Glossary

Sector is the term given to a component part of our demand buildup, consisting of each individual End-Use Consumption and Derivative Consumption in a given region.

Sour Crude is the term used for crudes with a higher sulphur content. Tightening emissions legislation has meant that refiners need to add considerable desulphurisation capacity in order to process Sour Crude.

South America is defined as containing the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Nicaragua, Peru, Trinidad, Venezuela

South Asia is defined as containing the following countries: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

South East Asia is defined as containing the following countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam

Speculative Capacity is the our estimate of any additional annualised net capacity additions that are likely in each region. This speculative capacity includes both new plant construction and expansions on existing units, and can also include the predicted closure of existing capacity.

Start-Up refers to the commencing of continuous commercial operation at a new (or newly expanded) petrochemical plant. This Start-Up may be preceded by commissioning and contractual performance test runs.

A Steam Cracker is a fundamental process in the petrochemical industry providing a key linkage between refined products and petrochemical intermediates. The Steam Cracker uses a pyrolysis process to partially decompose hydro-carbon feeds, with steam acting as a diluent. The main product from a stream cracker is ethylene, however propylene and to a lesser extent benzene and butadiene are also produced in commercial quantities. Hydro-carbon feed varies by region, with ethane being the feed of choice where available, and naphtha popular in regions with developed refining facilities.

Styrene (also known as vinyl benzene, ethenylbenzene) is a colourless liquid in the Aromatics family. Styrene is a chemical intermediate made from the dehydration of ethyl benzene and a vinyl group on styrene molecule can readily undergo polymerization. Styrene is a monomer used in the production of variety of polymer and rubbers including: polystyrene, ABS, SBR, SBL, and unsaturated polyesters.

The Styrenics chain are the chemical products and polymers that can be produced from the styrene monomer. Ethylbenzene, the immediate precursor used in the production of styrene is also included in this grouping.

Supervision generally refers to a single person who has overall responsibility for the plant operation. This is normally a day job role and does not require shift cover.

Supply Demand is a term used to refer to the interactions of demand, local production and trade in a given region. These three elements of a the local market determine the behaviour of producers and consumers within a given region.

Sweet Crude is the term used for crudes with a low sulphur content. Continued tightening of emissions legislation has increased the value of low sulphur crude in recent years.

The term swing plant is used as a designation for petrochemical plants that are able to change product from one material to another without any great change in feedstock. LLDPE-HDPE swing units which can make either LLDPE or HDPE depending on operating conditions and catalyst are the most common form of swing plants.

Toluene diisocyanate (TDI) is an aromatic derivative produced by the nitration of toluene followed by phosgenation. TDI-based polyurethanes are used in flexible foams, coating resins, adhesives, sealants and elastomers.

Technical Support costs are service costs associated with promoting and supporting technical grades. These costs are particularly applicable to polymer production to allow the producer to fine tune his production to the needs of his customers.

Techno-Economics is the term used to describe a technical-economic analysis of the cost competitiveness of a petrochemical plant. It combines a mass and energy balance with market price information to calculate the variable cost of production, then adds direct and indirect fixed costs to compute the production cash cost.

Toluene is one of the "aromatic" compounds along with benzene and xylenes. There is limited chemical consumption of toluene but it may be converted to benzene by hydrodealkylation (THDA) or to benzene and xylenes by disproportionation (TDP) or transalkylation. Chemical applications include solvents and toluene diisocyanate (TDI).

Incremental mixed xylenes can be produced from available toluene through disproportionation. Technologies are available that will permit co-processing C9 aromatics with toluene into mixed xylenes. The analysis presented here gives the costs for a typical TDP unit processing toluene only, valuing the feedstock at its gasoline blending value.

Xylenes production from gasoline value toluene, in general, has a lower cash cost of production than xylenes from reformate. This result is sensitive to co-product credits from benzene and other gasoline based co-products, and the position can be reversed if toluene is valued throughout at its market price.

We refer to metric tons when we use the term "tons" in our reports. This mass is equivalent to 2204.6 pounds.

The Top Ten report lists the top ten players in each product/market. This analysis can be based on either Plant Owner, Marketer or Operator. Data can be displayed in a chart or table.

A Typical Plant is used for products that do not have sufficient operations in a given region to be able to reasonably define Leader and Laggard plant scales.