Olefins & Derivatives

Value-Chain » Olefins & Derivatives

Keeping Pace with the Rapidly Changing
Global Olefins & Derivatives Markets

We are the global chemical industry’s premier source for historical and forecast pricing. We facilitate strategic investment decisions by providing the near and long-term outlook for Asian, European, and North American Olefins & Derivatives markets. The consultants at Chemical Market Analytics often have decades of experience working in these markets and understand the challenges and opportunities, enabling efficient and invaluable interactions with clients.

Olefins & Derivatives Strategic Insights

Plastics Circularity

Chemical recycling is challenged by the high carbon footprint of producing pyrolytic oils and naphtha from plastics, low carbon power will be needed to make this process environmentally credible.

EU Green Deal and Fit for 55

EU redoubling efforts to use carbon pricing as a key tool to lower emissions and drive decarbonization. Many players in the petrochemical industry are launching investments and developing technologies to address this change.

Mainland China’s action plan for peaking carbon emissions by 2030

Short-term impact of dual control policy targets for energy consumption by province resulting in plant outages, longer-term plans include rationalization of inefficient CDUs and steam crackers.

Crude Oil-to-Chemicals (COTC)

Increasing the degree of conversion of a refined oil barrel to chemicals to produce higher yields of propylene, aromatics, and other feedstocks, ultimately elevating petrochemical production to refinery scale.

Cracker Feedslates

The ongoing shift to lighter feedslates in steam crackers reduces the output of coproducts (CC4, propylene, aromatics) and supports investments in on-purpose production capacities.

Gasoline Demand and Mobility

Refinery operations and chemical feedstock production linked to gasoline demand with future growth driven
by changing fuel-efficiency standards, increases in autonomous transportation, the electrification of vehicles, and competition from other transportation fuels.

Cost Competitiveness

Regional cost competitiveness and global trade flow are affected by the location of demand centers as well as low-cost producers with access to advantaged feedstock pricing.

Changing Trade Flows

The drive to more self-sufficiency combined with the impact of supply chain disruptions and trade wars is resulting in more production capacities to be built near demand centers, which is diverting trade flows and ultimately lowering the total traded volumes.

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Near-Term Solutions


Make Better Acrylonitrile Buying, Selling, and Operating Decisions.

Find current and historical prices, including the near-term price forecasts for acrylonitrile, its feedstocks, and its key derivatives. Gain critical insights from our analysis of the regional acrylonitrile market dynamics, and country-specific trade data for acrylonitrile and its primary derivatives.


Asia Light Olefins Covers the World’s Fastest-Growing Region for Light Olefins.

Managed by consultants in our Asia offices, Asia Light Olefins tracks the latest developments in the world’s fastest-growing region for light olefins. You receive weekly market updates, including the monthly commentary on our forecasts for prices, supply and demand, trade flows and production costs. You will also receive a CHINA weekly focusing only on the China olefins market.

In addition to quarterly supply and demand balances and the operating schedules, the monthly analysis also features a “Focus” section, which  delivers our consultants’ insights about timely, critical topics in the Asian olefins sector.


Europe & Middle East Light Olefins Draws Upon More Than 25 Years of Experiences to Provide Clients with Near-term Forecast for the Region’s Light Olefins and Derivatives Markets.

Europe & Middle East Light Olefins offers a comprehensive focus view of the European and Middle Eastern light olefins markets. While this service concentrates predominantly on Europe and the Middle East, it also benefits from the insights provided by our Asian and North American practices, making it a fully integrated service.

Clients receive quarterly price forecasts each month, along with a quick reference appendix containing data on supply and demand, trade, operating schedules, new project listings and price forecasts. Through continual, personal interactions with key industry sources, chemical consultants gather and study industry-specific data, analyze and translate it into valuable insights and forecasting advice.


Access to the Industry’s Most Comprehensive Analysis and Near-Term Forecasting for the Acrylates and Super Absorbent Polymer Markets.

Find regional price data, margin analysis, production capacities and economics, supply-demand balances, and import-export flows for glacial acrylic acid, butyl acrylate, 2 ethyl hexyl acrylate and super absorbent polymers (SAP). In addition, you will receive selected end-use demand and shipments, including the plant and project news across the value chain.


Global C4 Olefins & Elastomers Provide Near-Term Market Intelligence on Butadiene, Butylenes, Mtbe, and C4-based Elastomers.

Global C4 Olefins & Elastomers provides near-term market intelligence on butadiene, butylenes, MTBE and C4-based elastomers. Clients rely on our impartial analyses, supported by independent data, to make optimal decisions in this highly complex market.

