Seats are complimentary and limited
Examine the dynamic interplay of the global economy, energy landscape and sustainable chemistry at our upcoming seminar. From the resilient foundations of steel and metal to the groundbreaking frontiers of hydrogen and carbon, our agenda delves into the entire energy and chemical value chain, identifying the critical touchpoints that shape each industry’s trajectory.
OPIS, Chemical Market Analytics and McCloskey experts will discuss the intersection of innovation and responsibility as we examine supply costs, demand price discovery and outlooks for oil, gas, coal, steel, plastics, carbon, hydrogen, chemicals and more. Engage in conversations that shed light on the future of energy, chemicals and raw materials.
Join us for a comprehensive analysis of the impact of sustainability measures across the energy and chemical markets and how you can maneuver your business safely through the crossroads.
Conrad Tokyo, Japan
Thursday, 14 March 2024
9:00 AM to 7:00 PM (JST)
Lunch, coffee breaks and cocktail reception are included
Veteran Industry Professionals from OPIS, Chemical Market Analytics and McCloskey
Price Assessments, Short- and Long-Term Outlooks, Analytics and Insights
Energy & Feedstock – Energy Macro Service, NGL & Naphtha Service (Outlooks, Insights, Price Assessments)
World Analysis – Methyl Methacrylate (MMA), Sodium Sulfate, Nitrile Latex (NBL), Pyrolysis Gasoline (PyGas), Polyacetal (POM Polymers)
Steel Raw Materials Markets & Research
Compliance and Voluntary Carbon Market Reports
Lindsey Bernard, Vice President, Global Sales, OPIS
Dewey Johnson, Senior Vice President and Global Head, Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS
Energy Transition is an accelerating force for the energy and chemical markets with an expected inflection in fuels demand growth by the end of this decade. Stakeholders are making decisions today to decarbonize energy supply, reduce GHG emissions, participate in the carbon economy, and diversify their product portfolios. In addition, trade patterns are shifting with changing geopolitics and shifting demographics. Finally, the plastics waste problem is increasing and remains an existential threat to the chemical industry.
Steve Lewandowski, Vice President, Global Olefins & Derivatives Team Lead, Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS
Energy transition means less oil and gas production, altering the traditional model where petrochemical feedstocks were byproducts. Despite increasing demand for petrochemicals, the shift imposes a cost burden on both the petrochemical industry and the end consumer. Balancing this dynamic becomes crucial in navigating the evolving energy landscape.
Alex Theo, Senior Journalist, OPIS
The cracking economics of naphtha vs propane in Asia and their susceptibility to geopolitical events and economic concerns will be uncovered, and how the Russia-Ukraine war has reshaped naphtha flows into Asia and created tiered markets. Other regional views include how the US and Middle East propane continue to tussle for market share in Asia amid volatile freight rates, and how the Chinese demand will be key in absorbing LPG flows into Asia.
James Stevenson, Executive Director & Research Lead, Coals, Metals & Mining, McCloskey by OPIS
The energy transition is evolving globally, as the drive towards lower carbon is tempered by the realities around how quickly that change can occur. Alongside challenges of moving away from running grids without fossil fuels is the requirement to meet expectations for strong power demand growth, as the world ‘electrifies’. While coal demand globally has been gradually flattening, and has been expected to decline, some countries—most notably China—have increased their appetite for coal dramatically in recent years. LNG remains coal’s main competitor in APAC. How will that competition dynamic evolve?
Question and answer session of the topics from the morning plenary.
Moderator: John Howland, Vice President, McCloskey by OPIS
By the end of 2022, only 14 countries remained outside the World Trade Organization (WTO). Analyzing trade volumes pre and post-General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) or WTO accession reveals a consistent uptick in trade for nearly all nations. The increasing global integration of economies has been a key driver of growth but has also introduced instability. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities in globally interlinked supply chains, prompting a reassessment of the advantages of unrestricted globalization. With the global economy leaning towards selective deglobalization, how will this shift impact the chemical industry?
Moderator: John Howland, Vice President, McCloskey by OPIS
CORSIA’s impact on the carbon market raises concerns due to the lack of eligible compliance credits, leaving uncertainty about the market’s ability to handle corresponding adjustments. Only eight million existing offsets may qualify for Phase I starting 2024, intensifying anticipation of a demand surge. In 2023, the broader voluntary market exhibited diverse price trends, remaining robust for high-quality projects and sharply declining for credits linked to misrepresented benefits. ICVCM’s Core Carbon Principal and offset acceptance in national compliance schemes are poised to enhance quality standards and drive growth in the voluntary market. The introduction of CBAM is expected to stimulate the development of more domestic carbon markets. This prompts questions about how chemical producers and importers can align with regulations, manage emissions costs, and influence trade flows in the sector.
