Ethane

TotalEnergies SE and Borealis AG reported last week they have begun commercial operations at their nearly $2 billion ethane cracker in Port Arthur, TX. The companies built the ethane cracker, with an ethylene production capacity of 1 Mt/y,  at TotalEnergies’ refinery in Port Arthur via their Bayport Polymers LLC 50/50 joint venture (JV).  “This investment…

Calgary-based Gas Liquids Engineering Ltd. (GLE) has designed a natural gas liquids (NGL) extraction process that could require less energy and lower operating costs.  GLE is touting the split absorber reflux (SABR) process, which extracts propane and ethane from natural gas. “In many cases, SABR can recover propane and ethane with lower energy use, and…

Ethane is expected to be the most widely consumed petroleum product in the United States in 2023, and it is already outpacing jet fuel and propane, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Ethane demand has grown every year since 2010 in the United States, EIA said, including a 50,000 b/d year/year increase in 2021.…

Brazilian petrochemicals giant Braskem SA reported record imports of ethane from the United States to its Braskem Idesa polyethylene plant in Mexico for a second straight quarter in the fourth quarter of 2021, and it expects a new ethane import terminal at the site to start up by 2024. CFO Pedro Freitas described a dramatically…

A long awaited petrochemical project is set to begin operations in the Appalachian Basin in 2022, and a second major investment in the region could get the green light this year.

Dow Inc. announced a plan Wednesday to develop a net-zero carbon emissions ethane cracker for an industrial customer in Alberta as a capacity expansion by its Fort Saskatchewan complex northeast of the provincial capital in Edmonton. The cracker, fueled by natural gas, would be capable of producing 1.8 million tons/year of ethylene. Environmental renovations of…

Mexican national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and Braskem Idesa have reached agreement on an ethane supply deal, bringing to an end a year-long dispute that threatened to shutter the largest petrochemicals operation in Latin America. The Brazil-based Braskem SA unit said on Tuesday Pemex would supply 30,000 b/d of ethane to the Etileno XXI…

Demand for ethane as a feedstock for petrochemical manufacturing is rebounding along with the global economy. Expanded capacity and tanker fleets are helping to meet that demand, fueling record export levels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Ethane is separated from natural gas at processing plants along with other natural gas liquids (NGL)…

Mexico’s petrochemicals sector has suffered from underinvestment and the prioritization of crude oil production by state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), according to a new issue brief published by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.  These factors have led to a steady decrease over the last decade in Pemex’s production of ethane and ethane…