The consensus among analysts is that cheaper oil should be broadly neutral for Latin American countries in general, with clear winners and losers. Their expectation is that net oil exporters will suffer from lower oil prices and net oil importers will benefit. Although we can agree with that general short-term diagnosis, it is predicted that a sustained period of lower oil prices will have a net negative impact on Latin America and on the prospects of U.S. manufacturing companies doing business in the region.

Dow Chemical is investing $6bn to enlarge its manufacturing facilities in the United States by 40 percent, based on a wager that low natural gas prices here will persist into the middle of the next decade, a Dow executive said recently.

LPG shipping earnings are forecast to remain buoyant on the back of low oil prices and the absence of fuel substitution, according to the latest edition of the LPG Forecaster, published by global shipping consultancy Drewry.

The global lubricants market is estimated to reach a demand totaling 44,165 kilo tons by 2020, up from 39,140 kilo tons in 2013, according to a report from Transparency Market Research. The increase is based on growth rates of 1.72 percent between 2014 and 2020.

During the past 2 years, more flexible sourcing strategies across the wind power supply chain have resulted in cost reductions, enabling greater geographic market access while reducing risk and ensuring profitability for wind turbine vendors and their partners in the component value chain. Overcapacity, however, persists in most, though not all areas of the supply chain, providing purchasers with more choice, flexibility, and cost control.