Texas Counties on Gulf Coast Attract Lion's Share of State's $297 Billion in Industrial Projects

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--According to Industrial Info's North American Industrial Project Database, there are almost 2,000 active industrial projects in Texas, with a total investment value (TIV) of $297 billion. The top 10 counties account for 68% of the value of all active industrial projects in Texas, and about 41% of the project count. These counties, based on their project TIV, include Cameron, Harris, Brazoria, Jefferson, Nueces, Galveston, Dallas, Ector, Chambers and Hudspeth.

Click on the image at right to view a graph detailing the top 10 Texas counties for industrial projects.

It is interesting to note that seven of the top 10 counties are those with port access to the Gulf of Mexico. Access to Texas' Gulf Coast export market is a major attraction to companies considering the construction of new industrial facilities. It doesn't hurt that these counties also are close to inexpensive natural gas infrastructure, and located near established energy and petrochemical end markets.

Cameron County, with its county seat at Brownsville, has the largest amount of planned projects, based on a TIV of $52.8 billion from 27 projects. The Port of Brownsville is attracting increased interest from energy companies looking to take advantage of abundant natural gas in Texas by constructing liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and liquefaction projects at the port.

Projects in Cameron county are dominated by two large, speculative LNG export terminals being developed by Gulf Coast LNG Export LLC (Houston, Texas) and NextDecade (The Woodlands, Texas) that, if built, would bring billions of dollars of economic development and hundreds of jobs into the county. Two other projects planned by Texas LNG LLC (Houston, Texas) and Annova LNG LLC, a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC) (Chicago, Illinois), are more advanced; these projects have filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin the lengthy project review process, while the projects for Gulf Coast LNG Export and NextDecade are not as advanced.

Harris County, which is home to the Houston Ship Channel and Houston Petrochemical Complex, has the most industrial projects in the state with 347. These projects have a TIV exceeding $29.6 billion.

Third on the list is Brazoria County, which has 102 projects totaling $28.7 billion.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.