In the past few decades, the global petrochemical industry has undergone tremendous changes from technology updates to shift in place of production. Before 1980, the United States, Western Europe, and Japan were the key producers of primary petrochemical products. But currently the United States, Middle East, and China have occupied the positions.

Among them, the United States is the most important oil power in the world, with large oil and natural gas reserves, and high level of mining and production technology. Since the US shale revolution, the growth in shale oil and shale gas production has greatly increased the capacity of the supply side, while stimulating the development and progress of the petrochemical industry.

In addition to the United States, the Middle East and China, India has experienced rapid economic growth in the past two decades, and its petrochemical industry has also made significant progress. In the past five years, the average annual growth rate of the Indian petrochemical industry is about 10-12%. Moreover, the Indian petrochemical market is still very promising and is expected to grow at a rate of 12-15% per year from 2018 to 2028.

With the gradual development of the global economy, especially the development of emerging economies, the global demand for petrochemical products will continue to increase, but due to the increasing global environmental protection requirements, the focus of the world’s petrochemical industry will be shifted from the increase in total size and capacity to quality, efficiency and environmentally-friendly upgrading.

The development trend of the international petrochemical industry in the future is expected to be change in raw material structure and the entering of low-carbon resources in large quantity into the chemical application field.