The waves created by the oil price crash are threatening to engulf some of the US petrochemicals plants planned to take advantage of cheap natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs), particularly ethane. As production of gas and NGLs has boomed over the past five years, oil and chemical companies have proposed spending billions of dollars on new petrochemicals units or reopening and upgrading old ones in the US (WGI Apr.2'14). This petrochemicals renaissance has been predicated on two main assumptions: First, that prices of gas and NGLs will remain low and, second, that they will always be much lower than oil prices. While this first assumption still holds true, cratering oil prices have turned the second on its head, potentially leading to the delay or cancelation of some schemes.
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