Good News for Energy in the US

There is good news!

Sometime ago private industry developed a process for production of significant quantities of natural gas by cracking shale deposits in the northwestern part of the US. This has led to a significant increase in the availability of natural gas with the corresponding reduction in price .

C&E News reports in the April 4 Issue that Chevron Phillips is considering would get Chevron Phillips is considering construction of a 2.5 billion pound per year cracker and new derivatives plant. Ineos Oxide is considering a 1.3 billion pounds per year ethylene oxide plant and associated derivatives, including ethylene glycol.

Chevron Phillips' CEO said that he wants to capitalize on the advanced feedstock position that shale gas brings to the chemical industry in the US. Ineos Oxide's CEO said the US is an obvious location to consider its next expansion.

US jobs will be created in the shale cracking production of natural gas, in addition to the new jobs in the subsequent use of the gas in petrochemical production. The industry will also bring about a significant increase in the dollar volume of American-made products.

Another significant aspect is that the federal government had no part in this development, even though it spends billions of dollars on energy research. The only good thing we can say about the federal government is that it was unable to impede this development, because the shale deposits are on non--government-owned land.