Philadelphia a new chemical hub?

September 2013

The Philadelphia area was home to a number of chemical and refinery assets many decades ago. Since then Gulf Coast locations offered cheaper labor and land, better infrastructure, and an aggressive attitude to attracting chemical and petroleum investments.  New investment in the Philadelphia area dried up, and the cost structure, including poor economies of scale caused many to leave.

Yet the Philadelphia area and surrounding 200 miles is home to a significant demand for chemical and petroleum products. The logistics of transporting products from the Gulf Coast continue to get more difficult as they have been a victim of their own success. Philadelphia also has a number of large brownfield sites with superior logistical infrastructure sitting idle.

Shale gas and oil could perhaps change the picture radically. The refineries in the area, fed by natural gas liquids from the logistically close Marcellus and Utica shale gas fields, could use these as blending stock. That would allow them, with minimal investment to accept heavier, and cheaper crude oil feedstocks without the traditional significant investments.

The port facilities in Philadelphia also have sizeable storage facilities for natural gas liquids, as well as liquid natural gas capability at the PGW facilities. Pipelines are under construction to bring the nearby Marcellus and Utica shale gas to Philadelphia for potential export.

With all of these pieces in place: storage facilities, feedstock from Marcellus and Utica,  local demand for product, and available brownfield sites with good infrastructure, why not re-establish chemical manufacturing in Philadelphia?

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Globalcon

 

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Marcellus to Manufacturing

 

We will be presenting at the 3rd Annual Marcellus to Manufacturing conference on March 26th-27th in Charleston WV

 

 

The State Journal

 

Quotes from our presentation at InformEx 2014 download

 

InformEx 2014

 

TopLine Analytics presention at the Speciality and Fine Chemicals conference Informex 2014 in Miami: download

 

Canton Repository Article

 

Quotes from the Utica 2014 Manufacturing Summit: download

 

Utica 2104 Manufacturing Summit

 

TopLine Analytics presented Shale gas revolution to Chemical Renaissance to Manufacturing renewal on October 23 in Canton Ohio: download 

 

Brazilian Cracker in Marcellus

 

In a Environment and Energy article our views on a Brazilian ethane cracker located in the Marcellus: dowload

 

Business Journal Interview

 

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White Paper with PricewaterhouseCoopers


TopLine Analytics is contributing author to the Shale gas: Reshaping the US chemicals industry. The paper has been carried or quoted in over 2 dozen publications: contact

 

Shale Petrochemical Manufacturing Summit

 

TopLine Analytics participated in a panel discussion and presented  Innovations in Shale Gas Demand at the November 7-9th Conference in Philadelphia PA: download

 

White Paper on Shale gas tsunami

 

What is the shale gas tsunami, how does it impact US manufacturing and what are manufacturing leaders doing to prepare: download