From Refining to Chemicals, a Switch of the Yield in 4 Stages
Over the last decade, the demand for main petrochemicals intermediates (ethylene, propylene, paraxylene) increased by an annual growth rate of around 4%. That is a growth rate very similar with the one observed for the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the same period. On the other hand, since 2010, fuel demand growth followed global population change with an annual growth of 1% per year. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), petrochemicals are rapidly becoming the largest driver of global oil consumption; they are set to account for more than a third of the growth in oil demand by 2030, and nearly half by 2050, ahead of trucks, aviation and shipping.
