U.S. Petchem Industry to See $11 Billion in Project Completions in Second-Half 2018

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--All good things must come to an end, and so it goes for nearly $11 billion worth of U.S. petrochemical projects being tracked by Industrial Info that are expected to see completion in the second half of 2018. Included in the multitude of planned completions are four major projects that will add 3.64 million metric tons per year of ethylene production capacity.

Construction began in 2015 on Sasol Limited's (NYSE:SSL) (Johannesburg, South Africa) 1.5 million-metric-ton-per-year Lakes Charles Chemical Complex ethylene unit addition in Louisiana. Sasol was working with project management consultancy provider WorleyParsons (North Sydney, Australia). TechnipFMC (London, England) and Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) (Irving, Texas) are in a joint venture to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) management services. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

At Shintech Louisiana Limited Liability Company's 2,558-acre Plaquemine Vinyls Complex, work continues on a 500,000-metric-ton-per-year ethylene unit addition. Toyo Engineering (Narashino, Japan) and Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI) (CB&I) (The Hague, Netherlands) have provided technology, engineering and construction for the project, which started construction in 2015. Shin-Etsu Chemical Company, Limited (Tokyo, Japan) is the parent company of Shintech. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Also in Louisiana, final commissioning is underway on Indorama Ventures' (Bangkok, Thailand) 440,000-metric-ton-per-year Lake Charles ethylene plant restart in Sulphur. The plant was idled in 2001. Performance Contractors Incorporated (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is the general contractor for the project, which kicked off construction in mid-2016. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

In Point Comfort, Texas, work continues on Formosa Plastics Corporation USA's (Livingston, New Jersey) 1.2-million-metric-ton-per-year Olefins 3 ethylene unit expansion. Formosa Plastics is working with Clark Constructors LLC (Point Comfort) on the civil construction and Cajun Industries, LLC (Baton Rouge) on structural construction, among other firms. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report, and April 4, 2018, article - Formosa Plastics Still Set to Complete Point Comfort Olefins Project this Year.

The ethylene units will take advantage of the wealth of cost-advantaged ethane feedstock in the U.S. Chemical processors have already started up a number of ethylene units in recent months. For more information, see February 7, 2018, article - ExxonMobil Commissions Ethylene Production Unit in Baytown, Texas and December 22, 2017, article - Chevron Phillips' Ethane Cracker Project Reaches Mechanical Completion.

Other big project completions that are expected in the second half of this year include:

• Royal Dutch Shell plc's (NYSE:RDS.A) (The Hague, Netherlands) 930,000-pound-per-year AOID Module Alpha-Olefins No. 4 Unit addition in Geismar, Louisiana. See project report.
• Sasol's Linear Low Density Polyethylene Unit Addition near Lake Charles, Louisiana. See project report.
• DowDuPont Incorporated's (NYSE:DWDP) (Midland, Michigan/Wilmington, Delaware) Freeport, Texas, Plant B Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) (Poly 6) Unit Addition. See project report.

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