english issue
EIA : Increased petrochemical consumption will expand ethane production
According to the EIA ’ s ‘ Short Term Energy Outlook ’, ethane production is expected to increase from 1.1 million bpd in 2015 to 1.4 million bpd in 2017 , accounting for two thirds of total US hydrocarbon gas liquid ( HGL ) production growth . Ethane , a key feedstock for petrochemical manufacturing , is recovered from raw natural gas at natural gas processing plants . Over the past five or six years , the amount of ethane contained in domestically produced raw natural gas has exceeded the capacity to consume and export it . This oversupply kept ethane prices relatively low , hovering at , or below , the price of natural gas , leading producers to reject the ethane stream by leaving it mixed with the stream that is marketed as pipeline natural gas , which is mostly methane . Beginning in 2012 , the availability of relatively inexpensive ethane encouraged a wave of investments in ethane consuming petrochemical plants and export facilities . The recognition that these investments would provide an outlet for US ethane also encouraged investment in facilities to recover ethane from raw natural gas and to transport it to market . Many of these projects , including de-ethanisation facilities , ethane pipelines , petrochemical plants , and ethane export facilities , have either recently been completed or are currently under construction and will come online in the next few years . These projects increase take away capacity for ethane , especially in the Marcellus and Utica shale regions , mainly in Pennsylvania , Ohio , and West Virginia , where market outlets for rapidly growing natural gas supply were previously limited to pipeline natural gas . As new ethane consuming
60 / OIL & GAS business / NUMÉRO 14 / Avril 2016