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The world’s expanding middle class, particularly in China and India, is creating demand for plastics and other chemicals that will grow more than 4 percent a year, double the demand growth for energy, Neil Chapman, president of Exxon Mobil Chemical, said at a luncheon of National Association of Manufacturing held at Exxon’s campus here. A large chunk of the chemicals and plastics consumed in Asia will be exported from the Texas Gulf Coast, he said.

Although carbon emissions are declining in the developed world due to increased energy efficiency, renewable power and natural gas replacing coal more, the rapid growth of the developing world will mean global emissions ticking upward until about 2030 before slowly beginning to fall, he said.

“Climate change is an issue we have to address as a society,” Chapman said. “But, at the same time, there’s 1 billion people without electricity in the world.”

Exxon is investing several billion dollars to increase the production of ethylene and polyethylene – the world’s most common plastic – at its Baytown and Mont Belvieu plants. The project represents Exxon Mobil’s first major U.S. chemical expansion in more than 15 years with completion slated for the second half of 2017.

Exxon also has a joint venture with the Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp., known as SABIC. The companies will soon decide whether to build another massive chemical plant in southeastern Texas or Louisiana.

The demand for plastics is largely driven by rising incomes in China and other developing countries, where people are spending more of their money on consumer products, many of them made of or packaged in plastic.

When disposable incomes increase, Chapman said, people buy cars or shop at fancier grocery stores instead of outdoor neighborhood markets. “Everything is covered in plastic [in grocery stores]. In my business, we love that,” he said.

Much of the plastics production needed to supply the developing word will come from the Gulf Coast, where access to cheap and ample natural gas has fueled a petrochemical boom. A component of natural gas, ethane, is the primary building block of most plastics.

The American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry trade group, estimates that about 275 petrochemical projects are under construction or planned across the country through 2023, and they will create about 75,000 jobs. The combined cost i...