This October, when the international market's focus on rising crude oil prices reached another high, the price of ethane in the United States also rushed to a high point in 4 years, the demand for ethane seems to finally catch up with the shale gas revolution brought about by the constant supply of ethane.
As the most produced polymer, polyethylene plastic is one of the final products produced by ethane processing. Ethane after cracking into ethylene after further processing, will be the original colorless tasteless gas ' transformation ' for all kinds of plastic products factory required PE granules and other products, and these plastic particles and other products due to the production of polymerization, the environment will have different performance, which determines their different uses, Some can become packaging of various types of food, some can become such as water cups, bottles and other containers, although it is called polyethylene plastic, but because of different performance uses, PE can be produced for thousands of products.
Perhaps many people did not expect that the use of a lot of plastic products in the raw materials, turned out to be nothing more than an invisible gas. Some people who know something about the history of the plastics industry may know that the 60 's in the last century was the golden age of the American plastics industry, and now, thanks to the shale gas revolution, the United States seems to have a good foundation for re-reaching the top of the plastics industry, which in recent years has largely shown an upward trend over the past 10 years , ethane production in the United States has doubled, while lightweight shale oil production has helped increase its ethane supply.
Since shale light crude oil contains relatively high concentrations of ethane and other condensate, it can be used simply by separating them. The low-priced raw materials produced by the shale gas revolution have raised the market's impulse to invest in petrochemicals, while cheap energy supplies have reduced processing costs for petrochemical plants, and since 2010 the United States has announced more than 300 projects and more than $200 billion in project investment, despite the annual growth in ethane exports in the United States,
However, with the production of new project equipment in China, the demand for ethane has increased, which has also become the reason for the increase in the price of ethane.
Although the demand for ethane in the United States has been increasing in recent years, exports are still an integral part, and exports are targeting precisely the Chinese market, which is developing rapidly and still has a gap in demand. In 2017, the domestic ethylene supply volume of about 20.37 million tons, an increase of 4.8% year, ethylene equivalent consumption of about 39 million tons, the gap reached 20 million tons.
In domestic ethylene consumption, PE three varieties of LLDPE, HDPE, LDPE accounted for the total consumption of three digits, accounting for 27%, 26%, 11% respectively. As the future domestic demand for ethylene still has a huge space, while ethane as a raw material compared to other synthetic pathways with lower costs, more environmental protection and other advantages, so that the domestic naturally have enterprises choose to import ethane from the United States, such as in November last year, Nanshan Group and the United States Ethane Company (AEC)
Signed a 20-year-old large-scale ethane import cooperation agreement.
While there are bound to be more and more examples of cooperation between China and the United States on ethane projects in the future, this could also be a constraint on the domestic plastics industry, coupled with recent trade frictions between China and the United States, and although ethane is not part of the tax increase list, it also needs to be wary of the serious consequences of the possibility of contagion. The shale revolution in the United States has all along attracted a lot of attention, some people see it as a broad prospect, others think it is nothing more than a ' fool '.
Compared with the growth miracle of crude oil production, the market is obviously not concerned about the growth of oil and gas condensate in the United States, and while we are making progress, we should not forget that at this stage of the plastics industry, who can compete alongside the United States as a pioneer in the shale revolution? Plastics Industry | Who can keep pace with the United States?