CB&I awarded FEED contract by Total for a proposed ethane cracker in Port Arthur

24-Sep-15

CB&I announced it has been awarded a contract by Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA, Inc. to provide its proprietary ethylene technology and front-end engineering and design (FEED) services for a proposed new ethane cracker located in Port Arthur, Texas. The proposed cracker will have a capacity of one million metric tons per year of ethylene. CB&I will provide FEED services and the process license for its latest, proven ethylene technology, including seven highly selective SRT® (short residence time) cracking heaters. Total plans to build a new US$2 billion steam cracker in Port Arthur to produce up to 2.2 million lbs of ethylene a year. In response to that natural gas glut, Total Refining and Chemicals President Philippe Sauquet said the company is working to strengthen its global petrochemicals and refining presence. “In the United States, we want to capitalize on the shale gas revolution during which gas prices have plunged 66 percent,” Sauquet said in a prepared statement. “In such an environment, the advantage to investing in petrochemical activities is access to a plentiful, inexpensive feedstock and to low-cost energy for our plants.”