Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 14

Friday, April 26, 2019

Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 14

1              Oil dip insufficient to halt run of weekly gains
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-idUSKCN1S202T

Oil prices fell on Friday as the market retreated slightly from its strongest bull run in at least a year amid efforts to resume Russian oil flows that were interrupted by contamination.

2              Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast
https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/natural-gas-price-fundamental-daily-forecast-traders-looking-for-eia-report-to-show-80-to-90-bcf-build-570661

Natural gas futures are inching slightly higher on Thursday, straddling the psychological $2.50 level just slightly above the low of the week at $2.491. Helping to underpin the market were weather models showing a slight increase in demand over the next couple of weeks.

3              Mexico Is Now Top U.S. Trade Partner, Ahead of China, Canada
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenroberts/2019/04/26/mexico-is-now-top-u-s-trade-partner-ahead-of-china-canada/

Mexico now ranks at the United States top trade partner, a first. Mexico traditionally ranks third among U.S. trade partners, behind China and Canada.

4              U.S. weekly LNG exports rise
https://www.lngworldnews.com/u-s-weekly-lng-exports-rise/

Liquefied natural gas exports from the United States have increased during the previous week, the data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows.

5              WoodMac: LNG industry heading into $200 bln Capex boom
https://www.lngworldnews.com/woodmac-lng-industry-heading-into-200-bln-capex-boom/
Over the next two years, almost 90 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG is expected to take final investment decision (FID) and start construction.

6              Anadarko to review Occidental’s offer
https://www.lngworldnews.com/anadarko-to-review-occidentals-offer/

Anadarko Petroleum confirmed that it has received an unsolicited proposal from Occidental Petroleum telling its shareholders to take no action before the review of the bid is completed.

7              A New Middle East Mega-War Is Unfolding Right Before Our Eyes | OilPrice.com
https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/A-New-Middle-East-Mega-War-Is-Unfolding-Right-Before-Our-Eyes.html

Iran is leading a new bloc, with Turkey and Qatar, intent on remaking the greater Middle East. The Iranian leadership recognizes that this drive might lead to a regional war and is actively preparing for such an eventuality.

8              Warp factor: Asia’s LNG markets distorted by oil price surge
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-asia-lng-oilprices-idUSKCN1S10RX

Asia’s liquefied natural gas market is being distorted as the cost of LNG bought under long-term contracts linked to oil prices jumps to double spot gas cargoes amid tighter U.S. sanctions on Iran’s crude exports and cuts in OPEC oil supply.

9              Germany, Poland halt oil imports via Russian pipeline over quality concerns
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-oil-exports-idUSKCN1S02V1

Poland and Germany have suspended imports of Russian oil via a major pipeline, citing poor quality and triggering a rare crisis over supply from the world’s second-largest crude exporter.

10           Glut forces LNG producers to offer flexible deals from global portfolios
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lng-portfolio-sales-idUSKCN1RZ2K2

The world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers including Shell, Total and Petronas are increasingly selling from global supply pools instead of dedicated projects as buyers leverage a fuel surplus to force ever more flexible deals.

11           U.S. petroleum product exports set record high in 2018 – Today in Energy
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=39192

U.S. exports of total petroleum products set a record high in 2018, reaching an annual average of 5.6 million barrels per day (b/d), an increase of 366,000 b/d from 2017 levels. The three largest petroleum product exports from the United States in 2018 were distillate, propane, and motor gasoline.

12           Oil hits highest since November as U.S. tightens Iran sanctions
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-idUSKCN1RZ01O

Oil prices hit their highest since November on Tuesday after Washington announced all waivers on imports of sanctions-hit Iranian oil would end next week, pressuring importers to stop buying from Tehran.

13           Plastics News:  A partnership aimed at building more standardized mold systems
https://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20190419/NEWS/190401656/firms-jointly-target-mexican-mold-market

Mexico City — A trio of companies — two from China and one from Mexico — are hoping that a partnership aimed at building more standardized mold systems can help them pick up business in Mexico’s growing market for injection molds.

