Comparison of the production costs of light olefins in the EU and other countries

Our study compares chemical production costs in the EU and other countries to understand if these costs are higher in the case of Europe. Our analysis focuses on light olefins (ethylene and propylene), as ethylene is the largest value petrochemical commodity produced globally. The countries selected for comparison are USA, Russia, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia, since they have high shares of extra-EU28 trade. A bottom-up approach has been followed, based on information at facility level, including 122 steam cracking facilities (the primary process for producing olefins) and 224 facilities producing only propylene. Taking into consideration the complex differences in technologies and co-products between operators, costs are broken down to six components: 1) Feedstock, 2) Credits (due to co-products), 3) Electricity, 4) Thermal energy 5) Other materials (chemicals, catalysts etc.) and 6) Labour and other costs (salaries, overheads etc.). Our findings suggest that although interesting observations emerge in each of these components, overall costs compare more favourably between the countries than initially thought.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio