Summary: The issue of ICIS Chemical Business for the week of August 29, 2011, concentrates on the impact the massive deposits of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale are having on the petrochemical sector: Shell has announced it will build a new ethylene cracker in the US northeast, and several other companies have expressed interest in doing the same. Several US states are vying for these projects, and whenever these plants are built, it will be a boon to engineering and construction firms. Also in this issue are looks at Russia’s revitalized petrochemical sector; how to avoid the major economic and social crises that may arrive by 2021; and among the many regular weekly columns are projections that butadiene prices are set to rally again.