14           Plastics News: The first 100 percent recyclable running shoe.
https://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20190419/NEWS/190401657/adidas-introduces-fully-recyclable-running-shoe

Adidas AG Adidas has selected 200 runners to try out its Futurecraft-Loop recyclable running shoe and will make it available to the general public in 2021.

Shoe and sportswear giant Adidas AG is unveiling a new way for its customers to do running repeats, unveiling what it says it the first 100 percent recyclable running shoe.

Business Intelligence and Analytics 14

Friday, April 26, 2019

Business Intelligence and Analytics 14

1              Big Data – Enabling Procurement To Play A More Strategic Role In Business
http://spendmatters.com/uk/big-data-enabling-procurement-play-strategic-role-business/

Procurement is quickly evolving in response to rapid advances in technology, skills and talent, changing consumer demands and business practices. Businesses across a range of industries are using data more and more as the basis of their strategic planning and to measure business performance.

2              5 Innovative Ways Procurement Can Use Data Analytics
https://www.sourcetoday.com/supply-chain/5-innovative-ways-procurement-can-use-data-analytics

Big data. Key performance metrics. Predictive data analytics. Structured and unstructured data. The list of terms used to describe the vast quantities of information being generated by organizations—and the methods for using that data—seems to be proliferating as quickly as the data itself. Figuring out what to do with all of this information can be downright daunting, but the good news is that procurement is in a prime position to use data to develop reports, perform spend analysis, assess suppliers, and do compliance checks.

3              10 Ways CRM and ERP Can Streamline Your eCommerce Operations
https://www.business2community.com/ecommerce/10-ways-crm-and-erp-can-streamline-your-ecommerce-operations-02194091

Operating a successful eCommerce business is more than just getting more customers and selling more products. As your company grows, the various operational tasks associated with running the company will increase exponentially.

4              Applying the inverted triangle principle to content marketing
https://www.smartinsights.com/content-management/applying-the-inverted-triangle-principle-to-content-marketing/

Stand out, get noticed and engage your audience with the inverted triangle principle. To attract an audience’s attention, start with the end in mind.

5              5 Golden Rules of Engagement to Create a Winning Global Marketing Strategy
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/5-golden-rules-of-engagement-to-create-a-winning-global-marketing-strategy/

Like everything else in this crazy industry, agencies’ approach to managing global business used to be easier. When I started working on my first global brand 20-plus years ago, marketers basically controlled a linear consumer journey. So global really just meant translating unified ad campaigns made up of TV, print, OOH and radio for other markets and then settling in with an ice-cold Tab to watch a LaserDisc.

6              Uncovering the hidden talent on your staff
https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/Uncovering-the-hidden-talent-on-your-staff?gko=0c244

Not long ago, during a staff meeting, I watched a midlevel developer demonstrate to his colleagues a groundbreaking program he’d created. His managers had given him time and support to work on it, and he was clearly energized by what he’d made. To cap off his presentation, he guided everyone through an exercise in which they built a bot — in less than an hour.

7              Hashtags on LinkedIn: How to Use Them
https://www.business2community.com/linkedin/hashtags-on-linkedin-how-to-use-them-02193696

Three weeks ago, in ‘Hashtags on Popular Social Media Sites: The Ultimate Guide,’ I explained how to best use hashtags on the most popular social media sites. I discussed LinkedIn, but as with Facebook, it stands out in hashtag use. It seems like hashtags on LinkedIn are almost not done. The tip I found was: place hashtags at the end of your update, keeping your main message clean without the distraction.

8              Digital marketing trends to pay attention to [Infographic]
https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/digital-marketing-trends-to-pay-attention-to-infographic/

No one can be found disputing the power of effective marketing. After all, if a marketing and advertising campaign are executed expertly, it can serve the requirements of any business and grow the demand for the product or service that they offer. While the need for marketing is still present, the areas where marketing is most effective has improved a lot.

9              What are you optimizing for? A lesson from machine learning
https://hackernoon.com/what-are-you-optimizing-for-a-lesson-from-machine-learning-2070cc33dca

I have learned only a minuscule amount about machine learning; just enough to get under the hood and to build something very rudimentary. As I was learning some of the underlying concepts and methods, a couple of things really struck a chord in my brain–with how applicable they are to, well, everything.

