U.S. Set for More than $378 Billion in Industrial Project Construction Starts in 2016

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Industrial Info is tracking nearly 5,500 projects worth $378.45 billion that are set to begin construction in the U.S. in 2016, more than one-third of which are fueled by natural gas and wind power. Almost 75% of the total can be attributed to four industries: Power, Oil & Gas Production, Chemical Processing and Industrial Manufacturing.

Click on the image at right for a graph showing an industry breakdown of projects that are set to begin construction in the U.S. in 2016.

Natural gas, the most commonly used fuel for U.S. projects set to kick off in 2016, is expected to power $87.21 billion worth of investments.

Wind power also has a strong showing, fueling $54.88 billion in projects. The largest of those planned wind projects is Deepwater Wind LLC's (Providence, Rhode Island) $4.2 billion Deepwater Offshore Wind Energy Center, which is located 15 to 20 miles south of Little Compton, Rhode Island. The windfarm is designed to use 166 Alstom Haliade-150 wind turbine generator sets, each with a capacity of 6 megawatts (MW), for a total capacity of 996 MW. Earlier this month, Deepwater Wind shipped steel foundations for the windfarm to Rhode Island from Houma, Louisiana.

The Deepwater project is just one of more than 1,200 projects from the Power Industry set to kick off in 2016, which total nearly $134 billion in investment value.

The Oil & Gas Production Industry, which has faced numerous project delays in the past year amid weak commodity prices, is playing host to $57.49 billion in U.S. kickoffs in 2016. Among the largest is Cameron LNG's (Houston, Texas) $4 billion expansion of its planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and export facility in Hackberry, Louisiana. The project would add two liquefaction trains, which would increase production capacity by an additional 9.97 million tonnes to 22.5 million tonnes per year, and a fourth 160,000-cubic-meter LNG storage tank. Cameron LNG is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) (San Diego, California); in February last year, the Cameron LNG facility became the sixth U.S. LNG facility to be granted approval from the DoE to export to non-FTA countries, although approval for the expansion is pending.

The Chemical Processing Industry is only a hair's breadth behind, with $57.39 billion in U.S. projects set to begin construction in 2016, including G2X Energy Incorporated's (Houston, Texas) recently approved, $1.3 billion methanol production plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana. PROMAN GmbH (Dusseldorf, Germany) is performing engineering, procurement and construction services for the project, which is expected to produce 1.4 million tons per year of methanol following completion, currently set for third-quarter 2018. G2X recently confirmed that it has received all state and federal permits for the facility.

The Industrial Manufacturing Industry also is set to play a strong role, with $32.61 billion in expected kickoffs, about $5.28 billion of which are related to the Automotive Industry. The largest is General Motors Corporation's (NYSE:GM) proposed, $1.3 billion expansion of a pickup and sport utility vehicle (SUV) assembly plant in Arlington, Texas. The 1.2 million-square-foot addition is in response to growing demand for GM's SUVs, including the Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade, all of which are made at the plant. If approved, the expansion is slated to wrap up in second-quarter 2018.

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.