Environment & Energy

joshcryer

(62,276 posts) Mon Jun 25, 2012, 01:13 AM Jun 2012

Ugh. The petro industry is going with natural gas to make plastics.

Exxon Plans U.S. Ethylene Plant to Make Use of Cheap Gas
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) (XOM), the largest U.S. oil company, plans to build factories that produce ethylene and plastics in Texas, joining a growing group of competitors racing to use U.S. natural gas to make chemicals.

A new plant at the company’s site in Baytown would produce 1.5 million metric tons of ethylene annually starting in 2016, pending regulatory approvals, Irving, Texas-based Exxon said today in an e-mailed statement. The gaseous chemical would be used to make 1.3 million metric tons of polyethylene plastic at two plants to be built in nearby Mont Belvieu, the company said.

The Houston-area plants would “significantly” increase exports of plastics, Exxon said in the statement. Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. is planning a $5 billion ethylene project at its Baytown site and Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) (DOW) is also expanding to use more gas-based raw materials that provide a cost advantage over oil-based production in Europe and Asia.

“The proposed investment reflects Exxon Mobil’s continued confidence in the natural-gas-driven revitalization of the U.S. chemical industry,” the company said in the statement.

Shell's Ethane Cracker Will Be Built In Pennsylvania
Shell is going to build its multi-billion dollar ethane cracker in Pennsylvania, according to sources within the natural gas industry and Pennsylvania political circles.

Ethane crackers convert natural gas into ethylene, which is used in plastics products. The large-scale facility is still years away from reality, but will likely generate thousands of jobs.

The announcement will come later this afternoon.

According to sources within the gas industry, Ohio Governor John Kasich and West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin were both told earlier this week that their states did not win the three-way bidding war.

the petro industry first started fracking
then along came an idea to do cracking
and because of this shit
the industry is fit
to send the environment packing

7 replies

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Highlight:

Ugh. The petro industry is going with natural gas to make plastics. (Original Post) joshcryer Jun 2012 OP

Fraking gas-holes TeamPooka Jun 2012 #1

Worse. They have even latched on to the renewable industry. joshcryer Jun 2012 #2

So wait... Wait just a second. Scootaloo Jun 2012 #3

Fracking is bringing the cost of natural gas down big time. joshcryer Jun 2012 #4

Depends on what you mean by "peak oil". bananas Jun 2012 #5

FWIW, while I believe the peak oilers failed to consider unconventional sources... joshcryer Jun 2012 #6

The fun really starts when they use natural gas to make gasoline. hunter Jun 2012 #7

TeamPooka

(24,229 posts)

1. Fraking gas-holes

Reply to joshcryer (Original post)

Mon Jun 25, 2012, 01:27 AM

Jun 2012

are using a scorched earth policy towards all natural resources.

joshcryer

(62,276 posts)

2. Worse. They have even latched on to the renewable industry.

Reply to TeamPooka (Reply #1)

Mon Jun 25, 2012, 01:34 AM

Jun 2012

B.C. redefines natural gas as 'clean energy'
The B.C. government will redefine natural gas as a clean energy source – but only if it's used to generate power for liquefied natural gas in northern B.C, says Premier Christy Clark.

"I think there is a really strong recognition among the established environmental groups that because it's offsetting really dirty power elsewhere there's a really positive net impact," said Clark.

Clark made the announcement at a conference of energy sector companies on Thursday.

The plants, planned for Kitimat, B.C., as early as 2017, will use tremendous amount of electricity, more than what is currently produced by BC Hydro.

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)

3. So wait... Wait just a second.

Reply to joshcryer (Original post)

Mon Jun 25, 2012, 02:15 AM

Jun 2012

They are using a generally higher-cost resource... to make plastics?

Doesn't that more or less prove "peak oil" has come and gone, and leaves us with this nonsense?

joshcryer

(62,276 posts)

4. Fracking is bringing the cost of natural gas down big time.

Reply to Scootaloo (Reply #3)

Mon Jun 25, 2012, 02:19 AM

Jun 2012

The petro industry uses roughly a quarter of its petroleum to make plastics. By making plastics with natural gas they get to sell the that other quarter of petroleum as fuel. I think that we probably have not yet hit peak oil (but we have hit peak conventional oil as well as peak conventional gas). This will just make the collapse all the more grand when it finally bottoms out.

bananas

(27,509 posts)

5. Depends on what you mean by "peak oil".

Reply to Scootaloo (Reply #3)

Mon Jun 25, 2012, 02:49 AM

Jun 2012

"Peak oil" became a cultish belief system that nothing could substitute for cheap oil from the Middle East.
This disproves that.

joshcryer

(62,276 posts)

6. FWIW, while I believe the peak oilers failed to consider unconventional sources...

Reply to bananas (Reply #5)

Mon Jun 25, 2012, 04:33 AM

Jun 2012

...I think in the end the basic idea is correct. I don't see on the horizon significant enough uptake of non-fossil sources of transportation and energy utilization to stem the overall theme of "resources running out." Granted, I could be completely wrong, but I just don't see it yet.

I say this being a technologist and being an anti-collapsist. The evidence just doesn't exist yet for me to believe we have the issue solved. I think it will be, but we're not to a point where I can see it happening.

hunter

(38,318 posts)

7. The fun really starts when they use natural gas to make gasoline.

Reply to joshcryer (Original post)

Mon Jun 25, 2012, 12:00 PM

Jun 2012

This also throws a monkey wrench into the symbiotic relationship between wind energy and natural gas. Without inexpensive natural gas backup wind energy projects become much less viable.

We'll be sucking really hard on the straw when we're making synthetic "natural" gas out of coal. By that time the economy and the environment will be in ruins, but they'll still be people looking for the next technical fix.

What we really need is to reduce the population of people living in unsustainable ways. Unfortunately the people living the least sustainable lifestyles control the markets, the politicians, and the media. The sociopaths of the 1% would starve half the population and enslave the rest to protect their own wealth and power.

Here in the U.S.A. increasing numbers of us are volunteering for duty as wage slaves and supporting the destructive and unsustainable schemes hatched by obscenely wealthy criminals simply because we're afraid these masters might otherwise throw us off the ship.

And this fear is well-grounded. The least powerful among us have already been abandoned.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002849466

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