Bio is booming

Scarcely a week goes by without at least one
world-scale chemical or petrochemical project being approved or starting up in China. That country’s thirst for oil, raw materials and know-how for the manufacture of chemicals and pharmaceuticals seems to be
unquenchable (see pages 12/13 and 36).
Countless suppliers of both the oil and gas and the chemical process industries (CPI) are currently facing the problems that arise from having too much of a good thing, in this case more orders than they can handle. Nor is it just the demand for oil and raw chemicals in China that they have to thank for this; inquiries from India, Russia and Brazil have also risen sharply.

Furthermore, some of the world’s big petrochemical groups have been under-investing in recent years, leaving oil exploration and transport in particular with a lot of catching up to do. BP recently hit the headlines when America’s largest oil field at Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska had to be all but shut down owing to a technical hitch. The pressure on oil companies to invest has increased commensurably. One result of this is that they have lost much of their erstwhile price sensitivity—which in turn is good news for their suppliers.
The other side of the coin are the long delivery periods that have now become commonplace in this business. Everyone seems to be waiting for everyone else.
According to insiders, delays of up to a year are now considered almost normal.
Little wonder, therefore, that in view of these circumstances the worldwide demand for “biodiesel” plant is skyrocketing. Whether this “biodiesel” is made from rapeseed oil, ethanol made from sugar beet and sugar cane, synthetic oil made from bio-mass or cornstarch-
based synthetics—it is not just plant-builders and suppliers who go into raptures about the growth potential of these renewables.
What is not in doubt is that the switch from fossil fuels to renewables will be one of the greatest challenges facing us in the years ahead. Indeed, the vision of biorefineries that at the end of the day produce chemical raw materials is already being discussed even at boardroom level. The first steps have been
taken. More will follow.

-Gerd Kielburger-