Thursday, June 14, 2012

UPDATED--Natural Gas Prices Bringing Plastics Manufacturing Back to U.S. (DOW; CHV)

Update: "Celanese Plans Texas Methanol Plant to Tap Cheap Gas (CE)".
Original post:
As we wait for the EIA's injection report here's an area we've been looking at.
From Carpe Diem:

Just One Word: Plastics 
"Now it’s clear that the potential influence of shale gas on the North American plastics industry is amazing. The full impact hasn’t been felt yet. But if you’ve been paying attention, you can see it on the horizon.
Dow Chemical, Formosa Plastics and and Chevron Phillips already have announced North American expansion plans. ExxonMobil Corp. joined the party June 1, when it disclosed it is considering building two new polyethylene (PE) lines in Mont Belvieu, Texas, as well as a new ethane cracker in Baytown, Texas. ExxonMobil’s new PE lines alone will have combined annual capacity of almost 3 billion pounds....MORE
 Feb. 17, 2012
Natural Gas: Buy the Chemical Companies that Use the Stuff (HUN; MEOH)

Mar. 12, 2012
Natural Gas: "Dow Chemical Chief Wants To Limit U.S. LNG Exports" (DOW; DD; MEOH; HUN)