Ethane

In June 2014, MDN told you about a Range Resources deal to sell some of their ethane to a cracker plant, yet to be built, in Lake Charles, Louisiana (see Range Announces Multiple Agreements to Sell Natgas & Ethane). The Lake Charles cracker plant is part of a huge $8.9 billion petrochemical complex that will be built by energy/chemical company Sasol. In a press release last week, Sasol announced they’ve secured $4 billion in a “credit facility” (i.e. loans) for the project, although they don’t mention when construction will actually get under way. Aside from the fact that Marcellus ethane, in part, will feed the plant, what struck us as interesting is the international nature of the project. Some 18 international banks and investment firms are involved in the $4 billion credit deal. Sasol itself is a South African company; the Bank of Tokyo is the administrative agent for the deal; Bank of America is the account bank; HSBC (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is the “security trustee” for the $4B loan; and the Bank of Scotland is financial adviser. It’s a real panoply of international involvement!…
Read More “Louisiana Ethane Cracker for Marcellus Gas Built with Intl Money”

Say it ain’t so. Ethane can be found on Titan–one of Saturn’s moons?! Now how did those nasty, evil frackers already get their claws into Titan? Don’t the Titanians know that faffing about with ethane and methane and all of those “anes” will cause global warming?

We are, tongue-in-cheek, introducing a serious bit of information. In very basic terms ethane–an NGL coming from the ground along with methane–is “cracked” in huge petrochemical plants (“crackers”) to produce ethylene, which is converted into plastic like polyethylene. We’ve been writing a lot about the (now) three cracker plants in various stages of planning for the northeast that will use ethane from Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling (see Thailand & Japan Partner to Build 3rd Big Marcellus Ethane Cracker). We spotted what we consider a really good description of ethane and the cracking process that goes a little beyond the mere basics. We found it enlightening and thought you would too:
Read More “Demystifying Ethane + Let’s Go on a Trip to Saturn”