Iranian versus Saudi Arabian Petrochemical Industry

I created the following table in hopes of more easily comparing Iran’s petrochemical industry to Saudi Arabia’s:

category	data	iran	saudi arabia	positive iran or positive saudi arabia or equal
demographics	population	81 M	33 M	+ir
demographics	land area	1.6 M square km	2.2 M square km	equal
demographics	median age	29	25	equal
demographics	percentage of population less than 30 years old	60% less than 30	60% less than 30	equal
human development	percentage STEM graduates	44%	23%	+ir
human development	gnp per person	$5,500	$19,830	+sa
human development	human development index	0.75, 69th country from top	0.84, 38th country from top	+sa
human development	unemployment rate	11 to 14%	5 to 6%	+sa
human development	college graduates	13%	23%	equal
human development	global innovation index	65 on country ranking (fast ascension)	61 on country ranking	equal
human development	literacy	85 to 88%	75 to 80%	equal
human development	percentage goes to college	> 60%	> 60%	equal
human development	percentage of population with college degree	18%	23%	equal
macroeconomics	foreign direct investment (net inflows)	0.6% of GDP	1.1% of GDP	+sa
macroeconomics	gnp	$447 B	$646 B	+sa
macroeconomics	inflation rate	9.9% 2017	-0.8% 2017	+sa
macroeconomics	international sanctions	yes	no	+sa
macroeconomics	governance	theocracy	monarchy	equal
petrochemical industry	natural gas reserves	34 trillion cu m	8 trillion cu m	+ir
petrochemical industry	petrochemical number of special economic zones	2 with 34 chemical plants	0	+ir
petrochemical industry	percentage of global petrochemical market	5 to 10%	10 to 15%	+sa
petrochemical industry	petrochemical capacity	70 to 75 M mt	90 to 100 M mt	+sa
petrochemical industry	petrochemical exports	20 to 25 M mt $10 to $15 B	$30 to 35B	+sa
petrochemical industry	petrochemical major agreements with foreign chemical companies/ states	in Iran - China	in China - SINOPEC; in USA -ExxonMobil; in Jubail - Total; in South Korea - SK; in Malaysia - Petronas; in yanbu - ExxonMobil	+sa
petrochemical industry	petrochemical production	55 to 65 M mt - 2017	75 to 90 M mt	+sa
petrochemical industry	petrochemical raw material (natural gas) costs	$2 per M btu	$0.75 per M btu (fixed by state)	+sa
petrochemical industry	petrochemical revenues	$20 to 25 B - 2016	$60 to 65 B - 2014	+sa
petrochemical industry	export markets	Turkey, China, India, South Korea	China, India, South Korea, Japan	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical capacity goals	120 M mt by 2020;  160 M mt by 2025	115 to 120 M mt	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical hub land area	asaluyeh - 52 square km; mahshahr - 45 square km	jubail - 90 square km; yanbu -49 square km	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical hubs (clusters)	asaluyeh;  marhshahr	jubail; yanbu	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical imports	$7.3 B - 2011	$16 B - 2015	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical industry history	from 1960s	from 1970s	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical planned state investments	$41 B, completing 36 sites; $20B developing 3rd hub at chabahar	$20 B Saudi Aramco - SABIC; $42 B - state	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical plant numbers	57	70	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical plant numbers that are state-owned	80%	60%	equal
petrochemical industry	petrochemical production focus on high margin products	yes	yes	equal

Data is shown for both Iran and Saudi Arabia in 40 topic areas (e.g., population, land area, etc.).   These topic areas are ones that I concluded are relevant to accessing a company’s overall petrochemical industry capability.   Also, only topics could be used where I was able to find (researching the Internet) what I considered to be sufficiently accurate data for the topic.  

I have categorized the topics to whether they deal mostly with demographics, human development, macroeconomics, or a petrochemical industry’s characterization.

for each of the four categories, I compared the data on Iran against the data on Saudi Arabia.  The results of these comparisons (plus Iran, plus Saudi Arabia, or equal) appear in the table for each topic under the “positive iran or positive Saudi Arabia or equal” column.

Based on the comparisons I made the following conclusions about how Iran’s petrochemical industry compares to Sadia Arabia’s:

Demographics

Overall positive for Iran because of the 2.5 times population advantage (81 million population versus 31 million).

Human Development

Overall positive for Saudi Arabia because of being much higher on the human development index (the 38^th country from the top for Saudi Arabia versus 69^th from the top for Iran).

Macroeconomics

Overall positive for Saudi Arabia because more of its macroeconomic data is better and because of international sanctions affecting Iran.

Petrochemical Industry

Overall positive for Saudi Arabia because of lower production costs and greater access to technology.