Understanding the intricacies of the global C4s and elastomers supply chain requires deep knowledge of the highly different drivers and regulatory patterns influencing its components. Global C4 Olefins & Elastomers harness over three decades of industry experience to provide our clients with the most comprehensive view of these world markets. Through continual, personal interactions with key industry sources, chemical consultants gather and study industry-specific data, analyze and translate it into valuable insights and forecasting advice.

Clients receive a monthly market summary and appendix, containing current and forecasted prices, supply and demand balances, operating schedules and other key market metrics. Near mid-month, our consultants deliver a separate, detailed report on a timely issue facing the global C4s and elastomers industry.


Global Tire Raw Materials Indices Delivers a Monthly Index for Historical and Current Tire Raw Material Costs, Segmented by Synthetic Rubber, Natural Rubber, Carbon Black, Fiber, Steel Cord, Silica and Other Chemicals.

Recent years have seen increased volatility in tire raw material costs due to trends in world oil, petrochemical and natural rubber markets. Against this background of rapid change and uncertainty, Global Tire Raw Materials Indices equips tire producers and consumers with the relevant data they need to conduct transparent transactions and increase efficiency. Each month, clients receive a series of indices demonstrating historical and current tire raw material trends for each region.

With Global Tire Raw Materials Indices, clients benefit from the extensive chemical knowledge of the petrochemical and rubber industries as well as consultants’ access to leading references in Europe, the United States and Asia for feedstock prices. Through continual, personal contact with these sources, consultants gather, systematize and translate the data into valuable insights and forecasting advice.


North America Light Olefins Equips you With Near-Term Pricing and Other Key Forecasts for the Entire Light Olefin Value Chain, from Upstream Sources to Downstream Ethylene, Propylene and Primary Derivatives.

North America Light Olefins provides clients with a comprehensive, yet focused view of the Canadian, US, and Mexican light olefins (ethylene and propylene) markets. You will receive weekly and monthly market data and analytical insights covering the ethylene and propylene markets, with an overview of their major derivative products. The clients also receive our prices, unique metrics, and real-time news and intelligence. Through continual, personal interactions with key industry sources, our consultants collect industry-specific data, analyze and translate it into valuable insights and forecasting advice.

 

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Long-Term Solutions

  • Long-term supply-demand database updated bi-annually
  • Real-time global capacity database
  • Detailed country-level trade grids updated bi-annually
  • 10-year forecasts for price, cost and margin updated quarterly
  • Upside and downside sensitivities
  • Strategic market assessments

  • Long-term supply-demand database updated bi-annually
  • Real-time global capacity database
  • Detailed country-level trade grids updated bi-annually
  • 10-year forecasts for price, cost and margin updated quarterly
  • Upside and downside sensitivities
  • Strategic market assessments

  • Long-term supply-demand database updated bi-annually
  • Real-time global capacity database
  • Detailed country-level trade grids updated bi-annually
  • 10-year forecasts for price, cost and margin updated quarterly
  • Upside and downside sensitivities
  • Strategic market assessments

  • Long-term supply-demand database updated bi-annually
  • Real-time global capacity database
  • Detailed country-level trade grids updated bi-annually
  • 10-year forecasts for price, cost and margin updated quarterly
  • Upside and downside sensitivities
  • Strategic market assessments

  • Long-term supply-demand database updated bi-annually
  • Real-time global capacity database
  • Detailed country-level trade grids updated bi-annually
  • 10-year forecasts for price, cost and margin updated quarterly
  • Upside and downside sensitivities
  • Strategic market assessments

  • Long-term supply-demand database updated bi-annually
  • Real-time global capacity database
  • Detailed country-level trade grids updated bi-annually
  • 10-year forecasts for price, cost and margin updated quarterly
  • Upside and downside sensitivities
  • Strategic market assessments

  • Long-term supply-demand database updated bi-annually
  • Real-time global capacity database
  • Detailed country-level trade grids updated bi-annually
  • 10-year forecasts for price, cost and margin updated quarterly
  • Upside and downside sensitivities
  • Strategic market assessments

  • Long-term supply-demand database updated bi-annually
  • Real-time global capacity database
  • Detailed country-level trade grids updated bi-annually
  • 10-year forecasts for price, cost and margin updated quarterly
  • Upside and downside sensitivities
  • Strategic market assessments

