The current list of chemical industry projects designed to take advantage of the growth in shale gas production has grown to 188 projects, according to list maintained and updated weekly by the American Chemistry Council (Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). In March of last year, the total announced investment was $71.7 billion for 97 projects.
The 188 total projects represent a cumulative capital investment of $116.9 billion in the U.S., of which 62% is foreign direct investment. The ACC discussed the project total in its latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report.
The ACC report discussed the fact that the International Energy Agency (IEA; Paris; www.iea.org) recognized the U.S. as the leading global producer of natural gas liquids (ethane, propane, butane).
In a report the previous week, the ACC noted that chemical company equity prices index was flat in June, while the wider S&P 500 index climbed 1.9%. Since the beginning of the year, the S&P 500 is up 6.1% while the index for chemical stocks is up 8.6%, the ACC report said.