ExxonMobil, SABIC announce new Texas PE, MEG units built; project startup seen in Q4

ExxonMobil and SABIC have finished construction of two polyethylene units and a monoethylene glycol plant at their joint-venture petrochemical complex near Corpus Christi, Texas, the companies announced July 26.

"Project startup is expected to begin ahead of schedule, likely in the fourth quarter of 2021," the companies said in a statement.

That project includes a 1.8 million mt/year ethane-fed cracker that will produce ethylene to feed the downstream units.

Those units include 1.3 million mt/year of linear low density and high density polyethylene, and a 1.1 million mt/year monoethylene glycol unit.

Polyethylene is used to make the world's most-used plastics, from milk jugs and grocery bags to buckets and food packaging. MEG is used to make antifreeze and polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, which in turn is used to make plastic bottles and polyester fiber.

The project did not suspend or slow construction in 2020 amid COVID-19 restrictions because modular units were largely built elsewhere and delivered to the complex site, according to sources familiar with the project. Other major construction projects with hundreds of workers on site slowed or temporarily suspended work in 2020, including Shell's southwestern Pennsylvania petrochemical complex and LyondellBasell's new propylene oxide/tertiary butyl alcohol (PO/TBA) project in Channelview, Texas.

The companies said the new Texas complex would be completed under its estimated $9.4 billion budget, but did not disclose the lower cost. The companies originally targeted 2022 for startup, but ExxonMobil said in October 2020 that it would come online in Q4 2021, earlier than planned.

The project is part of 9.77 million mt/year of new US PE capacity under construction or planned to start up in 2021 and beyond. As of 2020, the US had 23.4 million mt/year of PE capacity, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.

The new cracker is among more than 10 million mt/year of ethylene capacity under construction or planned in the US to come online in 2021 and beyond, which includes Total's new 1 million mt/year joint-venture cracker in Port Arthur, Texas, which began starting up in June.

US ethylene capacity in 2020 was 40.56 million mt/year, according to Platts Analytics.

The MEG unit will increase US MEG capacity by 23.6% to 5.75 million mt/year. US MEG capacity has more than doubled to 4.65 million mt/year since late 2018 as Lotte Chemical, MEGlobal, Sasol and Nan Ya Plastics brought a cumulative 2.5 million mt/year in new production online.

The joint venture also includes a marine terminal to export liquids, including MEG, propane and butane streams, according to permit documents.