LyondellBasell will build a major plastics plant in Texas or Louisiana
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/07/29/lyondellbasell-will-build-a-major-plastics-plant-in-texas-or-louisiana/July 29, 2016
Houston-based LyondellBasell said Friday it will build a large plastics plant near the Gulf Coast in Texas or Louisiana.
The petrochemical giant, which recently expanded its plants in the Houston and Corpus Christi areas, is looking to build near its existing footprints. The aim is to use LyondellBasell’s increased ethylene capacity to produce 1.1 billion pounds a year of high-density polyethylene. The world’s most common plastic is polyethylene.
Ethylene is the primary building block of most plastics and it’s created using cheap and ample supplies of natural gas produced out of Texas shale and other locations.
“This project enhances our ethylene integration strategy, allowing us to capture value across the ethylene value chain,” LyondellBasell CEO Bob Patel said, noting that the plant will use new technology.
The plant will produce the high-density polyethylene using a new technology to make plastics that don’t crack as easily. The more durable plastic is used to make piping, bottles, containers, packaging, toys, film, medical instruments, fuel tanks and more.
LyondellBasell won’t reveal project costs or the exact location, but the goal is to finish the project by 2019. Overall, LyondellBasell is planning to spend up to $4 billion in capital through 2020 along the Gulf Coast, mostly in Texas.
In an interview last year, when Patel first mentioned the potential project, he said it could be a combination greenfield-brownfield project in Greater Houston, but he noted that the region stretches as far as its sites in Matagorda and Victoria. However, the company on Friday wouldn’t rule out Louisiana as an option as well.
The project would create about 1,000 construction jobs, and about 75 permanent jobs.
