Trade & Tariff Tensions: The Ripple Effects on Energy & Chemical Markets

Duncan Clark Vice President, Global Aromatics & Fibers Team Lead Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Duncan Clark is the Vice President of the Global Aromatics and Fibers business at Chemical Market Analytics.

Duncan Clark is the vice president of Global Aromatics and Derivatives, based in Chemical Market Analytics’ London office. Duncan joined the company in 2013 as the EMEA Aromatics Director, taking over the global Aromatics team leadership in 2017. Duncan has 40 years of experience working in the global petrochemical and chemical industries in various Sales, Marketing, Corporate Business Development, Business Management and Consultancy roles.

Duncan maintains a view of global developments in all major aromatics markets and works closely with petrochemical producers, consumers and financial institutions worldwide, providing insight and future expectations. He has specific expertise in the polyester feedstocks markets. He is a regular speaker at Chemical Market Analytics’ regional conferences. He leads a global team of Aromatics consultants and analysts. He is responsible for the commercial strategy and client support for a broad portfolio of Aromatics services focused on individual aromatics value chains. He also regularly forms part of the project team for Chemical Market Analytics’ single client studies.

Before this, Duncan spent ten years working in an ExxonMobil / Shell joint venture company involved in fuel and lubricant additives and visited refineries worldwide. He also spent 12 years working for Air Products in various chemical and industrial gas businesses in the UK, U.S., and Netherlands. He now provides insights into the global aromatics and derivative markets, including paraxylene, purified terephthalic acid, ethylene glycols, polyurethane feedstocks, and the global benzene, toluene, and xylenes markets.

Mr. Clark has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from University College London and a Master of Business Administration from Manchester Business School.

Nick Kovics Vice President, Global Inorganic Chemicals Team Lead Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Nick Kovics is the Vice President of the Global Inorganics team at Chemical Market Analytics.

Nick Kovics serves as the Vice President of Global Inorganic Chemicals at Chemical Market Analytics, which includes Chlor-alkali chemicals, Vinyls, Bleaching Chemicals, and Soda Ash.

Nick brings over 25 years of chemical industry experience to the Chemical Market Analytics Inorganic Chemicals insights team. He was promoted to his current role in 2024, where he leads twenty analysts who research, forecast, and report on chlor-alkali chemicals, vinyls, bleaching chemicals, and soda ash from five global locations. Previously, Nick held a variety of roles in the Inorganics value chain at Chemical Market Analytics, including leading the Chlor-alkali, Bleaching Chemicals, and Battery Materials advisory services.

Nick held various functional roles in several companies before joining Chemical Market Analytics. He began his career as a process engineer in the chlor-alkali sector at Canadian Occidental. Nick next moved into the energy sector as a field engineer with Schlumberger Canada cementing and hydraulic fracturing services. He transitioned from oil and gas to new energy and spent a decade in the hydrogen fuel cell sector in technical, commercial and financial roles. Nick continued in the electrochemical industry by joining Canexus (now Chemtrade) and held commercial leadership roles in chlor-alkali and sodium chlorate marketing.

Nick is originally from Canada and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from Simon Fraser University. He is a registered Canadian Professional Engineer and a Canadian Chartered Professional Accountant. He has resided in Houston, TX, since joining Chemical Market Analytics in 2017.

Mike Nash Vice President, Global Syngas Team Lead | Americas Acetyls Lead Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Mr. Mike Nash is the Vice President for Syngas Chemicals (including the methanol and acetyls practices) at Chemical Market Analytics.

He works with a global team of regional consultants and overlays their analyses with a global perspective. His responsibilities include the weekly World Methanol Report and monthly World Methanol Analysis, including the weekly and monthly Global Acetyls Market Reports and the related World Analyses for Methanol, Acetyls, and Formaldehyde.

Before joining the IHS Markit base chemicals business (now known as Chemical Market Analytics) in September 2012, Mr. Nash worked for BP’s petrochemicals division for 19 years preceding a two-year stint in Total’s UK fuels business. He performed various commercial roles within BP, in international business management, marketing, project management, and logistics, based in London, Duesseldorf, and Kuala Lumpur. His last role in the Total UK was the Logistics Director for Specialties.

Mr. Nash holds a Master of Arts in English Language and Literature from Edinburgh University, UK, and a Master of Business Administration from Kingston University, UK.

Jaime Brito Vice President, Refining and Oil Markets Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Jaime Brito is the Vice President of refining and oil product markets at Chemical Market Analytics.

