From Alaska Highway News (Canada)
The value of natural gas liquids (NGLs) imports could exceed the value of exports in 2015, something that has not happened in at least 25 years, according the National Energy Board.
The NEB cites Statistics Canada data that shows Canada’s trade balance in NGLs has been on a downward trend for more than a decade.
Natural gas liquids are a byproduct of natural gas extraction.
Some uses include propane for heating and crop drying, as well as use as a petrochemical feedstock for propane dehydrogenation plants that can turn NGLs into propylene and polypropylene that is used in plastics.
“The declining value of Canada’s net NGL exports is partly the result of low NGL prices and increased competition from rising U.S. propane production, which has increased 40 per cent since 2011,” the NEB said in a Jan. 6 report, also pointing to the the Mariner West and Vantage pipelines in the United States for ethane imports.
