US Phillips 66 to spend more money on possible cracker for CP Chem

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Phillips 66 plans to spend $572m for its share of the Chevron Phillips Chemical joint venture in 2019, with some of that money going towards the continued development of a second Gulf Coast petrochemical project, the US based refiner said on Friday.

The company has yet to make a final investment decision (FID) on the cracker, it said. Earlier this year, the refiner said that such a decision could be made by late 2019 or early 2020.

Out of the $572m, $282m includes sustaining capital, Phillips 66 said. The growth capital will fund the possible petrochemical complex as well possible debottlenecking projects at existing units, the company said.

For refining, Phillips 66 plans to spend $923m. Out of this, $411m will go towards growth capital, and this will include an upgrade on of the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit at the company’s Sweeny refinery in Texas.

Overall, the 2019 capital budget of Phillips 66 is $2.29bn, excluding the midstream company Phillips 66 Partners. Phillips 66 Partners brings the total to $2.89bn.

Other projects include an isomerisation unit at the company’s refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and 300,000 bbl/day of new fractionation capacity at the company’s Sweeny hub in Texas.