Is ethane based ethylene noncompetitive to naphtha based units? – 30 Mar 2016

Ethane based ethylene production seems have suffered a cost disadvantage subsequent to the steep fall in crude prices.
]Naphtha based ethylene output has showed smarter returns than those that are ethane of Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) based.
The great shale advantage that was meant to be bestowed to North American producers has all but disappeared because of the fall in crude prices.
The focus now seems to be on using methanol to make olefins in places such as China. But Chinese production using this route is also turning out to be expensive.
In the meanwhile, margins are expected go up as there is likely to be a shortage of ethylene on account of postponement of planned capacity in North America on account of lower returns from ethane based capacities.