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Table of Contents
 
Summary
Introduction
Industry Structure
Ethane and Natural Gas
Regional Ethane Pricing
Gas Processing Methods
Absorption
Refrigerated Absorption
Cryogenic Recovery
Turboexpanders
Refrigeration
Cold Reflux
Sources
Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs)
Petroleum Refining
Heavy Liquid Feedstock Cracking
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
Supply and Demand by Region
United States
Producing Companies
Gas Processing Plants
Petroleum Refineries
Salient Statistics
Production and Recovery
Natural Gas Liquids
Petroleum Refining
Transportation and Storage
Consumption
Ethylene
Enhanced Oil Recovery
Substitute Natural Gas
Other
Price
Trade
Canada
Producing Companies
Production
Consumption
Price
Trade
Mexico
Producing Companies
Production
Central and South America
Producing Companies
Production
Western Europe
Central and Eastern Europe
Africa
Middle East
Producing Companies
Price
Japan
India
China
Other Asia
Oceania
Producing Companies
Production
   
  Ethane
   
  Emanuel V. Ormonde and Michael Malveda
  Published January 2007
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  Abstract
   
 

The United States, Canada and the Middle East have long been the dominant producers and consumers of ethane. Western Europe and Asia consume much smaller amounts and Japan has essentially no market for ethane. In the Middle East, consumption has grown with additions to ethylene capacity. Feedstock prices, ethane availability, and demand for ethylene and downstream petrochemical products will help determine future ethane producers as well as production levels.

Ethane is consumed as a feedstock in the production of ethylene or as an industrial fuel. Nearly all ethane produced is consumed in the manufacture of ethylene and competes with other steam cracker feedstocks such as propane, butane, naphtha and gas oil. Most ethane occurs indigenously with other natural gas liquids (NGLs), such as propane and butane, in natural gas, either associated with crude petroleum (associated gas) or in gas reservoirs not associated with petroleum (nonassociated gas). Smaller volumes of ethane are also recovered from refinery gases generated by catalytic cracking of petroleum fractions. The following pie chart shows world consumption of ethane for ethylene:

The Middle East will have the largest average annual ethane consumption growth rate during the forecast period of 2006–2011 as a result of the many cracker projects due to come on stream in the near future.

 
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