Large Chemical Processing Projects Total $11 Billion in North America

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Even as many industry analysts suspect we might be near or at the bottom of the current downward economic spiral, the number of major projects in the Chemical Processing Industry obtaining approval in the short term is expected to remain minimal. Industrial Info, as part of its North American Project Database, is currently tracking more than 30 capital projects in the Chemical Processing Industry (CPI) valued at $100 million or more that plan to begin construction this year or next year. These projects have a combined total investment value of more than $11 billion over a nearly two-year period.

One of the largest of these $100 million-plus chemical projects will be dedicated to uranium enrichment and recovery. The future construction of nuclear power plants seems promising, and the demand for larger quantities of nuclear fuel will increase as more plants are built. CF Industries Holdings Incorporated (NYSE:CF) (Deerfield, Illinois) has secured an engineering firm to complete feasibility studies for its plans to build a uranium-extraction plant in Florida. This new plant, which has a price tag estimated at nearly $200 million, will recover uranium from phosphate rock and will produce approximately 900,000 pounds per year of uranium material for the nuclear-fuel industry. Louisiana Energy Services (Eunice, New Mexico), Areva SA's (EPA:CPI) subsidiary Areva NP (Paris, France), USEC Incorporated (NYSE:USU) (Bethesda, Maryland) and others are each working on nuclear-fuel-related projects that together represent more then half of the spending identified in this analysis.

Shintech Louisiana LLC (Addis, Louisiana) began commercial operations recently for their grassroot vinyl complex located in Plaquemine, Louisiana, and has already began work on the Phase II expansion of the site. This large expansion includes additional capacity for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), caustic soda and more at a time when many of their peers in the industry are curtailing production and postponing plans for expansion. During recent months Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan) and Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE:WLK) (Houston, Texas) have both delayed plans for new chlor-alkali capacity until at least next year. Further expansions by Shintech and Formosa Plastics Corporation USA (Livingston, New Jersey) for additional capacity in the vinyl market are bucking the trend of industry peers.

As markets around the globe continue to stabilize, spending plans in the Chemical Processing Industry will begin to slowly rise to match the increased momentum. There is an additional $5 billion in major chemical project activity currently in the "on-hold" status, waiting for markets to improve around the world. The forward movement on even a small percentage of these projects could have an immediate and positive impact on future spending.

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