Changing the Petrochemical Playing Field

Across the Middle East some nine million metric tonnes of ethylene capacity came on stream between the first quarters of 2008 and 2009. With more material becoming available in the region through 2009 and into 2010, this is a large amount in the midst of difficult economic times by anyone's standards.
Being driven by demand growth from Asia and China, plans were put in place several years ago for new production in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and Qatar. The rich stream of accessible feedstock and good access to the growing markets meant that petrochemical producers and investors were eager to make the billion-dollar investments needed to establish integrated chemical complexes and associated facilities.
In these tough times, however, are companies taking fright and scaling back or even pulling out of major construction projects? In the Middle East, at least, it seems not. In fact, many producers are looking at the situation as part of the ongoing cyclical nature of the petrochemical industry