ExxonMobil begins construction on new Texas ethane cracker
Stefan Baumgarten
19-Jun-2014
HOUSTON (ICIS)–ExxonMobil Chemical has started construction at its new 1.5m tonne/year ethane cracker project and associated facilities in Baytown, Texas, the US-based energy and chemicals major said on Thursday.
The steam cracker will provide ethylene feedstock for downstream chemical processing, including two new 650,000 tonne/year polyethylene (PE) lines at the company’s Mont Belvieu site in Texas. Production at the new plants is expected to start up in 2017, the company said.
“The project is made possible in large part by abundant, affordable supplies of US natural gas for energy and chemical feedstock,” said Steve Pryor, president of ExxonMobil Chemical.
“Shale development has provided US chemical producers a double benefit as an energy source and as a key raw material to make plastics and other essential products, creating jobs and economic activity across the value chain,” Pryor added.
The project will employ about 10,000 construction workers, create 4,000 related jobs in nearby Houston communities and add 350 permanent positions at the Baytown complex, ExxonMobil said.
ExxonMobil has awarded contracts to Linde and Bechtel to build olefins recovery units at Baytown. Mitsui Engineering and Heurtey Petrochem will construct the new olefins furnaces.
At Mont Belvieu, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will construct the two PE lines. Jacobs will oversee “enabling works and interconnections at both locations”, ExxonMobil said.
The followign table lists the cracker projects in the US.
Company | C2 capacity | Location | Start-up |
NEW CRACKERS | |||
Chevron Phillips Chemical | 1.5m tonnes | Cedar Bayou, Texas | 2017 |
ExxonMobil Chemical | 1.5m tonnes | Baytown, Texas | 2017 |
Dow Chemical | 1.5m tonnes | Freeport, Texas | 2017 |
Sasol | 1.5m tonnes | Lake Charles, Louisiana | 2017 |
Formosa Plastics | 1.0m tonnes | Point Comfort, Texas | Q1 2017 |
Formosa Plastics | 1.2m tonnes | Louisiana | NA |
Occidental Chemical/Mexichem | 544,000 tonnes | Ingleside, Texas | 2017 |
Axiall/Lotte | World-scale | Louisiana | 2018 |
Shell | World-scale | Monaca, Pennsylvania | 2019-20 |
Odebrecht | World-scale | Wood County, W Virginia | NA |
Shin-Etsu | 500,000 tonnes | Lousiana | NA |
Williams/partner | 1.5m tonnes | Geismar, Louisiana | NA |
EXPANSIONS | |||
INEOS | 115,000 tonnes | Chocolate Bayou, Texas | 2014 |
Williams | 273,000 tonnes | Geismar, Louisiana | Apr 2014 |
Westlake Chemical | 82,000 tonnes | Calvert City, Kentucky | Q2 2014 |
LyondellBasell | 363,000 tonnes | La Porte, Texas | mid-2014 |
Chevron Phillips Chemical | 91,000 tonnes | Sweeny. Texas | 2014 |
Westlake Chemical | 113,000 tonnes | Lake Charles, Louisiana | 2014 |
LyondellBasell | 113,000 tonnes | Channelview, Texas | 2015 |
LyondellBasell | 363,000 tonnes | Corpus Christi, Texas | Late 2015 |
Huntsman | 19,300 tonnes | Port Neches, Texas | NA |
BASF Fina Petrochemicals | NA | Port Arthur, Texas | 2014 |
Source: Companies, ICIS analysis | |||
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