That possibility surfaced at an Aug. 23 public meeting in Beaver County where Royal Dutch Shell has plans to build such a facility, Kallanish Energy has learned.
A state official, Dennis Davin of the Department of Community and Economic Development, said the state has heard rumors about a second cracker in Pennsylvania, although there is no evidence that a plan is being actively developed.
“We’ve heard ‘rumblings’ about companies scouting Pennsylvania for a potential cracker, but nothing more than that,” Davin said at the public meeting, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.
The best sites have already been chosen by the three cracker plants already proposed in the Appalachian Basin, he said.
His agency later issued a statement: “We have every reason to believe that for the same reasons Shell located in Pennsylvania – our close proximity to the market and the collaboration of the state and local entities – we could see additional cracker plants in the future,” the Business Times reported.
Multiple plants in the region make sense because that improves overall efficiency of operations, experts say.
Last June, Shell Chemical Appalachia made its final investment decision to proceed with the multi-billion-dollar cracker facility at Monaca in Beaver County, about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
Construction could begin in 2018.
The plant will take liquid ethane from shale drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shales and convert it into ethylene that would be used to make plastics, textiles and pharmaceuticals.
Years ago, Shell had said the plant might cost $2 billion to $3 billion, but has offered no estimates in recent years. Some have estimated that the plant will likely cost $5 billion to $6 billion.
The project will provide 6,000 construction jobs and 600 permanent full-time jobs when the cracker is completed early in the next decade.
It would produce 1.6 million tons per year of polyethylene.
Royal Dutch Shell is also planning to build a 94-mile pipeline in western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to move ethane to the plant.
A Thai-based company, PTT Global Chemical, is also looking to build a similar $5.7 billion cracker in Ohio’s Belmont County. A decision on that facility at Shadyside will likely be made early next year. Also involved is Japan-based trading company Marubeni Corp.
Braskem/Odebrecht, two Brazilian companies, are also looking at a site near Parkersburg, West Virginia.
A Texas-based company, Appalachian Resins, had been looking at developing a small cracker in Ohio’s Monroe County, but that plan has stalled.
