Imagine a country the same size as the USA with four times the population.

That nation would be India. In 2022 India had over 1.4 billion people. A lot of mouths to feed. Shale Crescent USA’s president, Nathan Lord, just returned from India where he spoke at the India Chemical Conference 2023 in Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Mumbai has a population of approximately 12.5 million people. It is one of the most densely populated cities in the world with over 73,000 people per square mile. India is a country of extremes and diversity. Nathan saw this first hand. The conference was held at a 5-Star hotel, but just outside the hotel was abject poverty with donkeys, kids with no shoes, and people living in shacks of metal siding and tarps. Open sewers are the norm.

Shale Crescent USA was invited to speak by the executives of Reliance Industries (A very large Indian conglomerate) and Thirumalai (TCL), who is building a plant in the Ohio Valley that will ultimately employ 200 people from the Shale Crescent USA region. TCL is the first Indian company to locate in Shale Crescent USA. These executives told us more Indian companies are interested in coming to the USA. They wanted the attendees at ICC to hear about the Shale Crescent USA advantage — allowing a company to locate on top of their energy and feedstock and in the middle of their customers.

Nathan also had the opportunity to attend the CEO Roundtable at ICC and meet individually with Indian companies. Shale Crescent was exactly where we needed to be. People in India are as familiar with the USA as we are of India, which isn’t very familiar at all. Many of them thought all the USA’s natural gas and oil came from Texas and the Gulf Coast. Nathan changed that thinking with his presentation. Indian petrochemical companies now know: 1) Shale Crescent USA produces more natural gas than Texas. 2) If SCUSA was a country it would be the 3rd largest natural gas producing country in the world. 3) SCUSA is the ONLY place at scale where a company can locate on top of their energy and feedstock and in the middle of their customers.

Hollie Hubbert from the West Virginia Development Office also attended the ICC conference. Hollie and Nathan both gave me insights they learned on the trip. India has a growing middle class. They want what we have, cars, TVs, computers, modern appliances. Similar to large U.S. cities like New York and Chicago most middle-class Indians have only small modest apartments in Mumbai. Because labor is cheap in India many established Indians can afford their own private Chefs and people to take care of their apartment and do laundry. For others, life is hard and people work long hours but Nathan said no one he met had a victim mentality. Upward mobility is not just possible but normal.

Most Indians have cell phones and electricity.

The country has good internet access.

India is the third largest producer of electricity in the world. Coal produces 46% of the country’s electricity, followed by oil 23%, biomass 21%, natural gas 6% hydro, nuclear, solar and wind make up 4%. Natural gas comes to India in the form of LNG from Australia and the USA. It is much more expensive than natural gas in the USA. Part of India’s natural gas comes from the Marcellus and the Utica through Cove Point Maryland and is helping to eliminate indoor air pollution, improving the health of women and children. Delhi is the only state with universal access to LPG for clean cooking energy. This is a big deal since it replaces firewood, dung cakes

and agriculture residue, which creates high levels of indoor air pollution. Air pollution in India is a serious problem. Of the 30 most polluted cities in the world in 2019, 21 were in India.

Based on information this week at the World Petrochemical Conference, India’s economy is expected to grow 6% in 2023 followed by China at 5%. The USA’s economy is only expected to grow by 1%. Consumers in the Indian middle class have money and want consumer goods like U.S. consumers do. India uses a lot of plastic consumer products.

Energy and feedstock are important to the Indian petrochemical industry. Nathan’s meetings with individual companies were very positive. They see using U.S. natural gas and selling into the large U.S. market as great opportunities. This week at WPC, I met with the President of Reliance Industries who remembered and commended Nathan for his presentation in India.

Listening to Nathan and Hollie and after looking at the pictures, we are truly blessed in the United States. We have space. Our air and water are clean. I don’t have an open sewer outside my house. Compared to the rest of the world even our poor have a high standard of living. We have an opportunity to help India with energy. This trip is just a beginning. Like TCL other Indian companies can come to our region and create high wage jobs. Working together both countries and their people can win economically.

We need to think globally for many reasons. Environmentally, Indian products made in the USA and sold in the USA produce much lower emissions. The products WILL be made somewhere. Making them in the Shale Crescent USA is good for our economy. It gives jobs and hope to people in our region and creates a cleaner planet. Thanks Nathan!

Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing and sales for Shale Crescent USA, www.shalecrescentusa.com. He is a professional engineer with a master’s in environmental engineering and over 40 years’ experience in the energy industry. He is a professional speaker and author of four books and numerous published articles.