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2020 Wood Mackenzie Americas Polyester Conference

  • Houston, United States
The issue of sustainability has become an important driver over the past few years, as more brand owners, packaging companies and retailers have announced sustainability targets. These goals have placed an emphasis on using recycled plastic, primarily RPET, as the central component of their products. These goals are impacting the entire polyester value chain and the industry will have to face new challenges: • An increasing potential of an economic recession that could severely impact the demand outlook for petrochemicals• Swelling initiatives to reduce plastic consumption/waste and to increase plastic recycling and their impact on virgin PET and feedstocks• Government protectionism & nationalism and impacts on trade in chemicals and waste• Volatile feedstock dynamics due to continued natural gas, crude oil & NGL supply growth in North America and exports to the rest of the worldJoin us in Houston in February as Wood Mackenzie experts and guests’ speakers address how the changes in legislation and consumers’ expectations have been and will be shaking the chemicals and polyester industries.

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Agenda

  • 26 February 2020

    • Training Registration

    • Polyester Industry - Training Session

      A half day training session which will provide everything you or your team need to get up to speed with the polyester industry. With many competing drivers in the polyester industry which surface at difference times this session will expla Read More...

      Speakers

      • Doug received a B.S. Chemistry from Delaware Valley University in 1970 and a M.S. Chemistry, West Virginia University 1972. He started his professional career in 1972 with ICI Americas in Wilmington, Delaware in sales of Ethylene oxide derivatives and then to the new petrochemical division in 1980 as regional manager developing a new customer base for EO, MEG, DEG, TEG, glycol ethers, ethanolamines and brake fluid for a new 300 kt plant in Bayport, Texas. Appointed National Sales manager for ICI in 1985 then Global Sales Director in 1987 with Cain Chemical and then Global Marketing Director for Oxychem (now LyondellBasell). Left Oxychem in 1991 and started with the PCI consulting in 1992 as their head of EO MEG EOD consulting services.

      • Michael Bermish is a Senior Consultant with Wood Mackenzie. He has a PhD in Economics with 36 years of experience in the polyester industry. Based in the U.S., Michael is primarily focused on the Americas markets for polyester and upstream raw materials. Prior to joining PCI now Wood Mackenzie Chemicals Michael was both Director of Strategic Planning and Development and Investor Relations Officer for Wellman, Inc., a leading polyester producer.

      • Gustavo Hernandez has 30 years of experience in the petrochemical industries. Gustavo joined Wood Mackenzie in 2019 joining the Research team in Houston after a long career of 30 years in Alpek based in Monterrey, Mexico where he was the technology licensing VP for Alpek.. Between 1999-2011, Gustavo held various positions within Alpek, from managing all operations at Alpek’s Hong Kong office (covering from Japan to Indonesia and India) and later when returning to the Mexican head office for Alpek, Gustavo was in charge of coordinating all commercial operations with all customers. Since 2011, Gustavo was he head of the technology licensing business unit for Alpek’s PTA and PET technologies. Gustavo’s key area of expertise is in the polyester business where he has been called upon to advise clients in the technology, planning and commercial aspects in the industry. Prior to 199, Gustavo had a 11-year career with Petrotemex (part of Alpek) where he held various positions in commercial team handling PTA and PET. Gustavo graduated from the Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico with a degree in Industrial Engineering with an MBA.

      • Gordon now heads Wood Mackenzie’s Aromatics team. Gordon has significant experience in refining/petrochemicals optimisation, and in paraxylene production economics, technology evaluation and project/manufacturing management. He joined the PCI Group in 2009 following 20 years with one of the world’s major oil companies and leading producer of paraxylene and PTA.

    • Conference Registration

    • Welcome and introduction

    • Economy - Navigating risks and finding resilience amid the global growth slowdown

      Speakers

      • David is a senior quantitative analyst with the Verisk Maplecroft team investigating the interaction between economics and political, ESG, and climate risks for multinational organizations and financial institutions. He also manages the portfolio of economics and business risk indices for the company’s global risk analytics dataset. Prior to Verisk Maplecroft, David spent three years as an analyst in the financial services practice for the business research and advisory firm CEB (now Gartner) and was also a researcher at an economics think tank in the Washington, DC area

    • US crude in the global market: from price maker to price taker

      Speakers

      • John leads Wood Mackenzie's North American Crude Markets Service where he is responsible for short and long term North American crude market outlooks, crude differential forecasts, and midstream logistics analysis. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, John worked in sell side equity research where he supported equity coverage of independent US refiners and refining logistics midstream master limited partnerships. John also has experience in upstream financial planning and analysis and is a former officer of the United States Navy. John holds dual B.S. degrees in economics and finance from Southern Methodist University, a M.S. in Accountancy from Texas A&M University, and a M.S. in Finance from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. John is a Certified Public Accountant and is currently a CFA Level III Candidate.

