Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Crude oil and Small-molecule APIs

Crude oil is a raw material for small-molecule APIs; their prices have moved together.

Crude oil (energy) and Small-molecule APIs (chemical): 2 relationships.

How they are linked

1. Feedstock

Physical flow · Direct · Crude oil → Small-molecule APIs

Small-molecule APIs is made from crude oil: it is one of the raw materials its production routes start from.

2. Price link: distant feedstock

Cost and price · Weak · Both ways

Most API building blocks start from petrochemicals, but many steps, regulation and long contracts separate them from oil. Monthly moves correlate at 0.07 and yearly at -0.11, so oil barely registers in the medicinal chemicals index.

  • 0.07 monthly change correlation
  • -0.11 12-month change correlation
  • 0.01 fitted elasticity

Built from the site data on production routes, energy flows, industry value chains, input-output tables and prices.