Cella reaffirmed an optimistic future for the petrochemical industry despite the recent lower crude oil prices and subsequent compression in petrochemical margins from a year ago.

The company expects North America's chemical feedstock and energy costs to remain among the lowest in the world, ExxonMobil Chemical’s vice president Matt Aguiar says.

Natural gas liquids (NGLs) will surpass naphtha as the number one petrochemical feedstock globally by 2025, an ExxonMobil Chemical senior executive said on 29 March.