemical production cost curve has risen during a period of production cuts to deal with oversupply, setting up a potential cost rebound for downstream buyers.
  • We discuss Chevron’s decision to repurchase ~20% of its stock and lift its dividend and why energy transition and downstream Capex growth will outpace upstream efforts.
  • We highlight Dow, Axalta, Sherwin-Williams, Valero, and other 4Q22 reports and 2023 outlooks, and we discuss a few commodity chemical price developments in 1Q23.
  • We add to baseload power commentary in our latest ESG weekly, flagging the recent Form Energy news, and we comment on Dow and Mura Technology initiatives.
  • We highlight relative macroeconomic data postings and regional chemical sector demand views, and we note recent US exporter benefits from a weakening US dollar.

See PDF below for all charts, tables and diagrams


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