Shell Chemicals is the petrochemicals arm of Royal Dutch Shell. The name "Shell Chemicals" refers to the nearly seventy companies engaged in chemicals businesses for Shell, which together make up one of the largest petrochemical producers in the world.
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Shell companies first entered the chemicals industry in 1929, via a partnership in the Netherlands called NV Mekog, which manufactured ammonia from coke-oven gas. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Shell Chemical Company (founded 1929) began the world's first production of ammonia from natural gas in California in 1931. It also started production of chemical solvents from refinery gases in California during the early 1930s while in 1942 it pioneered the production of butadiene, a key raw material for synthetic rubbers.In 1941, production of Teepol liquid detergent began at Stanlow in the UK, the first manufacture of a petroleum-based organic chemical in Europe. In the decades that have followed, Shell Chemicals companies have been significant players in the growth of the global petrochemicals sector and have developed some of its key manufacturing processes.
The Shell Chemicals portfolio is focused on six product businesses and two international joint ventures. It includes the operation a number of large-scale plants that produce high volume products. Shell chemicals companies employ around 8,500 people worldwide.
Shell chemicals companies source product from manufacturing facilities around the world. Some of these facilities are operated by Shell chemicals companies, some by other businesses within the Shell Group and others by joint ventures in which Shell holds varying levels of investment. Currently, Shell chemicals companies' main manufacturing locations for petrochemical building blocks are:
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