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(Bloomberg) -- Dow
Chemical Co., the world’s second- biggest chemical company, plans to
use more ethane to make plastics and may form a venture to separate it from
natural gas because of low U.S. prices.
Dow plans to increase cracking of ethane by 20 percent to 30 percent at
ethylene plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast over the next two to three years,
Midland, Michigan-based Dow said in its statement. That will increase
Dow’s global use of ethane for making ethylene to as much as 65 percent, from about 55
percent, said Rebecca Bentley, a spokeswoman. Costs haven’t been determined, she
said.
“Ethane is an advantaged feedstock in the United States and we anticipate
a favorable oil to gas ratio to continue,” Raja Zeidan, global business vice
president for Dow Hydrocarbons, said in the statement.
Dow, the world’s largest producer of ethylene and polyethylene plastics, also said it is reviewing
joint-venture options to build a natural-gas liquids fractionator, a plant that
separates the components of natural gas, to secure supplies of ethane.
mrcplast.com
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