Impact of shale gas revolution on S'pore 'minimal'

[SINGAPORE] The development of the shale gas market in the United States may be making a revolutionary impact on Europe and on the US itself, but the head of one of the world's largest privately held logistics companies believes that Singapore and its chemicals industry should stay relatively unscathed.

Richard Bolte, chairman and chief executive of BDP International, noted that many companies building steam crackers, for example, have been migrating back to the US because its shale gas industry has lowered energy costs substantially there, with the full impact of lowered costs to emerge in three to five years.

Steam crackers "crack" feedstock such as naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas to produce lighter hydrocarbons.