Full Title: White Paper: Is the US Chemicals Renaissance a Flash in the Pan?
Author(s): Meredith Annex
Publisher(s): Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Publication Date: January 1, 2014
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Cheap gas has led to a boom in North American supply of many of the chemical intermediates that require natural gas and natural gas liquids as a fuel and feedstock. These intermediates include olefins, methanol, and ammonia. Yet demand for these products is growing faster elsewhere – especially in Asia.
In our – and many others’ – base case, North America remains the most cost-advantaged region for the production of ammonia, methanol, and olefins, save for facilities in the Middle East and those in Asia that gasify coal. In this paper, we examine what might need to happen to change this, making either Europe or Asia price-competitive with US chemicals producers.