It seems to me that a country’s demographics, human development, and aspects of tis macroeconomics do influence the success of an industry, such as petrochemicals.   So, considering this and the above conclusions, I would say Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical industry at present is stronger (more successful) than Iran’s.

Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – June 2018

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is June 2018.

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply.  Click here to read the May 2018 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the May alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.  Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I.   Photoinitiators used with inks: Europe; supply not keeping up with demand

Section II.   Shortages Reported in June not found on the Previous Month’s List

Bricks/building materials: United Kingdom; production not keeping up with demand

Food-grade carbon dioxide: Europe; production not keeping up with demand

Sand: India; supply not keeping up with demand

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: none

2.  Production not keeping up with demand: bricks/building materials; food-grade carbon dioxide

3.  Government regulations: none

4.  Sources no longer available: none

5.  Insufficient imports:  none

6.  Supply not keeping up with demand:  sand

Biobased Product Markets – Part II

In a previous blog (Biobased Product Markets – Part I; May 29, 2018 – read below), I wrote about the need for city procurement departments to provide data on the carbon dioxide emission reductions that the departments have obtained through the cities’ use of biobased products.

Many, perhaps most, biobased products available for purchase by city procurement departments (and other customers of biobased products) are based upon the research and product development of chemical companies.  Here are some of the biobased products that have been developed by chemical companies:

when used	how used	chemical company	product function
cleaning	various	DowDupont	cleaner solvents
cleaning	various	Eastman	disposable wipe fibers
cleaning	various	Henkel	surfactants
cleaning	various	Kaneka	surfactants
construction	asphalt	ADM	additives
construction	asphalt	Arkema	additives
construction	asphalt	Cargill	additives
construction	asphalt	Kraton	additives
construction	concrete	DowDupont	sealants
construction	fixtures	Ashland	resins
construction	insulation	Convestro	foam
construction	paint	PPG	additives, resins
construction	timber	Convestro	resins/fibers
construction	various	DowDupont	adhesives/sealants
indoor interiors	carpets	Rennovia	nylon
indoor interiors	chairs	BASF/Corbion	polyurethane foam
indoor interiors	chairs	Cargill	polyurethane foam
indoor interiors	chairs	Covestro	polyurethane foam
indoor interiors	chairs	DowDupont	polyurethane foam
indoor interiors	furniture	Covestro	coating
indoor interiors	walls	Ashland	plywood/particle board
landscaping	gardens	Acme-Hardesty	herbicides
landscaping	gardens	Marrone Bio Innovation	herbicides
landscaping	gardens	Mitsui	herbicides
office	packaging	Acme-Hardesty	plastics
office	packaging	Mitsubishi	plastics
vehicles	body	Arkema	plastics
vehicles	body	DowDupont	plastics
vehicles	body	DSM	plastics
vehicles	body	Teijin	plastics
vehicles	coatings	BASF Covestro	hardener
vehicles	interiors	BASF	polyurethane foam
vehicles	tires	DowDupont Goodyear	bio isoprene
work clothes	various	Archroma	various
work clothes	various	Arkema	various
work clothes	various	BASF	polyamides
work clothes	various	DowDupont	various
work clothes	various	Virent	polyester

A 2015 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report (click here to read the report – PDF file) provides details on the biobased products marketplace in the United States, including the Federal Government’s procurement program for buying biobased products.  Although the report indicates that key environmental benefits of the manufacture and use of biobased products are the reduction in fossil fuel use and associated greenhouse gas emissions, amounts of these benefits and reductions are not available.

In Part I of this two-part series (see above for reference to Part I), I indicated the lack of measured results for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions caused by the biobased product use of the biggest US city procurement departments.   It seems to me that this lack is missing a huge opportunity to obtain useful data on how well cities are doing in reducing carbon dioxide emissions (estimates are that the world’s cities cause 70% of carbon dioxide emissions).  As indicated by the 2015 USDA report, referenced above, such data is not available in the literature.   Perhaps if such data was available, the data would lead to more innovation and a significant reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – May 2018

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is May 2018.

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply.  Click here to read the April 2018 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the April alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.  Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in short supply status are not listed.

Section I.  

None

     

Section II.   Shortages Reported in May not found on the Previous Month’s List

Acetic acid: United States, Asia; supply not keeping up with demand

Hydrogen peroxide: Pakistan; production not keeping up with demand

Photoinitiators used with inks: Europe; supply not keeping up with demand

Vinyl acetate monomer: United States, Europe; production not keeping up with demand

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as: 

1.  Mining not keeping up with demand: none

2.  Production not keeping up with demand: hydrogen peroxide; vinyl acetate monomer

3.  Government regulations: none

4.  Sources no longer available: none

5.  Insufficient imports:  none

6.  Supply not keeping up with demand:  acetic acid; photoinitiators used with inks