10           How Big Data & Analytics is impacting the e-commerce world
https://bigdataanalyticsnews.com/big-data-analytics-impacting-ecommerce/

Big data is simply large datasets in which are stored and further analysed to find patterns and trends relating to the customer’s interaction. These create insight into the businesses strategy and their decisions moving forward.

11           Goals vs Objectives: The Simple Breakdown
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/goals-vs-objectives

Whether you’re working on a team project or defining goals for an entire company, it’s critical your employees are on the same page when it comes to terminology.

“Goals” and “Objectives” often seem like two interchangeable phrases. “We have ambitious goals for 2019,” you might tell your marketing team, following up with, “Our objectives are aggressive, but entirely possible.”

12           A New Customer Experience, how AI is Changing Marketing
https://www.the-next-tech.com/artificial-intelligence/a-new-customer-experience-how-ai-is-changing-marketing/

AI is changing marketing

In the summer of 1956, 10 scientists and mathematicians gathered at New Hampshire’s Dartmouth College to brainstorm a new concept assistant professor John McCarthy called “artificial intelligence.” According to the original proposal for the research project, McCarthy — along with fellow organizers from Harvard, Bell Labs, and IBM — wanted to explore the idea of programming machines to use language and solve problems for humans while improving over time.

Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 13

Friday, April 19, 2019

Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 13

1              ConocoPhillips sells UK business to Chrysaor for $2.7 billion
https://www.offshoreenergytoday.com/breaking-conocophillips-sells-uk-business-to-chrysaor-for-2-7-billion/

Oil major ConocoPhillips has entered into an agreement to sell two ConocoPhillips United Kingdom subsidiaries to Chrysaor for $2.675 billion, plus interest and customary adjustments.

2              The Undeniable Signs Of A Shale Slowdown
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Undeniable-Signs-Of-A-Shale-Slowdown.html

The world’s largest oilfield services company said its earnings were hit in the first quarter because of a slowdown in shale drilling activity.

3              U.S. FERC approves two new LNG export terminals in Texas and Louisiana
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-lng-tellurian-sempra-idUSKCN1RU1SG
The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday approved construction of two proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals, Tellurian Inc’s Driftwood in Louisiana and Sempra Energy’s Port Arthur in Texas.

4              Weekly resin report: Sellers cautiously optimistic, as spot resin prices inch up
https://www.plasticstoday.com/resin-pricing/weekly-resin-report-sellers-cautiously-optimistic-spot-resin-prices-inch/170878971260638

Spot resin trading was very good during the second week of April, with completed volumes heavily weighted in favor of polyethylene (PE) over polypropylene (PP). While asking prices for both PE and PP generally moved higher, actual transaction levels were largely flat, according to the PlasticsExchange (Chicago).

5              Big Changes May Be in Store for Alberta Energy Industry
https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/big_changes_may_be_in_store_for_alberta_energy_industry-17-apr-2019-158621-article/

Alberta returned to its conservative roots, electing United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney premier after he vowed to fight harder for the Canadian province’s beleaguered energy industry.

6              Commodity firm Trafigura jumps into chemical trading with new JV
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trafigura-petrochemicals-idUSKCN1RT1GG

Global commodities house Trafigura Group said on Wednesday it is entering petrochemicals trading by teaming up with Houston-based Altis Group International to take advantage of an expanding sector.

7              Eastman Launches Chemical Recycling Innovation for Complex Plastic Waste: Plastics Technology
https://www.ptonline.com/blog/post/eastman-launches-chemical-recycling-innovation-for-complex-plastic-waste

Eastman’s ‘carbon renewal technology’ can recycle difficult to recycle plastic waste such as flexible packaging and films.

8              Think Tank: Mexico’s New Refinery Already Doomed
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Think-Tank-Mexicos-New-Refinery-Already-Doomed.html

A Mexican think tank has declared that Pemex’s newest refinery is doomed in a grim analysis released this month. The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad, or IMCO for short) released a damning financial analysis of the Dos Bocas refinery, currently being developed in Tabasco by state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), which gave the project a mere 2 percent chance of success.

