Energy, Petrochemical Firms Dominate Plans for $18 Billion in Project Work in Greater Harris County in Texas

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--An analysis of planned industrial project spending in the greater Harris County region reveals more than 280 projects representing more than $18 billion in planned expenditures. Energy and petrochemical firms like NRG Energy Incorporated (NYSE:NRG) (Princeton, New Jersey) and Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan) make up 90% of the planned industrial spending in the area. The analysis takes into consideration 13 counties (IIR Texas Zone 7): Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Waller, Walker and Wharton. Harris County is the industrial epicenter of the group, providing established industrial infrastructure like the Houston Ship Channel and a vast network of oil refineries and petrochemical plants. In addition to the Houston Ship Channel, important Gulf Coast shipping ports can be found in Galveston and Freeport (Brazoria County).

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the breakdown of planned spending by county.

Harris County commands one-third of the industrial project activity in the area with 178 projects totaling more than $6 billion. The county is consistently in the top 20 U.S. counties list for industrial project spending. NRG Energy began construction last summer on a 550-megawatt (MW) unit addition at the Cedar Bayou Power Station in Harris County. Zachry Construction Incorporated (San Antonio, Texas) is the general contractor on the project. NRG Energy is planning an additional $400 million natural gas fired combined-cycle unit addition at Cedar Bayou down the road.

Edging out Harris County for future industrial project expenditures is Matagorda County, with long-term plans to expand nuclear generating capacity at the South Texas Nuclear Power Plant in Wadsworth, Texas. NRG Energy is planning a $5.6 billion expansion to add two nuclear units at the site.

Late last year, Fort Bend County lost a $2.8 billion project to Brazoria County. Hunton Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hunton Group (Houston, Texas) originally planned a 1,200 MW petroleum coke fired integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant, known as the Lockwood project, near the W.A. Parrish coal-fired power plant owned by NRG Texas LLC (Houston, Texas) in Thompsons in Fort Bend County. Hunton Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding with Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) to build the project adjacent to Dow's Oyster Creek plant. Oyster Creek is part of Dow's Freeport operations, one of the world's largest chemical processing complexes. Hunton Energy claims it will capture 100% of the CO2 emissions from the proposed plant. Construction is scheduled to begin late in 2008.

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Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process and energy related industries with products and services ranging from industry news, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia advertising campaign assistance.