This fireside chat is a part of FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week. Day 5 focuses on energy, mining and chemicals.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: How the downstream energy industry is navigating COVID
DETAILS: COVID-19 impacted the energy industry in ways from cutting demands to reducing uses for petrochemicals. American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers kept an eye on supply and demand trends during the pandemic and how downstream companies were utilizing petrochemicals differently thanks to the virus.
SPEAKER: Rob Benedict, vice president of petrochemicals and midstream at American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers.
BIO: With over 15 years of federal government and industry association experience in legislative, policy, and regulatory arenas, Benedict is a leader with AMFP who advocates for safe, sustainable, and data-driven solutions.
KEY QUOTES:
“Like most industries, we suffered a severe shock in demand and also a severe shift in demand… Coupled with a big cut in oil from OPEC regulations and it was a perfect storm. Last April demand for jet fuel dropped 80%, gasoline 50% and diesel 20%.”
“Plastic and plastic films, the petrochemicals that went into those actually did pretty well. Things that went into construction or manufacturing and large-scale things struggled… But we are seeing a return. I don’t think we’re back to normal, but we are seeing a return with things like propylene and ethylene.”
“Ethylene is doing well, which is significant because the U.S. supplies about 20% of ethylene globally. In the last week or two, we saw some impacts from the freeze in Texas that showed some short-term delay… We’ve seen a lot of analysts talking about a new normal, but we see the new normal looking a lot like the old normal.”