ExxonMobil Opens Polyethylene Line, Plans for New Complex in Texas

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--ExxonMobil Chemical Company, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas), is now producing high-performance polyethylene on the first of two new lines at its plastics plant in Mont Belvieu, Texas. The company also is making strides in its partnership with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) to build one of the world's largest ethane steam-cracker plants near Corpus Christi, Texas. Industrial Info is tracking both projects, the latter of which is valued at roughly $10 billion.

Each of the two new polyethylene lines at Mont Belvieu will produce about 650,000 tons per year. After both units are fully operational, the facility will have a capacity of more than 2.5 million tons per year, making it one of the world's largest polyethylene plants, according to ExxonMobil. For more details, including schedules and investment values, see Industrial Info's project report.

ExxonMobil announced that a "significant portion" of polyethylene produced at Mont Belvieu will be exported from the Port of Houston before November. The expanded Mont Belvieu facility will get its ethylene feedstock from a new unit at ExxonMobil's olefins plant in Baytown, Texas. For more on the Baytown unit addition, see Industrial Info's project report.

ExxonMobil plans to invest more than $20 billion over the next 10 years to build and expand its capacity along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. The most prominent of these projects is a massive petrochemicals complex in Portland, Texas, which is near Corpus Christi. For more details, see Industrial Info's project report.

The complex will include a 13,000-acre ethylene production facility with an estimated capacity of 3.96 billion pounds per year, product from which will supply three downstream units: a 2.42 billion-pound-per-year monoethylene glycol unit, a 1.43 billion-pound-per-year low linear density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit, and a 1.32 billion-pound-per-year high-density polyethylene (HDPE) unit.

Amec Foster Wheeler, now a subsidiary of Wood Group (Aberdeen, Scotland), is performing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the Portland project. See Industrial Info's project reports on the monoethylene glycol unit, LLDPE unit and HDPE unit.

"If approved, the Portland project--locally called the 'Yosemite Project'--will reinforce the strong oil-to-gas cost advantage available to domestic petrochemical producers," said Trey Hamblet, Industrial Info's vice president of research for the Chemical Processing Industry. "This cost advantage has helped to drive billions in new capital investments since 2014, and it has the potential to keep spending elevated for the next several years."

Hamblet discussed the Chemical Processing Industry at length at IIR's an Industrial Market Outlook and Networking Event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on October 12.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.