ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief overview of the most important basic petrochemicals, and discusses the vast catalog of intermediate chemicals derived from the basic chemicals. With access to cheap gas-based feedstocks, petrochemical production has been booming; in 1979 Canada became a net exporter of chemicals for the first time. Indicative studies imply that 68 percent of chemical firms in the Third World are subsidiaries or affiliates of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) companies. A few countries have made considerable progress in developing domestic chemical industries. Brazil, Mexico, India, Taiwan, Israel, and South Korea are all fairly advanced in the production of basic chemicals, and recent reports on China indicate that its chemical production is expanding rapidly. Of 26 petrochemical plants planned or under construction in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), all are being purchased from OECD firms, and in only four of the plants is the USSR actually engaged in the engineering or construction phases.