9              The IoT Potential Manufacturers Are Leaving on the Table
https://www.manufacturing.net/article/2019/04/iot-potential-manufacturers-are-leaving-table

By 2025, the Internet of Things (IoT) will comprise of 75 billion connected devices. From voice-activated devices like Amazon Alexa to smart refrigerators, IoT devices are changing the way consumers interact with brands. But the growth of the IoT has implications far beyond the consumer space.

10           DuPont Teijin Films makes significant chemical recycling steps
https://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/environment/recycling/dupont-teijin-films-makes-significant-chemical-recycling-steps-15-04-2019

The waste is transformed into a variety of technically advanced BOPET films serving a wide range of applications and markets.  The use of recycled content is a critical part of DuPont Teijin Films’ circular economy strategy, and the upcycling of PET through the LuxCR process also marks an important step forward in the chemical recycling technology for the wider polyester industry.

11           Robots Take Over Oil Trade And OPEC Is Scared To Death
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Robots-Take-Over-Oil-Trade-And-OPEC-Is-Scared-To-Death.html

Artificial intelligence has been making inroads into the oil and gas industry for a while now after the industry realized all the benefits it could reap from the deployment of these technologies. Now, it has begun changing oil and gas trading as well.

12           All aboard! Treasure on the high seas for gas dealers
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lng-shipping-analysis-idUSKCN1RR0GB

In the booming market for super cooled natural gas, the most precious commodity is the ship.

Business Intelligence and Analytics 13

Friday, April 19, 2019

Business Intelligence and Analytics 13

1              Three Innovative Uses of Data in the Manufacturing Industry
https://www.manufacturing.net/article/2019/04/three-innovative-uses-data-manufacturing-industry

According to the 4th annual State of Manufacturing Technology Report, the use of analytics and data is expected to grow over the next five years. As the level of connectivity and digitalization continues to grow during the fourth industrial revolution, manufacturers will be able to connect and integrate all pieces of their business: from materials planning and logistics to shop floor output and training. The obvious by product is the generation of more and more data. However, simply hoarding data is not only ineffective, it’s expensive. Manufacturers need to make that data earn its keep!

2              How Artificial Intelligence Can Shorten The Sales Cycle?
https://medium.com/tkxel-us/how-artificial-intelligence-can-shorten-the-sales-cycle-f54081963440

• Derive Detailed Customer Insights Using AI Algorithms
• Leverage Predictive Analytics To Improve Lead Quality
• Never Miss Out On Any Up-Sell or Cross-Sell Opportunity Again
• Stop Sending Cold Emails, Get More Personalized
• Adopt The 80/20 Rule

3              4 Misconceptions Manufacturers Have About Digitization
https://www.manufacturing.net/article/2019/04/4-misconceptions-manufacturers-have-about-digitization

The manufacturing industry has long been one that is content with a satisfactory status quo. There is a defined way of operating within the supply chain that has performed well enough, for the time being, leading many manufacturers to deem digitization unnecessary.

4              Using Trust as the Driving Force Behind Marketing Strategies
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/using-trust-as-the-driving-force-behind-marketing-strategies/

In 2015, Nobel Prize-winning economists Robert Shiller and George Akerlof published a book with a chilling theory: We are all pawns in a market that thrives on manipulation and deception, filled with sellers that exploit our psychological weakness and gullibility for profit.

5              Having to share personal data turns consumers away from loyalty programs, study says
https://www.marketingdive.com/news/having-to-share-personal-data-turns-consumers-away-from-loyalty-programs-s/552921/

According to a new Harris Poll survey, 71% of Americans would be less likely to join a rewards program that collects personal information, such as address, account information and more, with 27% saying they would be much less likely to join.

6              How to Set Sales and Marketing Goals
https://www.business2community.com/sales-management/how-to-set-sales-and-marketing-goals-02191062

For sales and marketing teams, setting goals is not just a habitual exercise—it’s a foundation for how these teams will execute in the next month, quarter, and year. If you feel that your sales or marketing team is continually struggling to set goals that you can reach (or even exceed), it might be that the goals your sales and marketing teams have set aren’t aligned with each other.

