Shell made big news when it announced plans to construct an ethane cracker in 2011 and subsequently chose to site the plant in Pennsylvania. Recently-announced capital expenditure cutbacks could impact plans to move forward with the project, but nothing has been officially announced.

With Marcellus shale gas production surging, the plant would crack ethane produced with the gas into ethylene, an important ingredient for making plastics.

Another company – EmberClear – is looking to capitalize on Pennsylvania’s increasing natural gas production by constructing a gas-to-liquids plant that would produce 500,000 gallons of gasoline per day. The plant would cost $800 million to $1 billion and just received preliminary approval from local town supervisors in South Heidelberg.

“We have an abundance of natural gas in the state and it makes all the sense in the world to use it in some fashion.” – Jim Palumbo, Project Manager for EmberClear, as reported by NPR’s State Impact