TAIPEI: Taiwan’s petrochemical giant Formosa Plastics Group plans to pour another $2 billion into its US investment projects as part of efforts to profit from North America’s shale energy revolution, local media said.

The investment was spurred by cheap supplies of natural gas, Wang Wen-yuan, director of the group, said at the group’s annual sports day event, according to the Economic Daily News and Apple Daily.

The ethylene produced from shale gas costs only around $300 per ton, compared with $900 per ton from oil, he was cited as saying. Ethylene is an organic compound widely used in chemical industry.

Plants will be set up to produce ethylene glycol (EG), a chemical compound widely used in the production of polyester fibers, and high-density polyethylene (HDPE), a chemical material used in manufacturing plastic bottles and corrosion-resistant piping, Wang said.

A power plant that uses waste heat to generate power will also be established, he said. The papers said the annual ethylene capacity of Formosa Plastics Group’s US facilities will be boosted to 3.9 million tons, compared with 3.0 million tons of its capacity in Taiwan.