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Chemical & Petrochemical

The Alberta chemical and petrochemical industry is the second largest manufacturing industry in the province. It produces over $9.5 billion worth of products annually. About half of these products go to global export markets, including the U.S.A., China, Korea, Mexico, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.

The industry has four segments:

  1. petrochemicals
  2. fertilizers
  3. inorganic chemicals
  4. specialty and fine chemicals

Petrochemicals is the largest of these segments. It benefits from an abundant, competitively priced supply of hydrocarbon feedstocks. Over half of Canada's petrochemical capacity is located in Alberta.

Petrochemical production is primarily ethane based. Ethane is a component of natural gas. It contains two carbon atoms and six hydrogen atoms per molecule. Ethane is converted to ethylene by cracking. The result is two carbon atoms with a double bond and four hydrogen atoms per molecule. Ethylene is used as a building block to make plastics, antifreeze, film, fibers, and other products.

Natural gas is used as a fuel for petrochemical production, as well as a feedstock for fertilizer and methanol production. The chemical sector consumes 40% of the natural gas used in Alberta. This equals six percent of all the natural gas produced in the province, including the ethane used as feedstock.

The petrochemical industry in Alberta continues to grow. The Alberta industry is competitive worldwide and enjoys higher labour productivity than the U.S.A. A recently constructed ethylene cracker owned by NOVA Chemicals and Dow Chemical at Joffre is the largest single ethane based cracker in the world. This site with its two existing crackers has the highest capacity of any ethylene production site in the world. The second largest ethane based cracker in the world is the Dow Chemical cracker at Fort Saskatchewan. For more information, visit:

Recently completed projects and expansions of existing facilities have increased Alberta's ethylene and derivatives capacity by over 40%. Total cost of these projects was in the order of $3.5 billion.

Numerous Industry Employment Opportunities

The petrochemical industry is a major contributor to Alberta's economy. As a result, Alberta suppliers also have the expertise to satisfy customers in the global marketplace. The industry provides employment opportunities to graduates from Alberta's 35 post-secondary learning institutions. The 7,773 engineers, scientists, technologists, operators, tradesmen, and support personnel working in Alberta's chemical industry share an annual payroll of $526 million.

Alberta's Chemical Industry Operators

Major players in Alberta's chemical industry include the following companies:

For more information about Alberta's Chemical and Petrochemical Industry, contact:

Updated: April 2005
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