John Howland, Vice President, McCloskey by OPIS
William Chen, Ph.D, Executive Director, Asia Olefins, Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS
Despite slow demand recovery, high feedstock costs, and overbuilt capacity impacting olefin production economics in Asia, aggressive expansion continues, especially in mainland China. The motivation behind this surge goes beyond conventional factors like self-sufficiency, demand growth, or margins. Instead, investments are fueled by decarbonization goals. The crucial questions revolve around how producers can navigate oversupply and poor margins, the duration of overcapacity, and the key steps for olefins to achieve net zero.
Dr. James Stevenson, Research Lead, McCloskey by OPIS
Marina Maliushkina, Senior Research Analyst, Coals, Metals & Mining, McCloskey by OPIS
The hard-to-abate global steel industry faces a huge challenge as it increasingly becomes a focus of decarbonization efforts. Will the industry be able to evolve fast enough? And how will it evolve amid a global market increasingly characterized by protectionism? How will green steel technologies evolve? Which green steel technologies will be the winners and losers as the sector decarbonizes? Will there be enough coal to meet BF/BOF demand needs? Underinvestment in coal and tightness in scrap availability means there is a lot of pressure on green steel to step in. If it doesn’t – could that mean a tight steel market in the 2030s?
Brian Lee, Executive Director, Asia Benzene & Styrene, Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS
China’s mega-scale investments post 2018 have put almost all aromatics products into an oversupplied territory. This has also created a new industry structure, where businesses integrated from refining to downstream now dominate the marketplace. The post COVID recovery in gasoline demand and margins also opened up a sometimes unexplored option for several aromatics producers, who were able to benefit from demand from octane blend components. After having benefitted from this for the past couple of years, the question now is how long it will last and how does energy transition impact the future.
Moderator: Dewey Johnson, Senior Vice President and Global Head, Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS
The long-term impact of the energy transition will involve shifting from a historical dominance of hydrocarbons (coal, crude oil, and gas) to an increased reliance on nuclear and renewable sources. This change has the potential to disrupt the longstanding connection between the energy and chemical industries, particularly in key commodity chemistries like olefins and aromatics derivatives, which traditionally relied on hydrocarbons. What are the various dimensions in which this shift may unfold, and what implications could arise from it?
Joel Morales, Vice President, Global Plastics & Polymers (North America), Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS
Xiaomeng Ma, Director, Asia Methanol, Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS
Syngas chemicals—mainly methanol, ammonia and hydrogen—are critical energy carriers in the petrochemical industry. On the production side, current syngas feedstocks are almost exclusively natural gas and Chinese coal. Methanol, ammonia and hydrogen play an important role in energy transition and sustainability development. Demand growth in the last ten years has been largely driven by MTO, with strong fuels growth. But as growth into MTO declines, future demand will be driven more by traditional chemical derivatives, with methanol into marine fuel and vehicle fuel a constantly growing and topical upside. Methanol – and potentially ammonia – offer ship operators new solutions in terms of fuels that reduce polluting emissions and set themselves on a path to carbon neutrality and sustainability. The methanol and ammonia industries are beginning their decarbonization journey, with new technologies and feedstocks and some consumers looking to purchase green, not grey product. Find out the anticipated evolution of the syngas industry over the next decade, the implications for pricing, supply-demand, trade, and the types of companies participating in the market.
Moderator: John Howland, Vice President, McCloskey by OPIS
Lindsey Bernard, Vice President, Global Sales, OPIS
Complete the form below to register for the Asia Energy and Chemical Forum, book a meeting, or schedule a demo.
Note that there will be no recordings available for this event.
IHS Markit Global LLC (“IHS Markit”) was acquired by S&P Global in February 2022. As part of the merger, IHS Markit Base Chemicals was spun off and separately acquired by Dow Jones and renamed “Chemical Market Analytics” in June 2022.
Dewey is responsible for the global business, including insight and research covering the major chemical value chains including Aromatics and Fibers, Olefins and Derivatives, Inorganics (chlor-alkali, vinyls, and soda ash), Plastics and Polymers, and Syngas Chemicals (methanol, acetyls, and ammonia). Dewey is based in Houston.
