据油气工程5月25日消息称，自2013年以来，美国乙烷产量快速增长。乙烷是一种主要由天然气加工厂生产的碳氢气体液体(HGL)。产量几乎翻了一番，从2013年第一季度的95万桶/天增加到2021年第一季度的185万桶/天。
美国能源信息署（EIA）在其《短期能源展望》中预测，随着美国石化工业的增长以及对全球石化工厂的乙烷出口的增加，乙烷产量将继续增长，到2022年第四季度达到260万桶/天。
美国对乙烷的需求一直在稳步增长，原因是石化行业使用乙烷作为原料的乙烯裂解装置的产能不断扩大。乙烯是一种用于生产塑料和树脂的基本化学品。EIA估计，美国石化行业的乙烯生产能力从2013年第一季度的近2700万吨/年(十多年来首次增加乙烯裂化装置的产能)扩大到2020年的近4000万吨/年。乙烯产能的增长导致国内对乙烷作为原料的需求从2013年第一季度的96万桶/天增长到2020年第四季度的183万桶/天。
由于2月中旬的冬季风暴关闭了墨西哥湾沿岸的大多数石化裂解炉，2021年第一季度乙烷消费量下降至151万桶/天。
EIA预计，随着全球完成更多的石化裂化装置，美国乙烷出口的国际需求也将增长。美国的乙烷出口始于2014年，当时第一条出口管道建成，将乙烷运往加拿大的石化工厂。从那时起，增加了更多的出口能力，包括三个海上出口码头，这些码头用特制的油轮向海外运送低温冷却乙烷。EIA预计乙烷出口量将增长50%以上，从2021年第一季度的30万桶/天增长到2022年第4季度的46万桶/天。
朱佳妮 摘译自 油气工程
原文如下：
US ethane production to grow
US production of ethane, a hydrocarbon gas liquid (HGL) produced primarily in natural gas processing plants, has grown rapidly since 2013. Production has nearly doubled from 0.95 million bpd in 1Q13 to 1.85 million bpd in 1Q21.
In its ‘Short-Term Energy Outlook’, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecast ethane production to continue to grow in response to a growing US petrochemical industry and rising ethane exports to petrochemical plants around the world, reaching 2.6 million bpd by 4Q22.
US demand for ethane has been growing steadily as a result of capacity expansions of ethylene crackers in the petrochemical industry, which use ethane as a feedstock. Ethylene is a basic chemical used to produce plastics and resins. The EIA estimates that the US petrochemical industry expanded its capacity to produce ethylene from almost 27 million tpy in 1Q13 (when the first capacity additions to ethylene crackers in over a decade came online) to almost 40 million tpy in 2020. This growth in ethylene capacity caused domestic demand for ethane as a feedstock to grow from 960 000 bpd in 1Q13 to 1.83 million bpd in the 4Q20.
Ethane consumption declined in 1Q21 (dropping to 1.51 million bpd) because of a mid-February winter storm that shuttered most petrochemical crackers along the Gulf Coast.
The EIA expects international demand for US ethane exports to also grow as more petrochemical crackers around the world are completed. US exports of ethane began in 2014, when the first export pipelines were completed, shipping ethane to petrochemical plants in Canada. Since then, more export capacity had been added, including three marine export terminals that ship cryogenically cooled ethane overseas in specially built tankers. The EIA expects ethane exports to grow more than 50%, from 300 000 bpd in 1Q21 to 460 000 bpd in 4Q22.
免责声明：本网转载自其它媒体的文章，目的在于弘扬石化精神，传递更多石化信息，并不代表本网赞同其观点和对其真实性负责，在此我们谨向原作者和原媒体致以敬意。如果您认为本站文章侵犯了您的版权，请与我们联系，我们将第一时间删除。