7              4 Keys to Successful Teamwork
https://www.business2community.com/strategy/4-keys-to-successful-teamwork-02190261

Effective teamwork is the number one rule of an organization’s success. It has many benefits such as increased productivity, improved work quality, increased employee morale and etc. Putting together a great team may seem like a simple task. Hire the best individuals and there you go! Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that in the real world because making a group of different people work together in harmony is in fact a very difficult task. There are certain key elements to it. Below you can find 4 of them.

8              4 Tips for Managing to Metrics Without Going Under
https://www.business2community.com/big-data/drowning-in-data-4-tips-for-managing-to-metrics-without-going-under-02189692

A decade or two ago, one of the biggest challenges organizations faced was getting their hands on useful data in a timely fashion. Then, accessing business data on Monday morning that was current to Friday afternoon presented quite a predicament. But today, even the least tech-savvy company has immediate access to a multitude of graphs and information, available all the time, up to the minute. But while you might think this would create informed management teams and data-based decisions, it hasn’t exactly turned out that way.

9              The Email Fatigue Cure May Not Be a New Email Strategy
https://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/email-fatigue-cure-may-not-be-new-email-strategy-but-supplementing-with-personalized-direct-mail/

More marketers than ever rely on email as a primary means of customer engagement. But think about your inbox: How many emails do you delete every day without bothering to open them? Consumers’ inboxes are saturated, leading to email fatigue: lower open rates and lower click rates.

10           Artificial intelligence in a “no choice but to get it smart” energy industry!
https://towardsdatascience.com/artificial-intelligence-in-a-no-choice-but-to-get-it-smart-energy-industry-1bd1396a87f8

The Renewable Energy (RE) boom is representing a great opportunity for the economy, the energy sector and the fight against climate change. But, because of their inherent intermittency, the RE leaders (e.g. Solar or Wind) alone still can’t achieve the full demand or the aggressive goals of greenhouse gas reductions.

Business Intelligence and Analytics 12

Friday, April 12, 2019

Business Intelligence and Analytics 12

1              What CEOs Can Learn from Roman Emperors
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/what-ceos-can-learn-from-roman-emperors/

The Roman Empire has fascinated history buffs for centuries with its stories of political ambition, military victories and corruption. But the Romans were also known for their efficiency, feats of engineering and deft management of far-flung communities. Today’s business leaders can learn valuable lessons by looking at how they built and ran a vast empire.

2              Designing The Customer Experience for Marketers
https://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/designing-the-customer-experience-for-marketers-02189140

Gartner reports from 2018 that 52% of marketers with CX responsibility expect their budgets to remain the same or decrease. However, expectations with the importance of CX is continuing to grow.

3              How to perfectly balance affiliate marketing and SEO Search Engine Watch
https://searchenginewatch.com/2019/04/11/how-to-perfectly-balance-affiliate-marketing-and-seo/

In all my years as an SEO consultant, I can’t begin to count the number of times I saw clients who were struggling to make both SEO and affiliate marketing work for them.

4              A Day in the Life of a Marketing Analytics Professional
https://towardsdatascience.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-marketing-analytics-professional-83dd45f2e702

Marketing Analytics is a multifaceted but often misunderstood practice. Here’s an example day to highlight the diversity of the role.

Marketing Analytics is often the foundation of any world-class Marketing program. But conferences, interviews and meetings have taught me that very few people understand the world of Marketing Analytics.

5              7 Technical Concept Every Data Science Beginner Should Know
https://dimensionless.in/7-technical-concept-every-data-science-beginner-should-know/

So you want to learn data science but you don’t know where to start? Or you are a beginner and you want to learn the basic concepts? Welcome to your new career and your new life!

6              How to get international insights from Google Analytics
https://searchenginewatch.com/2019/04/10/how-to-get-international-insights-from-google-analytics/

Your international marketing campaigns hinge on one crucial element: how well you have understood your audience.

As with all marketing, insight into the user behavior, preferences and needs of your market is a must. However, if you do not have feet on the ground in these markets, you may be struggling to understand why your campaigns are not hitting the mark.