Prior to Chemical Market Analytics, Dewey joined IHS Markit (through legacy CMAI) in 2009. His experience in the petrochemical industry covers all aspects of the business- financial, commercial, operations, research, strategy design and business planning, business development, as well as consultancy. Prior to IHS Markit, he was with Eastman Chemical Company, where he spent more than 25 years in strategic and commercial roles with various business groups and corporate functions. Dewey held management positions in commercial development, global sourcing, P&L for key businesses, market development, and market & strategic analysis of chemical markets and businesses. Dewey has led multiple complex engagements in strategy development and execution, global sourcing of Aromatics & olefins derivatives and industrial gases, business simulation & game theory and dynamic modeling, sales/ marketing, and business development. Dewey received BS and MS engineering degrees from Tennessee Technological University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He also earned an MBA in General Management. Dewey has been a frequent guest lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, UVA Darden School of Management, and SUNY at Albany School of Public Policy.
Since graduating with her Master’s degree from Columbia University, Lindsey has spent 20 years in sales in the business intelligence industry. Lindsey joined IHS Markit in 2009, and in that time she worked across a number of sectors, from country analysis, to upstream, to agribusiness. For five years she ran EMEA Sales for Oil Markets, Midstream, Downstream and Chemicals from London, overseeing sales growth in markets as diverse as Spain and Qatar and from 2018-2020 she managed the integration of a newly-acquired agribusiness company. Over the past decade she has worked with clients across the energy, financial, manufacturing and professional services sectors. In 2020, after nine years living in the UK, she returned to the US to take over Global Sales for OPIS, which was a part of IHS Markit at that time. Lindsey is currently based out of Houston, Texas.
James Stevenson leads the research and forecasting team for Coal, Metals & Mining within McCloskey. Previously he led Global Coal research, and before that he headed up analysis of North American coal. Dr. Stevenson’s primary expertise includes supply-demand dynamics of coal and iron ore markets, price forecasting, mining and transportation costs, and export logistics and infrastructure. He also has extensive experience in trading of coal, natural gas, and power, as well as being experienced in M&A, having been a part of a number of asset and offtake deals in the coal supply space.
Prior to joining McCloskey’s predecessor IHS Markit, Dr. Stevenson spent six years in coal and power trading, most recently as Vice President, Coal Analysis at Mercuria Energy Trading, and before that as Coal Strategist at Louis Dreyfus Highbridge Energy. He also worked in the energy trading team at Eraring Energy in the Australian utility industry, working primarily in risk management as well as strategy around coal procurement, power sales, and carbon strategy.
Dr. Stevenson holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Sydney in Australia, and a PhD from Yale University.
John Howland is Vice President and head of McCloskey by OPIS, a Dow Jones company. McCloskey provides market intelligence, news, price assessments/benchmarks and analytics/forecasts for the metals and mining supply chain with focus on thermal coal and steel making raw materials. Prior to joining Dow Jones, he was head of the coal, metals and mining business within IHS Markit and joined the company in 2007 through the acquisition of McCloskey of which he was a director. Mr. Howland is a member of the OPIS leadership team.
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.
Joel joined the IHS Markit base chemicals business (now known as Chemical Market Analytics), in March 2013, covering Polyethylene (PE) and Polypropylene (PP) in North America. He is currently the service leader of three market advisory subscription services: The Global Plastics and Polymers Report, the North American PE Report, and the North American PP report. He has brought a wealth of industry knowledge to IHS Markit through multiple stints along the plastics value chain.
He began his career with polyolefins manufacturer, Solvay Polymers, which later became Ineos, in technical services and product development before he moved into field sales. After five years at Solvay Polymers, Joel moved into resin distribution sales for both Muehlstein and then United Polychem as a Product Manager, where he managed and sold polyethylene and polypropylene resins into various customer segments. In his most recent role prior to joining IHS Markit, Joel was a purchasing manager for Silgan Plastics, a major blow-molding, and injection molding plastics converter. Joel graduated from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a minor in psychology.
Alex is an experienced commodity price reporter who joined the industry since 2013. He has experience in pricing the heavy and middle distillates markets as well as the iron ore market. Alex most recently started covering the light distillates market when he joined OPIS in August 2022 with a primary focus on the Asia LPG market.
