North America-based petrochemical companies are likely to enjoy a competitive advantage over their rivals based elsewhere for the next several years as a result of the US shale gas revolution, which provides both inexpensive feedstocks and fuel for the petchems industry, a senior Standard & Poor’s analyst said Tuesday. “The ability to extract low-cost ethane and put it through a steam cracker and create ethylene and all the derivatives, that’s been very favorable for companies that have operated in North American versus companies in other parts of the world,” Henry Fukuchi, director of ratings and analytics at S&P, said on the sidelines of the Benposium conference in Houston. S&P and Platts are both units of McGraw-Hill Financial. Global demand for petrochemicals has historically grown about 4% annually and Fukuchi said he expects that growth rate to remain constant for the next several years, driven by economic development in China […]