High natural gas prices hurting US chemical industry: Bodman

Washington (Platts)--22Jun2005

US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman Wednesday highlighted growing concern about
US natural gas prices, which he said were the most expensive in the world.
"High gas prices are causing significant job dislocation in the chemical
industry by shifting production abroad," Bodman said in a speech to the
National Petroleum Council. "This a trend that, as far as I can tell, seems
likely to continue." 

The secretary said the US needed to "do more" to ensure that the nation had
"adequate and affordable" supplies of natural gas to be used as both a fuel
source and as an industrial feedstock. Independent Project Analysis, a
consulting firm based in Northern Virginia, recently reported that high US gas
prices have cost America's chemical sector nearly 90,000 jobs and $50-bil in
business to overseas operations. Of 120 chemical plants being built around the
world with price tags of $1-bil or more, just one is in the US while 50 are in
China.

This story was originally published in Platts Petrochemical Alert
http://petrochemcialalert.platts.com

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