Natural Gas Liquids Market Seen Rising Through 2024

The market intelligence company comments that the growth will be driven by increasing NGL applications across industries, among them the traditional space heating and cooking markets, but are also increasing as dedicated inputs and feedstock for petrochemical plants and vehicle fuel blends. Noted is that though the chemical compositions of ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutene, and pentanes plus (natural gasoline) are similar, applications for the fuels vary widely.

Ethane dominates the NGL market with the largest share of field production. It is most commonly used to produce ethylene, which is used to manufacture plastics. While propane is widely burned for heating and cooking applications, it is also commonly used as a feedstock in the petrochemical industry. A blend of propane and butane is a common vehicle fuel in some parts of Europe, Turkey, and Australia. Natural gasoline can be blended into various kinds of fuel for combustion engines, and is useful in energy recovery from wells and oil sands. Butane is commonly used in gasoline blending and in lighters.

On the basis of geography, the NGL market is classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The Middle East had the largest production in 2015, followed by North America and Europe. The U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates were the leading countries in their various regions with respect to production. Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific also had significant production last year. These regions are expected to increase NGL production during the forecast period owing to rising demand. Increasing use of NGLs in petrochemical applications and growing use of shale resources have boosted production across the globe. However, the growth of the NGL market is hampered by increasing use of alternatives such as naphtha.