Exxon Mobil to decide soon on $10B Texas petrochemical plant

[thackney]

Exxon Mobil to decide soon on $10B Texas petrochemical plant
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2017/03/22/exxon-mobil-to-decide-soon-on-10b-texas-petrochemical-plant/
Posted by Jordan Blum Date: March 22, 2017

Exxon Mobil Corp. said it will decide as soon as May whether to move forward with a planned $10 billion petrochemical complex north of Corpus Christi now that it has the desired tax breaks approved.

The Gregory-Portland School Board approved the requested tax abatement late Tuesday evening, just one day after the San Patricio County Commissioners also approved the property tax breaks totaling $460 million. The votes were delayed a couple of months because of community opposition, especially from Portland residents who fear their bedroom community transforming into a new industrial corridor.

“In the weeks and months ahead, we will continue to listen to the community. We will continue to learn from those with whom we have the privilege to dialogue with – regardless of whether or not they support the project,” wrote Robert Tully, Exxon’s project executive, in a prepared statement.

The project is a joint venture between Exxon Mobil and the state-owned Saudi Basic Industries Corp., or SABIC, that’s called Gulf Coast Growth Ventures. Tully said the team will wrap up the site selection in the next two or three months and then begin the required permitting processes. They considered three other Texas and Louisiana sites, but always preferred the Corpus Christi region for its proximity to pipelines, railways, highways, employee housing and port access.

The plant, to be just outside the city limits of Portland and Gregory, sparked strong opposition in the communities, which together have about 20,000 residents. The debate, as in many other cities and towns where major developments are proposed, turned on the question of whether the promised jobs and economic growth were worth the plant’s effect on the character and quality of life of the communities.

The plant, the largest proposed in Texas, would create an estimated 11,000 construction jobs and 600 permanent ones, and feature the world’s biggest ethane cracker, which processes a component of natural gas into ethylene, the primary building block of most plastics....

[thackney]

http://www.gulfcoastgv.com/plastics-project

thylene from an ethane cracker would feed three derivative units: one monoethylene glycol unit and two polyethylene units.  Monoethylene glycol can be used to make polyester for the manufacture of clothing and to make polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a plastic used for beverage bottles and containers.  Polyethylene is another type of plastic that can be used in a range of applications, including packaging, consumer and industrial products, agricultural film, and building and construction materials.



http://www.gulfcoastgv.com/local-hiring

he Gulf Coast Growth Ventures project expects to create over 600 new permanent jobs with good salaries and benefits. These are important jobs that have high skill requirements. We will work closely with local educational institutions to create curriculum and training facilities to develop our workforce locally. The project will also create an additional 3,500 indirect jobs for local industry. These include a wide range of employment opportunities from additional jobs for restaurants and hotels, maintenance and operational service providers for the facility, suppliers of goods and materials, and specialty contracting companies.

In the San Patricio and Nueces County area, there is currently a construction workforce of 10,000 people who live and work in the area. The timing of this project fits well with Economic Development Board projections of a tapering off of current work projects so many of the construction jobs will be available to local workers.
 
The project is committed to developing a pathway for the local workforce to gain the necessary skills and experience. We are pursuing opportunities to work with local community colleges, high schools and other institutions to develop and enhance existing workforce training programs.

During construction, the project’s major construction contractors will be focused on sourcing construction trades from the local area, providing continued employment for local construction workers.

In hiring for operational jobs, the project will focus on the local workforce. Because this will be a new facility, with high levels of expertise and experience needed at the outset, the project would likely bring in a core set of experienced employees from other company facilities. The project anticipates that the majority of the remaining employees are likely to be local hires. The project will have about five years to hire and train its workforce.We anticipate that we will hire early, send the new hires to other company facilities to gain experience, and then move them back to the new facility when it becomes operational.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Hard to believe that a $10b expenditure supplies only 600 jobs, even if they are high paying.

[thackney]

Hard to believe that a $10b expenditure supplies only 600 jobs, even if they are high paying.

Lots of automation and controls, remotely controlled valve operators, and the like rack up the cost and reduce the manpower required.

In most of the plants I do work in, the majority of the people are not permanent staff.  Note that the "3,500 indirect jobs" includes maintenance and operational service providers for the facility...specialty contracting companies.

[catfish1957]

Lots of automation and controls, remotely controlled valve operators, and the like rack up the cost and reduce the manpower required.

In most of the plants I do work in, the majority of the people are not permanent staff.  Note that the "3,500 indirect jobs" includes maintenance and operational service providers for the facility...specialty contracting companies.

To elaborate further , as one who hailed from plants.....   Automation from advanced controls implemented mostly in the '90's cut operational personnel staffs by about 50%.  Since then fine tuning has even pared off more.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Lots of automation and controls, remotely controlled valve operators, and the like rack up the cost and reduce the manpower required.

In most of the plants I do work in, the majority of the people are not permanent staff.  Note that the "3,500 indirect jobs" includes maintenance and operational service providers for the facility...specialty contracting companies.

Yeah, I was just wondering how many jobs McDonalds or Starbucks would create, albeit low paying ones, with $10 billion in capital investment.

This is symptomatic of the problems capitalists have vs socialists:  to the latter, flipping burgers or making coffee is the preferred choice as more people are employed, regardless of how much money they are paid or how much benefit to the country is being made.

Exxon: bad as it does not create enough jobs and spews filthy particles in air.  Starbucks and McDonalds good as it creates a lot more jobs (i.e. - more Dem votes)

[thackney]

Yeah, I was just wondering how many jobs McDonalds or Starbucks would create, albeit low paying ones, with $10 billion in capital investment.

This is symptomatic of the problems capitalists have vs socialists:  to the latter, flipping burgers or making coffee is the preferred choice as more people are employed, regardless of how much money they are paid or how much benefit to the country is being made.

Exxon: bad as it does not create enough jobs and spews filthy particles in air.  Starbucks and McDonalds good as it creates a lot more jobs (i.e. - more Dem votes)

More jobs and less return on the dollar.