Dow executive sees natural gas as ‘game changer’ for US manufacturing
George Biltz, Dow Chemical’s vice president of energy and climate change, testified before a US Senate committee this week about the future of natural gas and the opportunity for a US manufacturing renaissance fueled by competitively-priced natural gas.
“Natural gas can be a game changer. It can fuel a renaissance in American manufacturing, but only if we produce enough of it, use it wisely and don’t repeat the mistakes of the past,” Biltz said.
“We can create the best opportunity if we enact policies to encourage natural gas production, avoid legislating natural gas demand and enact a comprehensive energy policy to improve American energy security.”
Dow was the only industry witness, officials said. The company is one of the largest industrial users of natural gas, using it both as a fuel for heating, cooling and processing, as well as a raw material for the manufacturing of chemicals and other products.
Manufacturers like Dow turn natural gas and natural gas liquids into routine products, such as insulation and food packaging, as well as advanced materials that support wind and solar energy.
Biltz informed the committee that using natural gas for manufacturing provides an eight-fold multiplier in value to the economy by adding jobs and products into the market.
He said that research has shown that a 25% increase in ethane supply, a petrochemical byproduct of natural gas, would generate:
- 17,000 direct, high-paying jobs
- $4.4 billion in annual tax revenue
- $33 billion increase in US chemical production
- $132 billion in US economic output
Leveraging US natural gas reserves, Dow said it is investing more than $500 million on ethane cracking and ethylene supply improvements on the US Gulf coast and has proposed further plans representing billions of dollars.
The company is also focusing on increasing its ethylene and propylene production, as well as integrating feedstock supply from recent shale gas discoveries, it said.
“The future of natural gas is very bright. It will play a vital role in meeting the nation’s energy demand over the next decades and be critical for the growth of US manufacturing,” said Biltz.
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