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The article discusses the trends related to global petrochemical industry as of September 2014. The topics discussed include the economic lead of Asian Gulf region in petrochemical industry, a comparison between naphtha cracking and ethane cracking, and the impact of U.S. shale gas production on Middle Eastern petrochemicals business. Also discussed is pricing of natural gas in the United Arab Emirates.

The article provides information on the engineering contracts of Foster Wheeler Energy. It played a role in the overall management of a cracker complex in Nanhai, China. Foster Wheeler considers the Middle East as a key growth region. Steve Davies, chairman and CEO for the firm, believes that his firm is the leading engineering, procurement and construction contractor in the pharmaceuticals sector in Singapore.

The article focuses on the scarcity of para-xylene (p-xylene) for aromatics derivative projects, the decline in returns for feedstock complexes, and the introduction of chemical products in the Middle East region. Topics discussed include a chart showing the shift on p-xylene 's capacity in the Mideast, the addition of toluene capacity and the convertion of benzene, and the availability of cracker feedstocks.

The author comments on ways on how Mideast countries resolved problems associated with ethane. The author states that ethane is considered a problem to numerous petrochemical companies due to its very low prices despite the high cost of cracking feedstock. Moreover, the challenges experienced by several Mideast nations and how they solve the issue are also stated.

The article reports on the increasing demand for ethylene in Europe as cracker units catch up. Polyethylene producers may opt to sell ethylene cargoes rather than produce plastic from them. The cracker output of BPRP in Munchmunster, Germany is still reduced due to the outages at Basell's nearby polymer units. Most ethylene production are planned for the Middle East.

The article focuses on chemical engineering contracts won by Linde in the Middle East. The technology of Linde for ethylene is in demand from firms such as Sabic. Aldo Belloni, a managing board member for Linde, believes that political disputes can get in the way of business. The projects of Linde include the construction of an ethylene-propylene cracker in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. INSET: LINDE'S MIDDLE EAST CONTRACT SUMMARY.