    • Coffee Break

    • US Recycling Dilemma: Is RPET supply and demand moving in different directions?

      Speakers

      • Michael Bermish is a Senior Consultant with Wood Mackenzie. He has a PhD in Economics with 36 years of experience in the polyester industry. Based in the U.S., Michael is primarily focused on the Americas markets for polyester and upstream raw materials. Prior to joining PCI now Wood Mackenzie Chemicals Michael was both Director of Strategic Planning and Development and Investor Relations Officer for Wellman, Inc., a leading polyester producer.

    • Focus on sustainability - A waste collector perspective

    • Focus on sustainability - A brand perspective

    • Sustainability focus: panel discussion

    • Drinks reception

  • 27 February 2020

    • Welcome coffee

    • Welcome and introduction

    • PX - lower for longer

      Speakers

      • Gordon now heads Wood Mackenzie’s Aromatics team. Gordon has significant experience in refining/petrochemicals optimisation, and in paraxylene production economics, technology evaluation and project/manufacturing management. He joined the PCI Group in 2009 following 20 years with one of the world’s major oil companies and leading producer of paraxylene and PTA.

    • North America PTA

      Speakers

      • Gustavo Hernandez has 30 years of experience in the petrochemical industries. Gustavo joined Wood Mackenzie in 2019 joining the Research team in Houston after a long career of 30 years in Alpek based in Monterrey, Mexico where he was the technology licensing VP for Alpek.. Between 1999-2011, Gustavo held various positions within Alpek, from managing all operations at Alpek’s Hong Kong office (covering from Japan to Indonesia and India) and later when returning to the Mexican head office for Alpek, Gustavo was in charge of coordinating all commercial operations with all customers. Since 2011, Gustavo was he head of the technology licensing business unit for Alpek’s PTA and PET technologies. Gustavo’s key area of expertise is in the polyester business where he has been called upon to advise clients in the technology, planning and commercial aspects in the industry. Prior to 199, Gustavo had a 11-year career with Petrotemex (part of Alpek) where he held various positions in commercial team handling PTA and PET. Gustavo graduated from the Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico with a degree in Industrial Engineering with an MBA.

    • PTA Technology

    • PX & PTA Panel discussion

    • Networking break

    • Ethylene

      Speakers

      • John joined Wood Mackenzie’s Chemical Research team in 2018 with six previous years of industry and consulting experience. He is currently responsible for ethylene and propylene analyses in the Americas region. Previous to Wood Mackenzie, John was a Principal Analyst at IHS Markit, as the lead analyst for the North American ethylene market and the accompanying advisory services; he also was responsible for the development of many econometric and supply/demand models, specifically for value chains in C2 and C4 olefins, ethylene oxide, cyclohexane, and acrylic acid. He started his career as a reliability engineer at Baker Hughes. John holds an electrical engineering degree from Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN).

    • MEG - Historical surpluses, only the strong survive

      Speakers

      • Doug received a B.S. Chemistry from Delaware Valley University in 1970 and a M.S. Chemistry, West Virginia University 1972. He started his professional career in 1972 with ICI Americas in Wilmington, Delaware in sales of Ethylene oxide derivatives and then to the new petrochemical division in 1980 as regional manager developing a new customer base for EO, MEG, DEG, TEG, glycol ethers, ethanolamines and brake fluid for a new 300 kt plant in Bayport, Texas. Appointed National Sales manager for ICI in 1985 then Global Sales Director in 1987 with Cain Chemical and then Global Marketing Director for Oxychem (now LyondellBasell). Left Oxychem in 1991 and started with the PCI consulting in 1992 as their head of EO MEG EOD consulting services.

    • Networking Lunch

    • The North American PET Resin Market: Coping with a shift towards recycled PET

      Speakers

      • Michael Bermish is a Senior Consultant with Wood Mackenzie. He has a PhD in Economics with 36 years of experience in the polyester industry. Based in the U.S., Michael is primarily focused on the Americas markets for polyester and upstream raw materials. Prior to joining PCI now Wood Mackenzie Chemicals Michael was both Director of Strategic Planning and Development and Investor Relations Officer for Wellman, Inc., a leading polyester producer.

    • Polyester Fiber - part of a healthy diet for the world?

      Speakers

      • Laura joined Wood Mackenzie in 2017 after more than 25 years in the nylon and polyester industrial fiber business. Prior to joining Woodmac, she worked for DuPont, Kordsa, Hailide America, and most recently Nexis Fibers. Her roles have included everything from process engineer to shift supervisor to market manager. Laura grew up in Rhode Island and received a chemical engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In her spare time, she is an avid underwater photographer and is currently trying to improve her golf handicap. She enjoys the occasional glass of pinot noir in her suburban Philadelphia home.

Fees

Full Price

$1490.00

Training Session - Optional

$600.00