U.S. Chemical Industry Revitalization: Impact of Abundant Shale Gas Supplies

The tremendous increase in domestic natural gas production is spurring a U.S. manufacturing renaissance, particularly for energy-intensive industries like chemicals. ExxonMobil’s Outlook for Energy to 2040 indicates that the chemicals subsector of industrial energy demand will be the fastest-growing area over the next 25 years. Demand is forecast to grow by more than 50 percent, largely due to increased demand for plastics and other advanced products.  Expanded natural gas production is allowing chemical and plastics manufacturers to create jobs and increase sales to domestic and global markets. The shale gas advantage comes in the form of lower cost energy, increased supply security, creation of new jobs and enhanced global competiveness.