Within the United States, the availability of cheaper shale derived gas has made the economics of hydrogen addition technologies far more attractive and given US refiners and petrochemicals producers a distinct competitive advantage over the rest of the world. With shrinking demand and environmental legislations driving down the market of residual fuel oil, major refiners worldwide have embarked on residue upgrading projects even in parts of the world where natural gas prices are near $ 10/MM BTU. US petrochemical producers have already embarked on many ethane to ethylene crackers utilizing shale gas. What refiners can do is to utilize hydroprocessing to convert low value residue to high value aromatics and olefins while satisfying the growing need of Tier-3 gasoline.
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