Since the dawning of shale gas revolution, light feedstock has become an important trend in petrochemical industry. Shortly afterwards, Mainland China has been proactively developing coal chemical industry. Technics to generate ethylene from coal and methanol has become a controversial issue in petrochemical industry these days. During oil price inflation, it is more competitive to produce ethylene from coal chemical industry than through naphtha. As a result, businesses which rely heavily on naphtha not only encounter competition from shale gas, but also fear emerging coal chemical industries stealing their businesses in petrochemical industry. However, on the second half of 2014, naphtha price has been declining as oil price dropped. Therefore, naphtha has once again regained its power in price competitiveness. Since the issue in feedstock diversity has started to emerge, price variation will influence competitiveness in diverse feedstock under rigorous competition. In the future, it will be impossible for any single material to own exclusive monopoly in the entire petrochemical industry.
I.Feedstock Proportions are Gradually Changing
II.Product Structures Differ between Diverse Feedstock
III.Respective Districts Utilize their Advantages to Develop Petrochemical Industry
IV.Conclusion
Illustration 1: Changes in Feeding Proportions
Illustration 2: Mainland Chinese Project Distributions in Coal Chemical Indstry Development
Table 1: Product Composition Generated from Different Feedstock
Table 2: The US has elevtated production in petrochemical products by utilizing shale gas.