December a Record Month for North American CPI Project Activity Identified in 2007

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Only twice this past year did Industrial Info deliver 100 or more new capital and maintenance project reports for the North American Chemical Processing Industry (CPI). The first occasion was at midyear in July when 100 reports were released and then again in December when 108 new project reports were generated, equaling the largest single report month of the year for the CPI. This milestone of 100 or more projects reported in a single month is significant. This makes a very positive impact on the future outlook for the CPI, especially when the calendar year ends with a high note.

These 108 project reports represented spending opportunities at more than 84 individual plant locations with more than $100 million in project spending for each of six different market regions across the United States and Canada. The largest number of these projects and certainly the most significant amount of the overall spending was in the United States' Southwest market region, which includes Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas. A total of 34 projects were reported in this region last month with a combined total investment value (TIV) of more than $1.1 billion. Although the region enjoyed the highest total combined spending, some of the largest individual projects reported last month were in Louisiana, North Carolina and Tennessee.

In Louisiana, ADA-ES Incorporated (Littleton, Colorado) is making progress on its planned grassroot activated carbon plant to be located in Coushatta, Louisiana. In the report generated for this project in December, Industrial Info reported the selection of BE&K Engineering Group (Birmingham, Alabama) as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for this estimated $400 million project. In North Carolina, INVISTA Incorporated (Wichita, Kansas) is performing design with Mustang Global Performance (Greenville, South Carolina) for a nearly $200 million expansion of its Wilmington plant site producing polyester intermediates.

Almost half of the capital and maintenance spending reported last month have planned construction kick-off dates for 2008 with a combined TIV of nearly $1.3 billion. The remainder of the project spending has plans for construction starting between 2009 and 2013.

In addition to the new project reports released last month, Industrial Info provided updates to more than 320 previously reported and identified projects. These updates included the verification of more than 100 active projects with a TIV of $3.5 billion either under construction or planned for future construction. At least 10 projects were identified as being placed on hold with a TIV of $1.2 billion.

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