U.S. Chemical Industry Plans $5 Billion in Second-Quarter 2016 Construction Starts

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Industrial Info currently is tracking 113 chemical processing capital projects with an investment of more than $5 billion planned to begin construction during the second quarter. The projects include new facilities, plant expansions and upgrades.

Most of the spending for the quarter is located in Louisiana, with a total of $4.2 billion in projects. Accounting for over half of that amount are two large capital projects. An ethylene unit addition in Westlake, Louisiana is being developed by LACC LLC, a joint venture between Lotte Chemical Corporation (Seoul, Korea) and Axiall Corporation (NYSE: AXLL) (Atlanta, Georgia). This $2 billion project will provide ethylene as a feedstock for Axiall's nearby current operations and for Lotte Chemical's $1 billion planned monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit. Both the ethylene unit and the MEG unit are anticipated to begin construction in April.

After much planning, Shell Chemicals, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS.A) (The Hague, Netherlands), is nearing the construction kick-off in June for a fourth alpha olefins (AO-4) unit in Geismar, Louisiana. Once completed, this $750 million unit is expected to produce approximately 930 million pounds per year of alpha olefins. Shell is also in the early planning phases to build a complementary isomerization-disproportionation unit (ID-3). However construction kick-off isn't likely to be for a few years.

The remaining three highest-value projects set to kick off in the second-quarter of 2016 are:

• $170 million Air Separation Plant in Saint James, Louisiana
• $80 million Hydroprocessing Catalyst Unit Addition (ISBL) in Sulphur, Louisiana
• $70 million Intermediates Plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.