Even in a business that deals with big numbers, $100 billion makes one sit up and take notice.
That $100 billion figure is the amount that the U.S. chemical industry estimates is the total investment linked to domestic natural gas produced from shale regions such as the Marcellus.
According to the American Chemistry Council:
As of this month, 148 projects valued at $100.2 billion have been announced. These projects—new factories, expansions and process changes to increase capacity—could lead to $81 billion per year in new chemical industry output and 637,000 permanent new jobs by 2023. More than half of the investment is by firms based outside the United States.
Among this proposed investment is ExxonMobil’s planned expansion of our Baytown, TX, chemical facilities. I have noted before that the project to convert natural gas liquids into ethylene and then into premium polyethylene plastic would create thousands of jobs and increase regional economic activity by $870 million per year.
The Chemistry Council’s analysis updates a review the organization did last May. At that time, potential chemical investment tied to shale gas totaled $71.7 billion, which means that in less than a year nearly $30 billion in additional projects have been announced.
Of course, not all of these 148 announced projects will go forward. A number of factors will go into determining which get built and which don’t, like market conditions and availability of skilled labor. Future access to oil and gas reserves on federal, state, and private lands will play a big part as well.
Still, a lot of this proposed investment is likely to proceed, which means more jobs and economic growth.
This is just more evidence of how America’s energy sector is helping transform the U.S. economy with our investments and innovation.
