Chevron Phillips Chemical receives project permits for USGC Petrochemicals Project

17-Aug-13

Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP (Chevron Phillips Chemical) has announced that it has received air permits from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for its planned ethane cracker and polyethylene units. Additionally, the company received a greenhouse gas permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a cracker earlier this year. The 1.5 million tpa ethane cracker is pending final approval by the board, which is to be sought later this year. If approved, it will be built at the Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown, Texas. Two new polyethylene facilities, each with an annual capacity of 500 000 tons will also be built on a site near the Chevron Phillips Chemical Sweeny facility in Old Ocean, Texas. The ethane cracker and two polyethylene units are part of the company’s US Gulf Coast (USGC) Petrochemicals Project. Between them, they are expected to create approximately 400 long term direct jobs and 10 000 engineering and construction jobs. Chevron Phillips Chemical Vice President of Corporate Planning and Development, Ron Corn, said that the company now has '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 significant expansions of capacity as a result of shale resource 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.’ The estimated completion date for the USGC Petrochemicals Project is 2017.