Wednesday 30 January 2013 - Thursday 31 January 2013
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Naphtha will remain the major feedstock of olefin production accounting for more than 50%. However, the cost advantage of ethane and shale gas as feedstock is significantly increasing as a result of the new investments in the Middle East and North America.
Consequently, the profit margin opportunities for naphtha based crackers are shrinking due to the low-cost polyolefin commodity products of gas-based crackers.
Thus, the importance of alternative margin generation sources is inevitable for liquid crackers to maintain the level of profit for shareholders.
Taking into consideration the above industrial tendencies there are three possible strategic options envisioned for naphtha-based crackers.
- Reduce olefin production costs with advanced technologies
- Switch to specialised products either alongside or in place of polyolefins
- Increase the share of by-products and sales (e.g.. Crude C4, butadiene, butadiene derivatives, propylene, propylene derivatives) as ethane crackers produce less by-products than naphtha crackers
- Understanding of the current economic fundamentals and their impact on the polymer industry
- Polyolefin supply & demand dynamics and future outlooks will be discussed through the perspective of a chemical consultant, a polyolefin producer and an investment banker
- Interregional trade possibilities will be mapped by a major trader
- Analysing the drivers of European and Asian price differences
- Polyolefin producers and major license owners will propose & discuss answers to the current weak business environment and fragile demand
- New technologies will be introduced such as coal based olefin production, advanced catalytic olefin (ACO) and how to increase by-product yields in olefin production
- Latest trends of feedstock hedging and project financing will be presented by a major investment bank
Confirmed Speakers
Adam Page, Business Manager, Smithers
Prof. Costas Kiparissides, Head of Chemical Engineering, Chemical Process Engineering Research Institute
David Anderson, Business Director of Global Consulting, Townsend Solutions
Frank Kuijpers, General Manager Technology, SABIC
Heinz Zimmermann, Vice President Business Development Olefin Plant, LINDE AG
Luca Raffellini, Principal Consultant, Charles River Associate International
Mottie Kessler, Chairman & CEO, Surfachem Group Ltd.
Paolo Mariani , R&D Partner Polyethylene, Versalis S.p.A.
Steven Kantorowicz, Vice President Petrochemicals Asia, KBC Advanced Technology Ltd.
