Ethane

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…

The terms of a new ethane supply agreement between Mexican national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and petrochemical firm Braskem Idesa remain under discussion, despite indications from the government that a new agreement had been finalized, according to management of Braskem Idesa parent Braskem SA. The current 20-year, take-or-pay/supply-or-pay contract for Pemex to supply 66,000…

The first very large ethane carrier (VLEC) has been exported from Energy Transfer LP’s (ET) Nederland Terminal in East Texas loaded with more than 911,000 bbl of ethane destined for northeastern Jiangsu Province, China. Dallas-based ET said the VLEC was loaded by Orbit Gulf Coast NGL Exports LLC, its joint venture with Satellite Petrochemical USA…

Bakken Midstream Natural Gas LLC is considering developing a dual-fuel electric cooperative power plant in North Dakota that would primarily operate on ethane, with natural gas also in the fuel mix. Bakken Midstream is proposing to build the Williston Basin Energy Center for Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative near Williston, ND, in the heart of the Bakken…

Fitch Ratings has downgraded the debt of Mexico petrochemicals firm Braskem Idesa after state natural gas pipeline operator Cenagas cut off natural gas transport service to the firm’s Etileno XXI polyethylene complex in Veracruz state. With the transport service rescinded, Braskem Idesa was forced to shut down Etileno XXI, the largest petrochemicals operation in Latin…

Editor’s Note: NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index, a leader tracking Mexico natural gas market reform, is offering the following column by Eduardo Prud’homme as part of a regular series on understanding this process. Prud’homme was central to the development of Cenagas, the nation’s natural gas pipeline operator, an entity formed in 2015 as part of…