Reported February Project Activity Exceeds $1.5 Billion for Chemical Processing Industry

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Having an extra day in February helped to make for a nice long month and provided just enough time for Industrial Info to research and release more than $1.5 billion in project reports for the Chemical Processing Industry (CPI) planned in the United States and Canada during the month. These reports equal capital and maintenance project opportunities at nearly 80 individual CPI plant sites in 29 states or provinces. A majority of this spending, nearly $1.2 billion, is planned to begin construction this calendar year.

Maybe the most impressive and significant number in February is the amount of project activity identified as already funded and approved. More than $600 million of the projects reported in February have already received approval and are progressing toward another phase of engineering or even construction in the near future. That's more than one-third of the reported activity and provides another reassuring signal that the CPI isn't slowing down, not yet anyway. Another $290 million of the spending reported last month was in some advanced phase of planning and had been previously submitted for review and AFE approval. These are big numbers considering the early stage of the year.

An estimated $120 million in planned plant maintenance turnarounds was identified, equaling almost one-third of the total project activity with 33 projects. Maintenance continues to be a point of focus for many CPI companies aiming to get the most out of their existing assets with predictive and preventative maintenance. The cost of replacement equipment and materials can be extreme compared with the original cost of construction years ago. The cost of equipment isn't the only constraint, trying to find and secure manpower for major capital projects can also be a challenge in today's market, which is very short on manpower.

More than 238 previously reported projects were updated last month by the research staff of Industrial Info whose total investment value (TIV) equaled more than $6.1 billion. Almost half of those projects were verified as still active and represented an overwhelming majority of the total at more than $5 billion. Nearly $1 billion in projects were verified as previously completed or done while a very small amount of the activity, less than $130 million, was determined to have been canceled or placed on indefinite hold.

If the North American CPI continues to roll along at this pace, a slowdown in spending seems distant although the news is full of housing and financial woes of the American consumer. Just how these market constraints and the politics of the election year will influence the CPI is uncertain, although there appears to be enough momentum in place to keep the industry strong well into next year.

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.