The surge in production of associated and nonassociated natural gas from US shale gas and tight oil plays, combined with a wave of new petrochemical steam-crackers coming online, has created a major pinch-point for producers and purchasers of those ethane gas molecules. This is due to a lack of adequate NGL fractionation capacity to separate and fractionate the mixed natural gas liquids (Y-grade) stream into purity products, namely ethane, according to a recent market analysis by IHS Markit.