  • Long-term supply-demand database updated bi-annually
  • Real-time global capacity database
  • Detailed country-level trade grids updated bi-annually
  • 10-year forecasts for price, cost and margin updated quarterly
  • Upside and downside sensitivities
  • Strategic market assessments

  • Long-term supply-demand database updated bi-annually
  • Real-time global capacity database
  • Detailed country-level trade grids updated bi-annually
  • 10-year forecasts for price, cost and margin updated quarterly
  • Upside and downside sensitivities
  • Strategic market assessments

Olefins and Derivatives Global Team

Steve Lewandowski

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

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Bill Hyde

Vice President, Global C4 & Elastomers Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

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Pablo Giorgi

Executive Director, Global Olefins Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

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William Chen, Ph.D

Executive Director, Asia Olefins Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

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Kevin Longworth

Executive Director, Global Acrylonitrile Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

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Martin Staley

Executive Director, EMEA Acrylic Acid, Acrylates, SAP, MMA, Oxo Alcohols, Plasticizers

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Matthew Thoelke

Executive Director, EMEA Ethylene & Propylene Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

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Steve Lewandowski

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

Mr. Lewandowski serves as the Vice President of Global Olefins at Chemical Market Analytics.

Steve is based in Houston. 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 a wide array of financial, strategic, technical, and commercial roles. Before his move to CMA, 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 the commercial responsibility for olefin and aromatic monomers including styrene.

Prior to the Base Chemical Senior manager role, Steve had increasing responsibilities within the Petrochemical business at TOTAL. The Latest assignment was overseas, in Brussels Belgium, responsible for global aromatics long-term commercial business activity. The assignment included P&L responsibility and strategic project development for TOTAL around the world. Prior to 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 of focus on finance and economics from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2000.

Bill Hyde

Bill Hyde Vice President, Global C4 & Elastomers Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Bill Hyde is the vice president of Olefins & Elastomers at Chemical Market Analytics.

Mr. Hyde is a member of Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS a Dow Jones Company where he leads a group focused on analyzing markets related to C4 Olefins, synthetic and natural rubber, and tire raw materials. He has been consulting in this market since 2002. Hyde began his career with the Union Carbide Corporation in 1990 where he had various positions including production engineering, optimization, planning, and logistics. In 2000, he joined Texas Petrochemicals as a Business Analyst. In 2002, Hyde joined CMAI, which was acquired by IHS in 2011, in the Olefins Consulting Practice with an emphasis on C4 Olefins and rubber, assuming responsibility for that practice in 2006. The Base Chemicals Group of IHS Markit, which includes the C4 Olefins and Elastomers Practice, became Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS a Down Jones Company in June 2022. He has published a number of papers on the Olefins and Elastomers industries as well as presented at numerous Olefins and Elastomers Conferences around the world.

Hyde has B.S. and M.S. Degrees in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University and an M.B.A. from Tulane University.

Pablo Giorgi

Pablo Giorgi Executive Director, Global Olefins Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Pablo Giorgi is the Executive Director of the North American Light Olefins business at Chemical Market Analytics.

Pablo is a chemical engineer with over 20 years of experience in the petrochemical industry. He leads the North American Light Olefins service, which provides clients valuable insights into the regional market dynamics of cracker feedstocks, ethylene, and propylene.
Prior to joining Chemical Market Analytics, Pablo held positions in areas such as Supply Chain, Commercial, Strategy, and Market Intelligence. He started his career at Innova, a Styrene and Polystyrene producer in Brazil. Later he joined Braskem (through legacy PQU) where he spent more than 13 years in different capacities and moved to Houston, TX in the process.
Pablo received his BS in chemical engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Brazil. He also holds an MBA in Logistics from Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV) and an MBA in Management from Fundacao Dom Cabral (FDC), both in Brazil.

William Chen, Ph.D

William Chen, Ph.D Executive Director, Asia Olefins Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

William Chen is Executive Director at Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS, a Dow Jones Company.

He has expertise in industrial experience, including R&D, sales, and professional consulting services. He leads Asia Olefins business with research responsibilities for providing insight into the dynamics associated with the ethylene, propylene, C4 & derivatives value chain markets. Provide thought leadership on the markets relating to supply, demand, price, and economics, as well as competitive dynamics and changing industry structural elements. Write analyses for Weekly, Monthly, and Annual reports (Market Advisory Services and World Analyses). William also Leads the Asia Olefins business for strategic growth as well as provides ongoing commercial management. Focus on nurturing relationships with clients and deepening services as part of clients’ commercial and strategic decision-making processes. Nurture relationships with clients, including SOEs, POEs, and MNCs to deepen services as part of clients’ commercial and strategic decision-making processes. Within Chemical Market Analytics, William also has been involved in many petrochemical consulting projects and multiple client studies, including China Coal Chemical Study, Global Propane Dehydrogenation Research, and Refinery-cracker/aromatic complex feasibility study.