7              Getting The Cart Before The Horse, Sales Automation
https://www.business2community.com/sales-management/getting-the-cart-before-the-horse-sales-automation-02187667

Technology and automation can enable each of us to be much more efficient, and sometimes more impactful/effective. In our company, we couldn’t achieve what we do without our technology stack. In some ways, it’s an appendage we couldn’t manage to live without.

8              5 Common Inventory Management Mistakes — And How to Solve Them
https://www.manufacturing.net/article/2019/04/5-common-inventory-management-mistakes-and-how-solve-them

For businesses in the fast-changing food and beverage industry, finding the perfect inventory levels to avoid surplus and stockouts is a common yet elusive goal. Food wholesalers continue to feel evolving pressure from e-commerce and omnichannel

9              Why a data scientist is not a data engineer
https://www.oreilly.com/ideas/why-a-data-scientist-is-not-a-data-engineer

A few months ago, I wrote about the differences between data engineers and data scientists. I talked about their skills and common starting points.

10           6 Digitization Trends Coming From AI and Blockchain
https://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/digital-business/6-digitization-trends-coming-from-ai-and-blockchain/a/d-id/1334369

Blockchain and artificial intelligence are two emerging technologies that are quickly bringing about further digitization in the business world. Here are six ways they are changing how businesses operate and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. (Predictions drawn from online sources, including IBM, LogChain, and the American Bankers Association.)

Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 12

Friday, April 12, 2019

Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 12

1              Goldman: Oil Prices Won’t Reach $80
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Goldman-Oil-Prices-Wont-Reach-80.html

Oil prices soared in recent days, with Brent rising to its highest point since early November. The tightness in the market is real, but prices may not increase a whole lot more from here. “We don’t think you’re going to get back to those $80 levels again, so you’ve got some modest upside here,” Goldman Sachs’ head of commodities research, Jeff Currie, told CNBC this week.

2              Chevron Buys Anadarko
https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/chevron_buys_anadarko-12-apr-2019-158589-article/

Chevron Corp. agreed to buy Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in a $33 billion bet on shale oil and liquefied natural gas. Chevron will acquire all outstanding shares in Anadarko for $65 each, paying with a mixture of cash and its own stock. That’s a premium of 39 percent to the closing price on Thursday. Anadarko’s shares soared to $62 in pre-market trading.

3              Turn around a stalled oil and gas digital transformation
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/oil-and-gas/our-insights/rebooting-your-stalled-digital-transformation-in-oil-and-gas

Does this sound like your company? You’ve been investing in digital and advanced-analytics solutions for at least two or three years. You’ve set priorities, given them plenty of leadership attention, and hired new talent to build your organization’s capabilities. You’ve invested in new technologies, software solutions, and external support to make sure you’re on the right path. In short, you’ve done everything you can to make your digital transformation a success. Yet you can’t help feeling that it is stalling.

4              The Next Geopolitical Flashpoint For Oil
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Next-Geopolitical-Flashpoint-For-Oil.html

From a Western point of view, the removal of president Bashir of Sudan, after several weeks of mass protests in Khartoum and other cities, is in line with the exit of Algeria’s long-time leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Optimism in the press, especially in the West, over both developments seem to be based on emotions and not on facts. As the Arab Spring has shown, don’t ever count out the existing power structures of the respective regimes, and specifically the armed forces. The Egyptian revolution was the first example, shortly after the ‘democratic revolution’ the military took over and reinstated the status quo.

5              Exclusive: Arrival of Putin’s judo partner squeezed Shell out of LNG project
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gazprom-shell-exit-exclusive-idUSKCN1RN2K5

Royal Dutch Shell pulled out of a project to build a Russian liquefied natural gas plant partly because Gazprom suddenly added another partner with links to an ally of President Vladimir Putin, according to five sources.

6              LNG Canada makes CEO swap
https://www.lngworldnews.com/lng-canada-makes-ceo-swap/

LNG Canada said that its current CEO Andy Calitz is to leave his post and will be replaced by the incoming CEO Peter Zebedee, with effect on July 1, 2019.

7              Why Amazon Is Suddenly Courting Big Oil
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Why-Amazon-Is-Suddenly-Courting-Big-Oil.html

For years, Big Tech has been a vocal advocate of powering their data centers with renewable energy, while the multi-billionaire founders of companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook have teamed up to invest in new technologies for cheaper energy in an emission-free future.

