Bryce Custer, SIOR, CCIM

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Shell Polymer Construction Monaca, PA

Shell Polyethylene production by end of '22 will provide customers with a shorter, cheaper, more dependable Supply Chain from raw materials to the end user.

STARK COUNTY, OHIO, UNITED STATES, February 10, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Ten years after Royal Dutch Shell announced plans to build an ethane cracker somewhere in the Appalachian Basin along the Ohio River, the $6+ billion project is 95% complete and will come online before year’s end.

The facility is located on the Ohio River in Beaver County Pennsylvania, roughly 60 miles east of Stark County Ohio.

Taking advantage of abundant, inexpensive natural gas and a day’s drive from 70% of the continent’s polyethylene (plastics) customers, the cracker and nearby polyethylene units will produce 1.6 million metric tonnes (MMT) of polyethylene annually from up to 100,000 barrels of ethane per day.

The plant’s location provides Shell with a competitive advantage over Gulf Coast operators providing customers with a shorter, cheaper, more dependable Supply Chain from raw materials to the end customer.

“We are seeing industrial activity along the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati and throughout the inland waterways west (Cairo, IL) south to the Gulf Coast.” said Bryce Custer, SIOR, CCIM, Broker (specializing in Industrial properties and facilities throughout the Ohio River Corridor) with real estate firm NAI Spring, in Stark County, Ohio and Hancock/Brooke County, West Virginia. “Companies are realizing the benefits of locating primary or secondary production to the areas within an hour or two drive to the Ohio River. Benefits include shortened Supply Chain and the Infrastructure (barge, rail and highways) that exist throughout the area.” “The Ohio River has always been the center of commerce from trading posts to coal/steel and now the area is undergoing a resurgence due to the rich abundance of natural gas and petrochemical derivatives which are feed stock for clean energy (natural gas electrical generation) and the plastics industry,” said Custer.

But Shell is not alone in bringing new polyethylene capacity online this year. New North American capacity of 3.98 MMT is expected before the start of 2023.
The new production coming online includes two projects on the U.S. Gulf Coast, Shell in the Northeast, as well as one expansion near the U.S.-Canada border one hour from Detroit. All will find markets in North America or abroad, Reuters reported.

Roughly half of the 3.98 MMT “is destined for the export market,” Dow Chemical CEO Jim Fitterling said Jan. 27, Reuters reported.

The first 1.3 MMT of new polyethylene capacity, from the Exxon Mobil-SABIC joint venture in Corpus Christi, Texas, completed its startup in January.
Bayport Polymers, near Houston, this year will start up 625,000 metric tonnes (MT) of annual polyethylene capacity.

NOVA Chemicals later this year will complete a 455,000 MT expansion at its Sarnia, Ontario, facility.

For additional information and updates on plastics and polymers throughout the Ohio and West Virginia area, contact Bryce Custer at (330) 418-9287 or bryce@OhioRiverCorridor.com.

Bryce Custer, SIOR, CCIM has been working with clients throughout the Ohio River Corridor with sales/leasing of properties and terminal operations. Custer has been actively involved with site selection for natural gas power plants and manufacturing facilities throughout Ohio and West Virginia. Custer is a licensed commercial real estate broker with NAI Spring in Ohio and West Virginia and our affiliation with NAI Global provides us the opportunities to service clients worldwide.

Bryce Custer, SIOR, CCIM
NAI Spring
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Stark County Ohio - The Place for Plastics

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