Formosa Plastic Corp. (FPC) will invest in petrochemicals and shale gas exploration through its overseas subsidiary, FPC USA, in an effort to raise deployment in the U.S. FPC holds a 22.6% stake in FPC USA which can increase the production capacity of ethylene and propylene with the mature and commercialization of low-cost shale gas exploration technologies. The subsidiary owns 300 natural-gas wells and will expand annual capacities of ethylene and propylene by 2.1 million mt and 1.15 million mt, respectively by the end of 2013. The cost for the expansion is estimated at around NT 30 billion. 1.62 million mt of ethylene in each of FPC’s two plants in Louisiana and Texas can be produced by FPC USA. Even so, the company needs to outsource 400,000mt of ethylene for downstream plants in the U.S.