8              Venezuela oil output plummets to 870,000 bpd on outages, sanctions: IEA
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iea-oil-idUSKCN1RN0QY

Global oil supply dropped in March as U.S. sanctions and power outages pushed Venezuela’s crude output to a long-term low of 870,000 barrels per day (bpd), the International Energy Agency said on Thursday, even lower than OPEC reported the day before.

9              Smart Money Is Piling Into Oil
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Smart-Money-Is-Piling-Into-Oil.html

Oil prices jumped to five-month highs this week, pushed higher by a bullish cocktail of supply outages, geopolitical unrest and a sputtering shale sector.

10           ‘Climate before cash’: young Norwegians call time on oil industry
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-oil-insight-idUSKCN1RO0L1

When Norway’s largest political party decided that the Lofoten Islands in the north should not be opened up to oil exploration, a chill ran down the spine of the energy industry.

Business Intelligence and Analytics 11

Friday, April 5, 2019

Business Intelligence and Analytics 11

1              Understanding Your Customer’s Decision Journey
https://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/understanding-your-customers-decision-journey-02184554

It’s falsely comforting to think of selling as a process in which one step follows logically after another. But although rigidly defined processes might be the best way of running a manufacturing production line, they completely fail to reflect the reality of any moderately complicated sales environment.

2              13 Email Marketing Statistics That Are Shaping 2019 and Beyond
https://www.convinceandconvert.com/digital-marketing/email-marketing-statistics/

The following email marketing statistics prove how you can use email to reach your marketing goals in 2019 and beyond.

3              The Basics of a Content Marketing Funnel
https://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/the-basics-of-a-content-marketing-funnel-02184200

If you’ve spent ANY time in online marketing circles, you’ve heard of a marketing “funnel.” But most online marketing funnels aren’t like the funnel you might use to pour water into a jug or glitter into a little jar. For a funnel to work in real life, it has to be solid — but online marketing funnels are full of holes!

4              6 Ways Businesses Can Incorporate AI Into Their Products
https://opendatascience.com/6-ways-businesses-can-incorporate-ai-into-their-products/

The buzz over AI is loud in business, but don’t jump on the bandwagon just yet. You need a thoughtful plan of action to avoid what those of us in education know as “tech fatigue,” or the implementation of tech initiatives with no real goal for ROI. Launching blindly can leave you with an expensive tool, collecting metaphorical dust on your registers.

5              Top Email Marketing Software in 2019
http://www.xverify.com/blog/top-email-marketing-software-2019/

Here’s the thing about Email Marketing. It flat out works. Yes, even more so in 2019. In fact, for every $1 you spend on Email Marketing, you can expect to get a return of $38 on average!

6              Why You Need to Include Email in Your Omnichannel Strategy
https://www.business2community.com/email-marketing/why-you-need-to-include-email-in-your-omnichannel-strategy-02184448

Digital communication has become the most commonly used and relevant form of communicating today. Instant gratification is now the norm and our smartphones are never far from our sides. As a marketer, you have to go the extra mile to capture your customer’s heart, mind, and share of their wallet (of course). In order to do so, and successfully, you need to break through the communication clutter. But how?

7              17 Amazing Things You Can Do With Machine Learning in Python
https://medium.com/dataflair/17-amazing-things-you-can-do-with-machine-learning-in-python-2d3d474d0d6e

Why Python for Machine Learning Used? Before we proceed to the applications of Machine Learning with Python, you’re probably asking yourself- why Python? Among tools like R programming and SAS, here’s why we’ll go with Python-

8              5 Account Based Marketing Tactics From the Pros
https://www.business2community.com/marketing/beyond-the-basics-5-account-based-marketing-tactics-from-the-pros-02184427

We’re finally reaching an era when Account Based Marketing has found its footing, and Sales and Marketing teams are more open to making the transition from traditional marketing methods to ABM.

Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 11

Friday, April 5, 2019

Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 11

Greetings from Toronto.

