Chevron Phillips Chemical Celebrates Startup of Texas Polyethylene Units

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP (CPChem) (The Woodlands, Texas), on Friday marked the commercial startup of two polyethylene units at the company's site in Old Ocean, Texas. CPChem is a joint venture of Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) (San Ramon, California) and Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) (Houston, Texas). The units will produce a combined 2.2 billion pounds per year of polyethylene.

Construction on CPChem's polyethylene units in Old Ocean kicked off in early 2014 and took more than three years to complete. Each unit will produce 1.1 billion pounds per year of polyethylene. The technology of the units allows them to produce runs of multiple high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) products. Tim Taylor, president of Phillips 66, said in a press release, "The two new polyethylene units on the Texas Gulf Coast will have a global impact, providing the world with plastics for everything from automobile parts to smartphones." Technip SA (Paris, France) and Jacobs Engineering Group Incorporated (NYSE:JEC) (Dallas, Texas) provided engineering on the projects, and Zachry Industrial Incorporated (San Antonio, Texas) acted as general contractor. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the first and second units.

Among CPChem's other large projects is the construction of an ethylene cracker at the company's facility in Baytown, Texas. The facility will produce 3.3 billion pounds of ethylene when completed early next year. Fluor Corporation (NSYE:FLR) (Irving, Texas) is providing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for the project, which kicked off in mid-2014. Construction was slightly delayed due to the effects of Hurricane Harvey, which hit the Texas Gulf Coast in late August. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

In the U.S., companies are constructing ethylene and polyethylene plants to take advantage of inexpensive shale gas feedstock. LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB) (Houston, Texas) began construction on a polyethylene unit in La Porte, Texas, earlier this year. The unit will have a production capacity of 1.1 billion pounds per year when it is completed late 2019. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report and October 30, 2017, article - LyondellBasell PE Project in Texas Unfazed by Hurricane Harvey.

ExxonMobil Chemical Company (Houston, Texas), a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas), is underway with polyethylene unit additions at its facilities in Beaumont and Mont Belvieu in Texas. The Beaumont facility will produce more than 1.4 billion pounds per year of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) when completed in early 2019. Jacobs Engineering and Zachry Corporation (San Antonio) are providing EPC work on the project. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

In Mont Belvieu, ExxonMobil Chemical began construction in the first half of 2014 on LLDPE and HDPE units with a combined capacity of 2.6 billion pounds per year. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Incorporated (Tokyo, Japan) is performing EPC work on the project, which is set to be completed before the end of the year. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report. The plant will use feedstock from ExxonMobil Chemical's ethylene unit addition in Baytown, which is expected to be completed in the first half of next year. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

At its recent presentation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Industrial Info's industry experts reported they are tracking $6.5 billion in polythene investments that are set to begin construction in 2018.

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