Mild weather in the US has driven down natural gas prices

摘要

Mild weather in the US has driven down natural gas prices from their November 2005 high of 15/MMBtu.Current pricing-around 8/MMBtu-is still triple historic levels and is continuing to impact costs for petrochemical producers."High gasoline prices are also increasing the cost of key precursor materials such as propylene,benzene and toluene,which are valued as replacements for MTBE-a chemical compound almost exclusively used as a fuel additive in gasoline,"according to Pat Dawson,business vice president,Polyurethanes and Thermoset Systems,with The Dow Chemical Co.