DowDuPont opens massive ethylene and plastics plant in Freeport

[thackney]

DowDuPont opens massive ethylene and plastics plant in Freeport
http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/DowDuPont-opens-massive-ethylene-and-plastics-12217420.php
September 21, 2017

The newly merged DowDuPont said Thursday it's opening its new ethylene and plastics plants in Freeport, making the nation's largest chemical giant the first to start up a major ethylene complex along the Texas Gulf Coast.

The complex is the crown jewel of the old Dow Chemical's recent $6 billion expansion along the Gulf Coast. The chemical company will go back to being just Dow once DowDuPont splinters out into three separate companies in a year or so.

The project includes a massive ethane cracker that separates a component of natural gas liquids called ethane, which in turn will provide the feedstock for some 1.5 million metric tons a year of ethylene, the most common building block of plastics. A large portion of an upcoming $4 billion expansion will go toward expanding the plant to 2 million metric tons a year, eventually making it the world's largest ethylene production plant.

DowDuPont Executive Chairman Andrew Liveris, who's also chairman and CEO of Dow, called Thursday's news a monumental moment for Dow's future.

"These facilities are an integral part of Dow's investments on the U.S. Gulf Coast to meet increasing consumer-led demand in our core market verticals of packaging, infrastructure and consumer care, and will enable our next level of earnings and cash flow growth," Liveris said in the announcement....

[thackney]

And as a matter of timing, next door to us:

Hurricane Harvey delays parts of Chevron Phillips petrochemical expansion
http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Chevron-Phillips-completes-plastics-expansion-in-12214370.php
 September 20, 2017

Chevron Phillips has completed its new plastics plants, but a large portion of the $6 billion expansion in the Houston area is being delayed until next year after Hurricane Harvey's floodwaters created additional problems.

The Woodlands-based Chevron Phillips Chemical, a joint venture of Chevron and Phillips 66 of Houston, said it just finished building its two new polyethylene plastics units southwest of Houston in Old Ocean by Phillips 66's Sweeny complex. The company said it is initiating the startup process for the plastics units.

The larger Baytown portion of the expansion project, which was originally expected to be finished by now, won't be completed until next year, Chevron Phillips said. The project involves a massive ethane cracker - on a plot the size of 44 football fields - that will separate a component of natural gas called ethane, which will provide the feedstock for some 1.5 million metric tons a year of ethylene, a common building block of plastics....

[Smokin Joe]

Nice. The gas produced with the Bakken Crude is ethane rich, so maybe that will boost activity here a little.