1              The World’s Cheapest Natural Gas
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Gas-Prices/The-Worlds-Cheapest-Natural-Gas.html

Natural gas prices fell into record negative territory in the Permian basin, dragged down by booming oil production and a limited ability to move gas out of the region.

2              Tokyo Gas, Shell sign LNG deal linked to coal pricing in rare move
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lng-tokyo-gas-shell-idUSKCN1RH0UB

Japan’s Tokyo Gas said on Friday it has signed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell for the long-term supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG), partly using a coal-linked pricing formula in an unusual move for an Asian LNG buyer.

3              U.S. LNG to China will increase despite trade tension: Cheniere
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-shanghai-lng-conference-cheniere-idUSKCN1RG100

Shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States to China will increase over the long term despite ongoing trade tensions, senior executives of Cheniere Energy, the biggest U.S. exporter of the super-chilled fuel, told Reuters.

4              Can the Mexican Government’s Bailout Solve the Pemex Crisis?
https://www.rigzone.com/news/can_the_mexican_governments_bailout_solve_the_pemex_crisis-02-apr-2019-158501-article/

In response to Fitch Group’s & Moody’s downgrade of Pemex’s credit rating to one notch above junk, Mexico’s government recently pledged a $3.9-billion capital injection and $200 million in tax relief, according to international media reports. This bailout package and the six-year business plan aims to help reverse Pemex’s credit downgrade, help control its USD $106 billion debt, boost cash flow, and increase crude production.

5              Mexico’s reliance on US gas pushes politicians to consider fracking
https://blogs.platts.com/2019/04/03/mexico-us-gas-fracking/

So what is all the fuss about? Saying no to fracking will mean leaving more than half of Mexico’s total natural gas reserves in the ground. This could be risky for Mexico, since the country’s natural gas production has fallen dramatically in recent years, descending to 2.6-2.7 Bcf/d in 2018 from a historical high of 5.1 Bcf/d in 2010, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.

6              Pemex Is Too Big to Fail and Investors Are Finally Catching On
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-02/pemex-is-too-big-to-fail-and-investors-are-finally-catching-on

True believers in Petroleos Mexicanos are fueling a rally in its bonds, reckoning that government support for the beleaguered state-owned company will ultimately provide a backstop from any troubles.

7              PureCycle partners with Milliken, Nestlé to accelerate plastics recycling
https://www.plasticstoday.com/sustainability/purecycle-partners-milliken-nestl-accelerate-plastics-recycling/126068609060578

PureCycle Technologies has partnered with plastic additives manufacturer Milliken & Company, and food and beverage giant Nestlé S.A., as it moves forward with plans to open its first plant to restore post-consumer polypropylene (PP) plastic to ‘virgin-like’ quality with a revolutionary recycling method.

8              The Permian Basin Is Now The World’s Top Oil Producer
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2019/04/05/the-permian-basin-is-now-the-worlds-top-oil-producer/

Last week Saudi Aramco — the national oil company of Saudi Arabia and the world’s largest oil company — lifted a veil of secrecy around the company’s operations. For the first time in decades, operational details for Saudi Aramco were revealed in a bond offering.

9              Aramco Reveals Steep Output Dip at Super-Giant Oil Field
https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/aramco_reveals_steep_output_dip_at_supergiant_oil_field-03-apr-2019-158513-article/

Now the market finally knows: Ghawar in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest conventional oil field, can produce a lot less than almost anyone believed.

10           The Canadian Natural Gas Industry Really Needs LNG
https://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2019/04/05/the-canadian-natural-gas-industry-really-needs-lng/

This is a bit surprising since Canada enjoys many of the same advantages that the U.S. shale revolution does (U.S. gas output has risen 55% since 2008). Among other benefits, Canada has: 1) a huge shale gas resource, 2) leading oil/gas companies and experts, and 3) free market competition that helps ensure that “the best teams win.”

11           Value of U.S. oil deals plunges 93 percent in first quarter as investors demand higher returns
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-shale-m-a-idUSKCN1RG2H3

The value of U.S. oil and gas mergers and acquisitions fell to a 10-year low in the first quarter, according to data released on Thursday, as investors pushed shale producers that have driven a recent merger boom to focus on lifting shareholder returns rather than production.