As of the April 2011 first quarter reporting, the United States has produced 28.3 mmt, which is up 6.8% from the same period last year [ (Leybovich, 2011) ]. “In a report earlier this month, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECO) forecasts that global demand for steel would increase 6 percent in both 2011 and 2012. Growth over the next few years is expected to be considerably faster in emerging markets than in developed ones [ (Leybovich, 2011) ].” Nucor is the second largest steel producer in the United States, only behind U.S. Steel. Nucor is considered a low-cost steel producer in the U.S. and the most efficient and technologically advanced steel producer in the world [ (Thompson/Strickland/Gamble, 2010) ]. Nucor is North America’s largest recycler, 17 million tons in 2010, and uses the scrap steel as the raw material to produce steel and steel products [ (SEC filings Nucor Corporation Form 10-K, 2011) ].
Both BP and ExxonMobil are giant, integrated organizations with exposure to oil, natural gas, refining, and downstream products. Net incomes of these oil companies generally follow the behavior of oil prices, focusing on their Net Income between 2007 and 2011 were record profit years for the industry. BP’s 2010 net income was affected by the costs to the company of the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP’s adjusted income in 2010 was $14.2 billion,while ExxonMobil profit were $30.5 billion, up 57% from 2009. BP's total debt has increased over the past five years.
According to Robert E. Scott and Christian Weller, “further increases in real short - term interest rates herald a slowdown.” Further evidence that suggests a recession was on the horizon was information released from the National Bureau of Economic Research that states, “A peak marks the end of an expansion and the beginning of a recession.”(The Business Cycle Peak, March 2001.) During an expansion, however the economy is experiencing normalcy, and during this period the economy is between a trough and peak. The National Bureau of Economic Research, however, defines a recession as, “ a significant decline in activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, visible in industrial production, employment, real income and the wholesale-retail trade.” (the Business Cycle Peak.) Therefore, when a peak date was determined in March 2001 it marked the end of an expansion that began in March 1991, and hence the beginning of a recession. This marked the end of the longest economic expansion that lasted ten years of rising incomes and employment.
Shell’s net income also rose to $6.98 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2011, an increase of 100% from the previous year. Does it even seem possible that these companies have posted such high earnings while the rest of the world is in a recession? While oil prices rose due to instability in the Middle East, specifically Libya, oil production was completely halted. How is that feasible in a highly regulated industry? To effectively delve into this topic, we need to examine this from two standpoints: ethical and legal.
We see this again from 2004 all the way to 2010 with unemployment increasing to 10%. We can see that the economy hits a recession after roughly 10 years of gradual expansion. Okun’s Law states that for every 1% rises in Unemployment, GDP decreases by roughly 3%. The above Scatter Plot chart shows data from 1981 to 2010 and we can see that for every 1% rise in Unemployment over this period, GDP dropped by 0.4%. This shows a negative slop and that the relationship is relatively weak due to the fact the GDP has decreased by less than 1%.
Today, PPG operates in more than seventy countries around the world. (About PPG, 2013) As of the third quarter 2013, PPG reported their net sales of $4 billion, which was up 17% from the previous year (2112). Their adjusted earnings per share were record breaking at $2.44 per share, up 31% over last year with the recent recovery in the economy. Cash and short-term investments were $2.2 billion at the end of the third quarter. PPG anticipated its full-year share repurchases to be at the high end of what they had originally projected.
Coal-burning power plants are the largest human-caused source of mercury emissions to the air in the United States. RISK FACTORS/Exposure to mercury One major risk factor for mercury toxicity is industrial contamination. Workers employed in the manufacturing of mirrors, thermometers, fluorescent lights, and radiography machines, as well as in gold mining, are at risk for inorganic mercury poisoning. Organic mercury poisoning can occur among exposed workers in the paper and pulp industries. Mercury mining areas in China have also contributed to cases of methylmercury poisoning through the ingestion of rice grown in contaminated soil.
The cause? The process of Hydraulic Fracturing - Fracking for short. Fracking is a process that big companies such as BP, Halliburton and Warwick Energy use to withdraw Natural Gases and Oils from rocks. The process includes drilling a deep well and infusing gallons of toxic fracking fluid, at high pressure, causing the rocks to fracture and release the oils or gases. However, the UK’s Environmental Agency found flow-back fluid from a Lancashire fracking site contained “notably high levels of sodium, bromide and iron, as well as higher values of lead”.
Inadequate design for heat removal. Inadequate control systems and safety systems. Inadequate operational procedures, including training. A runaway exothermic reaction can have a range of results from the boiling over of the reaction mass, to large increases in temperature and pressure that lead to an explosion. Such violence can cause blast and missile damage.
Customer Analysis The total industrial consumption of cyano-acrylates which the new Bond-A-Matic 2000 would dispense was 265,000 pounds in FY 1978, expected to grow to about 335,000 pounds in FY 1979. Across 16 SIC categories, approximately 174,909 firms currently used cyano-acrylates (at a 15.5% market penetration.) 11% of CA users, i.e. approximately 19,240 firms used over 10 pounds of CAs per year, comprising at-least 75% of total current market. Assuming that growth in the CA segment stagnates, and that only heavy CA applicators would be interested in dispensing equipment the total market is still estimated at 19,240 users.