Executives eye complicated post-COVID business world
Shell is installing a 42 silos to a new petrochemical facility in Monaca, Pa.
Executives from several major plastics and petrochemical firms looked back on 2020 and addressed future challenges March 9 during the online World Petrochemical Conference hosted by IHS Markit.
"COVID highlighted how essential our products are," said Mark Lashier, president and CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical Co., a polyethylene maker in The Woodlands, Texas. "We had record sales but also had to contend with changing demand patterns."
In the near future, said Lashier, who's retiring from the firm on April 1, the world's growing middle class will drive demand for petrochemicals. That growth then will drive the industry's operating rates, margins and overall investment.