There’s something about $80/barrel crude that gets petrochemical markets in the US all riled up. As the energy complex slowly emerges from its latest dip, let’s take a look at how some of these key markets fared over the past two weeks. We’ll start with the usual suspects — aromatics — and move our way down to more “decoupled” markets — i.e., those closer to natural gas. Benzene US prices had been tanking for a while, in essence since early August as demand eroded and imports from Asia picked up. But things got serious in recent weeks. The market saw prices shed nearly 12% in a matter of days, culminating with last week’s prompt pricing hitting a 34-month low of 375 cents/gal ($1,121.25/mt) FOB USG on Oct. 15, before recovering some so far week. As a whole, benzene prices have fallen some 27% since late July. There’s no doubt slower demand […]