Jaime Brito is in charge of leading content and analysis on the refining and oil products markets and their impact on the chemical sector. With over 25 years of experience, his views and insights have reached all regions of the oil and gas industry, where he has covered oil and gas markets, refining economics, commercial strategies,

Mr. Brito’s activities at the Energy Market teams cover all regions. His technical, commercial and geopolitical knowledge, paired with a deep understanding of oil and gas dynamics, pricing drivers and a unique ability to anticipate potential market developments, make all his contributions a significant value added. He plays a leading role in assessing the outlook for global market fundamentals, refining rationalizations and supply, and is part of our market intelligence services focused on short- and long-term analysis.

Before joining Chemical Market Analytics, Mr. Brito delivered consulting related to oil, fuels and refining around the world, from assessing the feasibility of new refineries in Asia and the Middle East to designing commercial strategies and investments in Europe or Latin America to due diligence for asset acquisition in the US or Canada. He has led diligence and feasibility studies representing over 15 billion dollars of capital.

Mr. Brito is based in Houston, Texas and holds an MBA and a BS in Chemical Engineering. As part of his long and international career, he is a regular guest in news programs, where he shares his insights on global geopolitics, oil markets, and fuel prices, among others.

Steve Lewandowski Vice President, Global Olefins & Derivatives Team Lead Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Mr. Lewandowski is the Vice President of Global Olefins & Derivatives at Chemical Market Analytics.

Based in Houston, Steve Lewandowski is the Vice President – Olefins at Chemical Market Analytics (CMA) by OPIS, a Dow Jones Company, a leading global provider of information, insight and consulting services to the global chemical and petrochemical.

During a career spanning 30 + years in the refining and chemical industry, Steve has experience across the spectrum of refining and petrochemical hydrocarbon value chains covering various financial, strategic, technical and commercial roles. Before his move to Chemical Market Analytics, Steve was Senior Manager of Base Chemicals at TOTAL Petrochemicals & Refining, Inc. In that capacity, he managed the P&L of the base chemicals business, including joint venture relationships, strategic guidance to the partnerships, plant operational interfaces, project development, and commercial responsibility for olefin and aromatic monomers, including styrene.

Before the Base Chemical Senior Manager role, Steve had increasing responsibilities within the Petrochemical business at TOTAL. The latest assignment was overseas, in Brussels, Belgium, where he was responsible for the Global Aromatics long-term commercial business activity. The assignment included P&L responsibility and strategic project development for TOTAL worldwide. Before the Belgian assignment, he worked as manager of the US aromatics business. Before 2000, Steve was involved in the refining and fuels side of the Hydrocarbon chain both for what was then FINA Oil and Chemical and for Star Enterprise (a joint venture between Texaco and Saudi Aramco), working as a process engineer, optimization engineer, fuels blending optimizer, branded/unbranded fuels marketing and supply lead, and in a business development role.

Steve earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University in 1987 and an MBA with a focus on finance and economics from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2000.

Ben May Director, Macro Forecasting & Analysis Oxford Economics

Ben May is a Director of Global Macroeconomic Research at Oxford Economics and is involved in the production and presentation of the company’s global macroeconomic views, with a leading role in our coverage of the advanced economies. Ben joined Oxford Economics in April 2014.

He has over 15 years’ experience as a macro economist in the public and private sector and has over a decade’s expertise covering the Eurozone economy. Before joining the Global Macro team, Ben worked on the Eurozone team at Oxford Economics. In addition to his working covering broad Eurozone issues he was also responsible for research on the ECB and Germany. Prior to joining Oxford Economics, Ben spent over six years at Capital Economics and was responsible for the coverage of the southern Eurozone economies throughout the Eurozone crisis. Before that, he spent seven years at the Bank of England, working in three divisions of the Monetary Analysis area of the Bank, which provides research and analysis for the Monetary Policy Committee. Ben has a BSc in Economics with Statistics from the University of Bristol and an MSc in Economics from University College London.

Nick Vafiadis Vice President, Global Plastics & Polymers Team Lead Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Nick Vafiadis is the Vice President of the Plastics & Polymers business at Chemical Market Analytics.

34 years, including critical roles in sales, sales management, product management, and business line management in the plastics, surfactants, and consulting industries.
Nick is a 30+ year chemical and plastics industry veteran and manages Chemical Market Analytics’ global plastics practice. Nick’s daily responsibilities include analysis, consulting, and reporting on the global polyolefins market and managing global operations associated with producing and developing various plastics reports. Concurrently, he contributes to single-client projects and studies related to the polyolefins industry. In his earlier assignments, he was responsible for consulting duties associated with the Chlor-alkali and vinyl product chain. He has contributed to the Monomers Market Report, the Chlor-Alkali Market Report, and the Global Plastics & Polymers Market Report.

He has been with Chemical Market Analytics and its predecessor companies since 2002. Before 2002, he spent twelve years with Vista Chemical Company, where he held assignments in marketing, product management, and sales management in the vinyl and surfactant business areas. Mr. Vafiadis holds a Management BBA from The University of Texas at Austin, United States.