About
ICIS PentaSul is part of ICIS; the trusted source of chemical and energy market intelligence. ICIS aims to help companies in global commodity markets improve their revenues and profits by providing high quality, timely, commercially useful information, business leads and brand positioning across the globe.
In 2010, ICIS, part of Reed Business Information UK, acquired the portfolio of benchmark sulphur and sulphuric acid market publications and services from PentaSul (now ICIS PentaSul). PentaSul was founded in 1990. It is a publishing and consulting company specializing in the markets for sulphur, sulphuric acid and sulphur products. PentaSul is widely regarded as the leading independent source of intelligence in these markets.
PentaSul partners Robert Boyd and Barry Clarke each have well over twenty five years’ experience as full-time specialist analysts and consultants in this field. PentaSul’s weekly and monthly subscription publications on sulphur products have a broad range of subscribers all over the world. PentaSul has successfully completed a large number of confidential private client studies and has presented papers at many international conferences.
Dr. Robert Boyd
Robert Boyd has completed over twenty-five years as a consultant and analyst specializing in global sulphuric acid and sulphur markets.
He was born and raised in Scotland, and took a bachelors degree in physics and a doctorate in materials science in the U.K. Following various technical and marketing positions in the field of high-temperature furnace materials, he became a marketing consultant in 1979.
He joined British Sulphur in London as sulphur consultant in 1982 and has worked on sulphur and sulphuric acid ever since. He joined Fertecon in London in 1986 and moved to Houston Texas in 1987 to run the company’s North American operations. He acquired that business in 1991 and has been operating independently since then. In September 2000 the company name was changed to PentaSul following the acquisition of a natural gas liquids information service which was subsequently sold in 2006.
Dr. Boyd started the publication World Sulphuric Acid Weekly in 1987, and with his PentaSul partner Barry Clarke founded the North America Sulphur Service in 1991. He has been a main author of both ever since. Current clients for these regular services include well over 150 producers, consumers and service companies as well as government agencies. Dr. Boyd has also participated in numerous multiclient and private client studies, and has given papers at international conferences all over the world.
Barry J. Clarke
Barry Clarke has worked for thirty years within the North American sulphur industry and is a well-known and respected consultant.
He was born in the London area and took a B.Tech. degree in Applied Chemistry. He worked for British Sulphur in London in the technical department before emigrating to Canada in the early 1970s. After a short spell with Polysar Corp. in Sarnia he moved west to Vancouver where he has resided ever since. There he worked with BC Research, a consulting firm before joining Cansulex Ltd. the leading sulphur export marketing company in 1978 as market analyst. By 1987 he was Director of Market Research and Development.
Mr. Clarke joined FERTECON in 1987 and helped establish for it a consultancy service for the sulphur and fertilizer industries in North America. In 1990, in partnership with Robert Boyd, he developed the North America Sulphur Service which was transferred to the independent company PentaSul formed in 2000. He has authored numerous client studies and conference papers.