This is one of CP Chemicals’ ethylene production facilities in the Houston area. The article that’s attached was published in 2001, after natural gas prices spiked to over $10/Mmbtu in winter 2020 (about $12.50 in 2025 dollars). The consensus of the time was that the natural gas supply surplus from conventional drilling that had kept gas “affordable and abundant” for nearly 20 years would continue. But, the gas fired power generation buildout supporting deregulated power markets in California and Texas was just beginning.
Gas prices remained elevated until Mitchell Energy (now Devon) literally cracked the code on onshore fracking to bring development costs for shale gas to under $3/mmbtu in 2003-2004.
The concern over tightening supply jumpstarted a renaissance in LNG IMPORT terminal development. At one point there were over 40 permits pending for inbound gas supply. The terminals that were actually built during that era, beginning with the Freeport terminal in Texas, were commissioned, but remained inactive until shale gas supply growth provided a reason to retrofit them for exports a decade later.