With constant and increasing talk of climate change and environmental preservation and moves away from oil and gas related products, major firms are increasing their manufacturing of plastic products. These firms include ExxonMobil and Shell.
Given that petrochemicals (the chemical materials that derived from petroleum through a process of refining) now makes up to 14 percent of the use of oil, it is anticipated that there will be a doubling of the production of plastic over the next two decades. Indeed, according to Steven Feit, Staff Attorney on the Climate and Energy Program at the Center for International and Environmental Law (CIEL) said:
“In the context of a world trying to shift off of fossil fuels as an energy source, this is where [oil and gas companies] see the growth. [As such these large corporations] are looking for a way to monetize it. You can think of plastic as a kind of subsidy for fracking.”
in addition, today natural-gas futures dropped to their nadir in almost four years. plummeting below $2 million British thermal units the drop resulted in a 5.4 percent dive to $1.895 per MMBtu. This is simultaneous to the explosion in shale which has revolutionized the entire energy industry in America, inundating the market with natural gas and oil. Predictions by the US Energy Information Administration include an increase of 2.9 percent this year in the production of dry natural gas.