Shell 'ramping up construction' at Pennsylvania chemical complex

03-Feb-17

Shell Chemicals has been making progress on a petrochemicals complex designed to leverage affordable feedstocks from Northeast US shale-gas plays, as per Platts. The company has been "ramping up construction" at the site in Potter Township, Pennsylvania, in the Pittsburgh area that will produce 1.6 mln m tpa of polyethylene, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said in a conference call. "We are working our way through regulatory approval," he said. "A lot of site preparation is already done."

Shell has not set a startup date but has previously targeted early 2020s. The location of the project is unique, as recent waves of US ethylene and polyethylene projects have almost exclusively targeted the US Gulf Coast. The site will represent the largest ethylene and polyethylene capacities in the region, but Shell pointed to significant advantages in the location. Shell expects to feed the steam cracker with affordable ethane sourced from the Marcellus and Utica shale basins. Additionally, more than 70% of North American polyethylene demand stands within a 700-mile radius of Pittsburgh, according to Shell.