News Post
PTTGC award Utica Shale ethane cracker project to Bechtel in Ohio
Bechtel has announced that Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical awarded it a contract to build an ethane cracker in Belmont County, Ohio, near Wheeling, WV, in the heart of the Utica Shale.
PTT Global's US subsidiary, PTTGC America, is using the site of a closed FirstEnergy coal-fired power plant in Mead Township of Belmont County as the future cracker's site. The company has already allocated $100 million on surveys and permits.
The project still needs a final investment decision: selecting Bechtel as the contractor of the project is a major step toward that decision. Bechtel Oil, Gas & Chemicals Senior Project Manager of Pennsylvania Chemicals Paul Marsden, already working as the manager of Bechtel’s work on Shell Chemical Appalachia’s multibillion-dollar ethane cracker in Monaca, Pennsylvania, made the announcement at the Northeast Petrochemical Conference in Pittsburgh.
The US Department of Energy has estimated that the Marcellus and Utihad ca shales can support up to four more crackers, besides PTT’s and Shell’s.
Another new cracker would give producers a new outlet for ethane, a natural gas liquid that they blend in the gas stream when it cannot be sold. In addition to the cracker, PTTGC plans to build two 350,000 tpy HDPE units, 500,000 tpy MEG capacity and 100,000 tpy of EO capacity at the Ohio site. Analysts speculated full capital investment for the project could reach $6 billion.
Observers expected FID on PTT Global’s project more than a year ago. PTT Global could have been watching to see if costs on Shell’s project spiraled out of control.
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