Hanwei Wu is an editorial director at OPIS, where he leads the Asia-Pacific team in producing price assessments, proprietary data and news analysis for the oil, petrochemicals, renewables and carbon markets.
His responsibilities include developing pricing methodologies for the oil and renewable markets, identifying latest commodities trends and developments, and producing market-driven news and analysis. In recent years, he has launched data products for oil and renewable markets, including solar.
Prior to OPIS, he has over 10 years of experience covering and analyzing refined oil products and petrochemicals with a focus on Asian and the Middle Eastern markets.
John Mathew joined Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS, A Dow Jones Company, as Vice President (Business Development) starting May-2023. John will be part of the leadership team within CMA and will be based in the Dubai office. John comes with more than three decades of diverse experience in the hydrocarbon downstream industry value chains across the petrochemicals and the oil & gas industry.
Prior to joining CMA, John served as the Vice President (International Business Development) within ADNOC’s downstream directorate. Having worked with several industry leaders, such as Basell Polyolefins, Saudi Aramco & ADNOC, John comes with extensive global experience and functional competencies within the chemicals industry.
John holds a Master of Marketing Management degree and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering.
Lujia has been reporting on the carbon markets for the Asia Pacific region since 2021 with a key focus on the national schemes as well as energy transition initiatives within the broader oil and gas sector. Lujia has also gained expertise on the NGL markets after having covered the Asia LPG and naphtha markets for over three years. Prior to joining OPIS, Lujia worked as a market risk analyst for equity derivatives products at an investment bank for more than six years. Lujia holds an MSc in Finance and BSc in Mathematics from Imperial College London.
Scott Dendy leads McCloskey’s Coal Metals and Mining’s index and business development operations in Asia, based in Singapore. He was instrumental in designing, developing and launching the McCloskey/Xinhua Infolink South China CFR 5,500kc marker as well as API8, API5 and API3 (in conjunction with Argus Media). He has also overseen the rapid uptake in traded derivative volumes based against the McCloskey’s M42 index, which tracks Indonesian low-rank coal prices. His role demands a good understanding of trading, both in physical and derivative/futures markets, through from how they work and how they are developed, launched and adopted.
Previously, Scott was the editor of UK Powerfocus for The McCloskey Group, where he closely followed the design, development and implementation of the UK’s New Electricity Trading Agreements (NETA). He has work on a number of European power modeling projects for Power Ink Limited, where he also co-edited a quarterly UK power generation report for Financial Times Energy. He was also the Managing Editor of IHS’ International Nuclear Business.
During the early 2000s Scott worked within the Power Development division of international engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald. Before that he worked at energy purchasing consultancy, John Hall Associates. He has over 20 years of experience in observing and covering energy related traded markets. He has a Masters Degree in History from the University of Leeds.
Xiaomeng is an experienced researcher with a strong track-record working experience in the industrial sectors spanning from petrochemical markets, and specialty chemical industries to energy and fuel industries. Xiaomeng Ma’s current focuses are on methanol-related industries.
She is skilled in project assessment, building and implementing business strategies, and creating economic models. She has a strong professional background with a Masters in Engineering and a realistic understanding of the opportunities and challenges in the Asia chemical industry.
William 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.
Brian is responsible for covering Benzene and Styrene market analysis and the market reports on Asian Aromatics.
Mr. Lee serves as an executive director at Chemical Market Analytics responsible for covering Benzene and Styrene market analysis and the market reports on Asian Aromatics.
He contributes to various market advisory publications and supports consulting activities. His distinguished career has spanned more than 28 years in the petrochemical and chemical industries.
Previously, he worked with Argus Dewitt for three years as a vice president covering Asian Aromatics. He contributed to numerous market reports, and single client studies and also hosted the Asian conference including speaking. Mr. Lee started his career with Samsung C&T Corporation where he worked for 16 years both in Asia and Europe. He was responsible for trading and marketing BTX, Styrene, PX, and PTA to global customers. Mr. Lee holds an MBA from Hanyang cyber University, and a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Hanyang University, South Korea.
Marina Maliushkina is a steel research lead at McCloskey and an editor of the Steel Market Briefing publication, which provides analysis of global steel market trends and steel price forecasts. Prior to joining McCloskey, Marina worked as a senior analyst at Fastmarkets Research and a pricing analyst at S&P Global Platts. Marina holds bachelor’s degrees in history from the Belarusian State University and Accounting and Financial Management from the University of Sunderland.
