Chevron Philips awarded air permit for new ethane cracker in Texas

16-Aug-13

Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) has received air permits from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for its plan to build a new ethane cracker and polyethylene units in Texas. Additionally, the company said it received a greenhouse gas permit from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the cracker earlier this year. Pending final board approval to be sought later this year, the 1.5 mln tpa ethane cracker would be built at CPChem's Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown, Texas, while the two new polyethylene facilities, each with an annual capacity of 500,000 tons, would be built on a site near the company's Sweeny facility in Old Ocean, Texas. “We now have the requisite permits in hand to initiate construction of the cracker and polyethylene units and remain in the first mover position leading the way as the US petrochemical industry announces significantexpansions of capacity as a result of shale resource development,” said Ron Corn, vice president of corporate planning and development. “We are proud of the project’s progress since we first announced our feasibility study to construct a world-scale ethane cracker and derivatives facilities on the Texas Gulf Coast in March 2011.”