Petrochemical Markets

Describing the web of production and uses of petrochemicals often evokes a number of different adjectives: complex, integrated, confusing are among the most common descriptors. This chapter introduces the building blocks, the concept of commodity markets, and the principles of supply and demand, and looks at the market situation with respect to major building blocks of the modern petrochemical industry. One of the largest volume building blocks and commodity chemicals is also one of the smallest in molecular size – ethylene. At almost 114 million metric tons estimated to be produced in 2019, propylene is one of the top commodity chemicals produced as an intermediate for a large variety of chemicals compounds. Like the markets for ethylene and propylene, which are large and have widely varied end products for which they are intermediates, the C4 olefins and dienes are produced in slightly smaller quantities but also have large and widely varying uses.