The chemical industry's margins are starting to widen from cheaper shale gas produced by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Fracking has sent natural gas prices down in the U.S. and has also made chemicals that are based on ethane to fall in price. Chemical engineers can convert ethane to ethylene, a fundamental and widely used chemical feedstock. This industrial chemistry is connecting the economic phenomenon of fracking to the chemical industry. Ethylene is a building-block for a host of chemicals and polymers and is a plant hormone used to induce flowering and fruit ripening.
With this in mind, we can check to see if there are any attractively priced chemical companies, which would benefit from this secular price drop in ethylene.
Fracking Gains
Westlake Chemical (WLK) and LyondellBasell (LYB), the largest producers of ethylene in the United States, reported their highest-ever profits in 2012. Fracking-generated ethane is
Complete Story »
