ExxonMobil, SABIC select site for US petchem project

HOUSTON (ICIS)–ExxonMobil and SABIC have selected San Patricio County, close to Corpus Christi, Texas, as the site for their proposed joint-venture petrochemicals complex on the US Gulf Coast, ExxonMobil said on Wednesday.

In a next step, the companies will apply for air and wastewater permits from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Each company will make a final decision on the investment after the required permits have been granted. The companies first announced plans for the project in July 2016.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that the project “is a tremendous win for not just San Patricio County, but for the entire state of Texas”.

“This record-breaking project illustrates that our business climate is exactly what leading and growing companies are seeking when investing in their future,” Abbott added.

The proposed multibillion dollar investment would include a world-scale ethane steam cracker with a capacity of 1.8m tonnes/year of ethylene, which would feed a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit and two polyethylene (PE) units.

The project, one of 11 ExxonMobil announced as part of its 10-year, $20bn “Growing the Gulf” initiative, is expected to create thousands of jobs during the construction phase, as well as 600 new, full-time jobs and 3,500 indirect jobs during operations.

It is also expected to generate more than $22bn in economic output during the construction phase and more than $50bn in economic output during the first six years of operations, ExxonMobil said.

Image: Several companies are building world-scale ethane crackers along the US Gulf. Staff photo