U.S. Chemical Projects Worth $18 Billion to Reach Finish Line This Year

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Industrial Info is tracking more than $18 billion worth of U.S. Chemical Processing Industry capital projects that have been completed or are on track for completion this year.

The petrochemicals sector leads with nearly $10 billion worth of completions, followed by plastics/rubbers ($4.5 billion) and industrial gases ($906 million).

By market region, the Southwest leads in completions.

Click on the image at right for a graph showing chemical processing project completions by U.S. market region.

In terms of project value, the largest completion was Shell plc's (NYSE:SHEL) (London, England) $6 billion ethylene and polyethylene complex in Monaca, Pennsylvania. Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC announced in November that its polyethylene complex had started operations and was expected to ramp up to full production by the second half of 2023. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Chemical Processing Project Database can click here for a list of detailed project reports. For more information, see November 16, 2022, article - Shell Starts Operations at Pennsylvania Polyethylene Complex and September 6, 2022, article - Shell's Pennsylvania Ethylene Unit Gears Up for Startup.

Another big project reaching the finish line this year is LyondellBasell Industries NV's (NYSE:LYB) (Rotterdam, Netherlands) Propylene Oxide (PO)/Tertiary Butyl Alcohol (TBA) Unit Addition at its Channelview, Texas, operations. Company executives say they expect the unit to start production in the first quarter of 2023. The addition will produce 500,000 tons per year of PO and nearly 998,000 tons per year of TBA. Subscribers can click here for more information.

In July, a 50:50 joint venture between TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) (Courbevoie, France) and Borealis AG (Vienna, Austria) announced it had started up its new ethane cracker in Port Arthur, Texas. The $1.8 billion facility has an annual ethylene production capacity of 1 million tons per year. The joint venture said the ethylene will be used as feedstock for its existing 400,000-ton-per-year polyethylene (PE) site in Bayport (Pasadena), Texas, as well as a 625,000-metric-ton-per-year PE unit under construction in Pasadena. Subscribers can click here for the project report. For more information see July 22, 2022, article - Baystar Joint Venture Starts Up Port Arthur Ethane Cracker.

In Louisiana, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas) began commissioning a 900 million-pound-per-year polypropylene unit addition earlier this year at its Baton Rouge Polyolefins facility. The unit is part of the company's "Growing the Gulf" initiative, which includes more than $20 billion spent over a 10-year period to build and expand 11 manufacturing facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast. An existing unit at the Baton Rouge site already produces 1.05 million pounds per year of polypropylene. Subscribers can click here for more information. For related information, see September 8, 2022, article - Chem Industry Leads Louisiana in Projects Under Construction.

And in Oklahoma, work finished up in August on Koch Industries' (Wichita, Kansas) Nitrogenous Fertilizers Plant Urea 2 Improvement/Expansion in Enid. The project has increased the facility's Urea 2 plant capacity from 2,900 tons per day to 3,600 tons per day. Subscribers can click here for more information.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI project and plant databases can click here for all projects mentioned in this article and click here for all related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).