The deep shale gas deposits beneath Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia are rich in ethane, a key byproduct of natural gas. It can be used to heat homes and power electric plants, but ethane’s chief use in today’s world is to make plastic. Not just plastic, but chemicals, coatings, fabrics — a cornucopia of the modern world’s most basic materials come from manipulating ethane.
The fracking boom in the U.S. has brought vast quantities of this ethane to the surface. In the U.S., ethane production has doubled since 2010; by 2025, the ethane supply in Appalachia is expected to be 20 times what it was in 2013.
The chemical industry is building several massive chemical plants to refine the U.S.’s burgeoning stock of ethane, like the one Shell is building in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. But even with these new plants, the supply of ethane coming from Western Pennsylvania, and the adjoining areas of Ohio and West Virginia, is expected to far outstrip demand for the foreseeable future. As one analysts put it to me recently, this gas “has to find a home.”
So where is it all going?