04/05/2018

ExxonMobil Mulls New US Gulf Coast Polypropylene Facility

U.S. petrochemical producer ExxonMobil said recently it is considering building a new 450,000 mt/year polypropylene facility along the US Gulf Coast.

With engineering work already underway, a final investment decision is expected later this year and startup of the facility is expected as early as 2021, the company said.

“Abundant supplies of domestically produced oil and natural gas have reduced energy costs and created new sources of feedstock for US chemical manufacturing,” said ExxonMobil Chemical President John Verity. “Most of our planned investment in the Gulf Coast region is focused on supplying emerging markets, like Asia, with high-demand products, which ultimately will spur new economic growth locally.”

ExxonMobil’s plan to build a new PP facility is one of 13 new planned facilities to boost by about 40% ExxonMobil's chemical production capacity in North America and the Asia Pacific region. These investments include the company’s new 1.5 million mt/year steam cracker commissioning in Baytown, Texas, with an anticipated start in the second quarter.

ExxonMobil is not the only company looking to expand its PP foothold in the US. Braskem is developing a 450,000 mt/year PP plant in La Porte, Texas, with a scheduled 2020 start, the Brazilian company said in June.

The $675 million PP line, called Delta, is its sixth US polypropylene plant and its first to be built from the ground up.

Braskem currently operates five PP plants in the US, including three in Texas. It has total US-based PP capacity of 1.571 million mt/year, company data showed.

In North America, two other companies are eyeing PP facilities in Canada. Inter Pipeline is developing the first Canadian integrated propane dehydrogenation unit and PP plant in Alberta.

The company’s board of directors authorized in December construction of the Heartland Petrochemical Complex, which will house a 525,000 mt/year PDH unit and a 525,000 mt/year PP plant in Strathcona County, Alberta. Construction for the project is expected to start in early 2018 with completion scheduled for late 2021.

Meanwhile, Canada Kuwait Petrochemical, a 50:50 joint venture between Canadian midstream operator Pembina and Kuwait's PIC, is in the front-end engineering design phase of its proposed integrated propylene and PP facility in Sturgeon County near Edmonton. The 550,000 mt/year propane dehydrogenation unit would feed the 550,000 mt/year PP plant, with the offtake to be exported to North America and global markets.

FEED activities are expected to be completed later this year, followed by a final investment decision, the company has said. Construction is slated to start in 2019, with an in-service target of 2021, Pembina had said.