Feedstock in Transition - A Manufacturer's Perspective on Petrochemical Trends and the Downstream Impact to the Coatings Market

摘要

Over the past decades the petrochemical industry was fuelled by crude oil. However, with persistent high oil prices and with the advent of fresh petrochemical feedstocks from shale gas to coal, biomass and other carbon sources a transformation of the individual petrochemical value chains has commenced. Petrochemicals are increasingly produced from multiple sources and feedstock diversification has become a strategic focus in the individual regions. For example the United States, driven by abundant shale gas, started to influence the market for ethylene and its derivatives. Other new feedstocks that may have future impact on the markets are coal and biomass. Feedstock diversification will increasingly influence how refineries and the adjacent olefin crackers are operated. The output of the petrochemical building blocks can be expected to change accordingly.