Shell Applies for Air Permit, Signs Contracts for Cracker
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio --– The prospects of Royal Dutch Shell constructing a multibillion-dollar ethane cracker plant just 40 miles from here in Beaver County, Pa., appear brighter after an executive at Shell Chemicals announced the producer has signed third-party contracts related to the project.
ICIS, which describes itself as the world’s largest petrochemical market information provider, reported Thursday that Shell Executive Vice President Graham van't Hoff said his company has signed 10 third-party contracts and has filed an air quality permit with the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The report subsequently was confirmed by The State Journal in Charleston, W.Va., which quoted a Shell spokesman as stating van’t Hoff made his remarks to reporters attending the American Chemistry Council’s annual meeting in Colorado.
The Shell executive reportedly reiterated that the company has not yet decided whether it will move forward on the project.
In March 2012, the energy giant identified a site – the former Horsehead zinc plant -- in Monaca, Pa., along the Ohio River as its primary site for the plant. In April the company filed an application for an air quality permit, which is under review at the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Shell has also scouted sourcing opportunities for the proposed plant, van't Hoff said, according to the reports.
“It’s getting pretty solidified now in terms of how [the ethane sourcing] will work, and we’re pretty comfortable with that,” ICIS quoted van’t Hoff as stating. “And certainly we will aim to make sure that we are tapped into a broad portfolio of producing locations so that we have a good portfolio mix coming from various points in that whole system.”
Shell’s $4 billion ethane cracker plant would convert ethane produced from wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays into ethylene, a component used in plastics and other materials.
The company has conducted community meetings related to the project and its economic and environmental impact, van't Hoff said, and reactions from residents have been positive.
"We are extremely welcomed," he said.
Two other companies, Aither Chemicals and Odebrecht/Braskem, are exploring opportunities to build cracker plants in West Virginia.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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