Prior to Chemical Market Analytics, William worked for ChemChina. At the company, William started as a chemical engineer in the Lanzhou fiber plant, in Northwest China. Then, he moved back to Beijing to focus on downstream application development. In the last two years with ChemChina, William took charge of sales and marketing responsibility in NE Asia.

William earned Ph.D from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and majored in Polymer Chemistry and Physics. William is based in Beijing China.

Kevin Longworth

Kevin Longworth Executive Director, Global Acrylonitrile Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Kevin Longworth is the Executive Director for Global Acrylonitrile at Chemical Market Analytics.

Kevin qualified as a process engineer in 1999 and subsequently worked in the plastics industry for several years in South Africa and the UK.

In 2009, Mr. Longworth leaped at the opportunity to transition into the world of petrochemicals consulting and since then his career has moved from strength to strength as he has gained experience in a multitude of areas. During his more than a decade-long journey in the petrochemicals arena, he has gained a deep insight into how this complex and volatile industry ticks. After spending several years as a consultant to the plastics industry he then took on the role of global research and analysis director for the acrylonitrile market service in March 2020. He works with a broad range of clients across the acrylonitrile value chain and his clients include major producers, consumers, and traders/distributors. The nature of his work allows him a unique global perspective of the acrylonitrile industry across all regions.

 

Martin Staley

Martin Staley Executive Director, EMEA Acrylic Acid, Acrylates, SAP, MMA, Oxo Alcohols, Plasticizers

Martin Staley serves as the Executive Director for the Acrylic Acid and OXO Alcohol value chains which includes the acrylate esters, butyl acrylate, 2-EH Acrylate, Methyl Acrylate, and Ethyl Acrylate

Martin joined the IHS Markit base chemicals business (now known as Chemical Market Analytics) in March 2022. The related chemical, Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) is also under Martin’s purview as well as the downstream OXO plasticizer derivatives. These chemicals are covered in the Market Advisory Service reports, published monthly and the World Analysis reports, published annually.

Martin has over 30 years of chemical industry experience having recently served as the Regional Vice President for Third Coast International for 14 years. Third Coast is a leading chemical service provider with operations in the Houston area with historic joint ventures in Singapore and Qatar. The company is a leading automotive brake fluid producer, marketer of propylene glycol, and a leading contract manufacturing company. Before Third Coast, Martin spent 17 years in a variety of roles with LyondellBasell with a focus on the Propylene Oxide and derivatives business including PO-based glycol ethers, glycols, 1,4-Butanediol and derivatives, and C4 specialties. He also held the Chair of the Glycol Ether sector for the Oxygenated Solvent Producers Association an industry trade body under C.E.F.I.C. helping prepare the industry for the introduction of REACH.

Martin started his chemical industry career in the United Kingdom with what is now Univar. Martin holds a BSc. Hons. Degree in Biology with subsidiary subjects of Biochemistry and Biotechnology from Portsmouth University.

Matthew Thoelke

Matthew Thoelke Executive Director, EMEA Ethylene & Propylene Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS

Matthew Thoelke is the Executive Director for Olefins and Derivatives in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Chemical Market Analytics.

During his time with Chemical Market Analytics (formerly part of IHS Markit base chemicals business), and CMAI, Martin took a variety of roles across a broad range of product areas. With over 20 years of experience, Matthew acts as the key resource within the business for understanding and insight into the olefins sector of the petrochemical industry, for these key regions, he works closely with the petrochemical, oil and financial industries, bringing support and guidance throughout the petrochemical chain. Current specific responsibilities include the European/Middle East Report Olefins and primary input and support for the World Ethylene and Propylene Analyses.

Previously within CMAI, Mr. Thoelke has worked in both olefins and aromatics consulting in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa with key responsibilities in olefins, but also in aromatics markets. His previous role had a primary focus on butadiene and elastomers, in which subjects he remains a globally recognized industry speaker and expert. His responsibilities included input to the Global Outlook – Feedstocks, Elastomers Report, European Market Report Aromatics, Aromatics Market Report, and taking the lead role in analyzing olefin and derivative markets in support of the long-term planning outlooks in the World Analysis.

Educated at Cambridge University Mr. Thoelke received a BA and MA in Material Sciences before completing a Diploma in Manufacturing Engineering (ACDMM).

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