 market is facing an upheaval as high tariffs on U.S. imports force Chinese buyers… ){kind=link}
The global liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) market is facing an upheaval as high tariffs on U.S. imports force Chinese buyers to swap American cargoes for alternatives from the Middle East, while U.S. shipments divert to Europe and elsewhere in Asia.
The shakeup is expected to depress the shale gas byproducts’ prices and demand, hurt the bottom lines of U.S. shale producers and Chinese petrochemical companies, and boost the appetite for alternatives such as naphtha.
It is also expected to benefit Middle East suppliers, who are being tapped by the Chinese importers as replacements, and opportunistic LPG buyers in Asia in markets such as Japan and India, who are taking advantage of the product’s price declines.
Natural gas liquids (NGLs) – propane, ethane and butane – are the latest energy products ensnared in the escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies. China has already halted U.S. crude and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.
Chinese petrochemical firms reliant on abundant U.S. LPG and ethane supply as feedstock have become the lowest cost producers globally. U.S. oil and gas producers need China to buy their NGLs as domestic supply exceeds demand, and swelling inventories of these products could hurt the economics for shale…