In order to power their economies and feed their growing populations, African nations must bring more of the continent's generous natural gas reserves out of the ground. They must balance incentives to turn some of that gas into fertilizers the agricultural sector so dearly needs. 

Analysis of the profitability of the petrochemical and polymers industry in Asia, Pacific, Western Europe and the United States for the first quarter of 2018. 

This report provides an analysis of key developments in the ammonia and urea industry, including capacity updates, profitability, and pricing developments over the past quarter. The report includes monthly price and profitability analysis for ammonia and urea with a detailed discussion on the market forces (affecting price and profitability) over the fourth quarter in the United States, Western Europe, Middle East and China. The analysis now includes both mine-mouth plant economics and coastal plant economics for ammonia and urea in China. Outlook on firm  global capacity developments from 2017 to 2021 is also provided. The ‘Key Trends and Challenges’ section provides an overview of the end uses of ammonium nitrates.

The purpose of this study is to analyze developments in polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) as a replacement for conventional petrochemical polymers.  The report examines the technical, commercial, and economic aspects of producing PHAs, and their relative costs by region against conventional LDPE.