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To: elmatador who wrote (149849)	4/21/2011 11:42:22 AM
From: richardred	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 206085

Dow Chemical Plans Ethylene Plant as Shale-Gas Supplies Rise By Jack Kaskey - Apr 21, 2011 10:51 AM ET Dow Chemical Co. (DOW), the largest U.S. chemical maker, plans to build its first ethylene production plant in the country since 1995 to take advantage of increasing shale-gas supplies. The new cracker, as ethylene plants are called, will be constructed on the Gulf Coast and start output in 2017, Midland, Michigan-based Dow said today in a statement. A cracker at Dow’s St. Charles operations near Hahnville, Louisiana, that was shut during the recession will reopen by the end of next year. Dow also plans to build a plant at Freeport, Texas, to make propylene from propane and is considering another such unit. Shale-gas drilling is boosting supplies of U.S. domestic natural gas and prices are near record lows relative to oil, which is the primary raw material used by Dow’s Asian and European competitors. The planned plants will get ethane and propane via supply agreements from producers in the Eagle Ford and Marcellus shale-gas regions. “The improved outlook for U.S. natural gas supply from shale brings the prospect of competitively priced ethane and propane feedstocks,” Jim Fitterling, a Dow executive vice president, said in the statement. The projects will boost Dow’s ethylene production capacity by 2.3 million metric tons a year, a 20 percent increase in Gulf Coast capacity, said Rebecca Bentley, a company spokeswoman. Ethylene is a gas used to make plastics. Range Resources The new cracker would be Dow’s first in the U.S. since 1995, Bentley said. Propylene capacity will increase by about 900,000 tons, she said. Range Resources Corp. (RRC) has a preliminary accord to supply ethane from the Marcellus region in southwest Pennsylvania to Dow’s Louisiana operations. Dow, the world’s largest producer of ethylene and polyethylene plastics, also said it continues to consider joint- venture options to build a natural-gas liquids fractionator, a plant that separates the components of natural gas, to secure supplies of ethane. bloomberg.com