petro chem giant lyondellbasell. here is how it works.or gas and makes ethylene, which is converted to polyethylene, and turned into plastic for things like garbage bags, or grocery bags, or fancy saran wrap. its plants in america use natural gas, and europe and asia use oil and naphtha. and it has been a tough road. lyondell chemical was formed back in the 1980's and merged with basell in 2007, and was weighed down with a ton of debt. in 2009, it filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and merged a year later to go public. and now that lyondell is back on its feet, and using super cheap u.s. gas, making a big cost advantage, it is all about growth. they recently bought a. schulman for $2.25 billion, which makes fancy materials for plastics like bottle caps, but it doesn't want to be a one trick pony kind of company. it wants to be big. so, where does it go next? i recently caught up with bob patel and asked him what kind of leverage he would be comfortable with? bob: leverage ratios depend on your earnings at the time, and also, what you plan to

lyondellbasell's ceo bob patel outlines expansion plans for one of the largest petro-chem giants in the♪ alix: i'm alix steel, and welcome to "bloomberg commodities edge." it's 30 minutes focused on the companies, the physical assets, and the trading behind the hottest commodities with the smartest voices in the business. all right, let's kick it off with "spot on."

lyondellbasell's ceo bob patel outlines expansion plans for one of the largest petro-chem giants in the. ♪ alix: i'm alix steel, and welcome to "bloomberg commodities edge." it's 30 minutes focused on the companies, the physical assets,

alix: that was my interview with bob patel of lyondellbasell, who could profit from lower sulfur fuel is on my -- here is what is on my commodity radar. a busy day on tuesday. you have a cracker seminar, a two day seminar that only happens every two years. watch that. we'll see what they will say about imo rules. and my field china conference begins in shanghai, everything you need to know about iron ore. and brazil steel congress also happening in sao paulo, a political environment and a steel environment. how commodities and political risk interact. that does it for "bloomberg commodities edge." make sure to catch us every thursday at 1:00. ♪ ." "bloomberg businessweek i am taylor riggs. a lot going on in the magazine. tyson wants to be your one-stop shop for all things protein. >> and tmz's shift from hollywood to washington as it breaks into celebrity politics. withlot going on in turkey

alix: that was my interview with bob patel of lyondellbasell, who could profit from higher demand forer sulfur fuel. here is what is on my commodity radar. a busy day on tuesday. you have a cracker seminar, a two-day seminar that only happens every two years. watch that. what they will say about imo rules. and my field china conference begins in shanghai, everything you need to know about iron ore. and brazil steel congress also happening in sao paulo, a political environment and a steel environment. how commodities and political risk interact. that does it for "bloomberg commodities edge." make sure to catch us every thursday at 1:00 p.m. new york time. ♪ retail. under pressure like never before. and it's connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory. virtual changing rooms. that's why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver. thi

lyondellbasell's ceo bob patel outlines expansion plans for one of the largest petro-chem giants in the♪ alix: i'm alix steel, and welcome to "bloomberg commodities edge." it's 30 minutes focused on the companies, the physical assets, and the trading behind the hottest commodities with the smartest voices in the business. all right, let's kick it off with "spot on." it's our analyst's take on or

alix: that was bob patel of lyondellbasell.er part of my interview with him tomorrow on my show at 1:00 p.m. eastern when we talk about growth. how does that get derailed if there is some trade war? moneyhas been a lot of poured into the u.s. patrol chemical industry -- petrochemical industry. it was an interesting interview. david: and not unique to the ceo. megan greene of manulife asset management is still with us. we talked about the macro aspects of the u.s.-china trade disputes. what about the micro? ubs has a report out saying if there is a trade war, 90% say they will cut down on capex. anecdotally, you hear firms saying the environment is so uncertain that we are going to delay and defer our capex spending. that is a huge deal because capex spending is what we need to boost productivity growth in gdp. without that we are a 2% economy. david: willing to delay and affair without resolution because of the uncertainty. megan: you are starting to see this come through in some of the sentiment indicators in the u.s.. the lat