U.S. gas glut fuels chemical plant building boom

[phantom power]

(Reuters) - Not too long ago chemical industry insiders would joke about when the next U.S. chemical plant would be built. The answer, the punch line always went, was never.

That has radically changed in the past year as cheap U.S. natural gas prices have given America's chemical industry a large cost advantage over European rivals, many of whom make chemicals from crude oil.

The price of ethylene has jumped 70 percent in the past eight months alone, according to industry newsletter PetroChem Wire. Ethylene is the most basic of commodity chemicals and is found in plastic, paint, glue and thousands of other products. It can best be compared with what flour is to a bakery.

Now a frenzy is afoot to build new U.S. chemical plants, known inside the industry as crackers, to take advantage of those prices.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/16/us-energy-summit-ethylene-idUSTRE75F59M20110616

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Ehtylene is not "found in" any of those products -- it is consumed in making those products.

There is more to chemistry than just mixing things together.

(I know, journos don't know science, nothing new there, etc.)