Feedstock

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) plans to issue monthly reports that expand upon biofuels data. EIA’s first edition of Monthly Biofuels Capacity and Feedstocks Update was published Wednesday (March 31) with January data. “We developed the Monthly Biofuels Capacity and Feedstocks Update because of the significant growth in U.S. production of renewable fuels,” said…

Braskem Idesa said Thursday it had partially restored operations at the Etileno XXI polyethylene complex in Mexico’s Veracruz state. In December, Mexico natural gas system operator Cenagas canceled the company’s access to pipeline natural gas supply, forcing Braskem Idesa to shut down Etileno XXI, the largest petrochemicals operation in Latin America.  The Etileno plant uses…

The American Gas Association (AGA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) this month issued contrasting pictures of the future of natural gas as a major U.S. fuel source.

Mexico’s energy reforms, in combination with the expansion of the Panama Canal, have reconfigured the fortunes for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), according to an analysis by IHS Markit.

Global ethylene demand will grow by about 90 million tons (60%) over the next 15 years, and “the U.S. Gulf Coast is in pole position for this feedstock-driven capacity growth,” the CEO of a logistics provider to the chemical industry told a Houston audience Wednesday.

The U.S. plastics industry is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade, fueled by cheap and abundant shale natural gas that’s made it more competitive with overseas markets, according to a report by economists at the American Chemistry Council (ACC).

The U.S. plastics industry is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade, fueled by cheap and abundant shale natural gas that's made it more competitive with overseas markets, according to a report by economists at the American Chemistry Council.

In an industry in which low-cost feedstock is key, North Dakota’s wealth of natural gas liquids (NGL) makes the state a natural candidate for the development of downstream opportunities in the chemicals industry and all of its offshoots, a researcher/consultant said Wednesday at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck, ND. Ultimately, the model is to do what Alberta, Canada did two decades ago and bring in global partners already in the chemical business.

U.S. manufacturers of ammonia-based nitrogen fertilizer made with low cost natural gas feedstock are raking in profits and moving ahead with plans to expand domestic operations.