The environment and the gas processing industry

This paper reports on the impact of the environmental movement on the North American NGL and gas processing industries in recent years which has been profound. Lead phasedown in the late 1970s and early 1980s reduced the value of natural gasoline as a gasoline blendstock. The motor gasoline RVP reductions of the late 1980s and early 1990s have sharply reduced the demand for normal butane as a gasoline blendstock. This has created summertime surpluses of refinery butane, generated the need for petrochemical feedstock market development, and depressed prices. On the positive side, several environmental changes appear to have a favorable impact on NGL demand and pricing and, therefore, gas processing economics. The rapid emergence of reformulated gasoline and the minimum oxygen specifications set by the 1990 Clean Air Amendments has created a need for significant expansion of oxygenate supplies, such as methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE)