Royal Dutch Shell to set up ethane cracker in the Appalachian using feedstock from the wet gas areas of the Marcellus Shale

08-Jun-11

Royal Dutch Shell plans to set up an ethane cracker in the Appalachian region with about one million tpa ethylene capacity, using ethane extracted from the wet gas areas of the Marcellus Shale as feedstock. As per Shell spokeswoman, the company, which has acreage in b oth the wet and dry gas regions of the Marcellus in Pennsylvania and New York, hasn’t narrowed the location of a particular site or state for the cracker, but expects to do so by the end of the year. The company entered the Marcellus last year with the US$4.7 bln purchase of East Resources. According to the company’s statement- “The cracker would process ethane from Marcellus natural gas to produce ethylene, one of the primary building blocks for petrochemi cals. Shell is evaluating derivative choices and the leading option is Polyethylene (PE), an important raw material for countless everyday items, from packaging and adhesives to automotive components and pipe. Most of the PE production would be used by northeastern US industries.”