Companies officially select location in Texas for proposed $10bn petrochem project
ExxonMobil Chemical Co. and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) announced on April 19 that they have officially selected a site in San Patricio County, Texas, for a potential multibillion-dollar petrochemical project.
The state offered Texas Enterprise Fund grants of $1.35m to SABIC US Projects LLC and $5m to Exxon, according to a press release from Gov. Greg Abbott. The project also has also been awarded tax abatements in San Patricio County.
Exxon and SABIC now will apply for air and wastewater permits from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and will make their final decisions on the investments after those permits are granted.
The proposed project would reportedly cost about $10bn. It would include an ethane steam cracker that each year could produce 1.8m tons of ethylene, one of the key ingredients for a variety of products, including polyester, anti-freeze, plastic bottles and food packaging.
The project would “capture competitive feedstock [and] capitalise on the growing global demand for ethylene-based products,” SABIC vice chairman and CEO Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan said in the companies’ press release. “We are focused on geographic diversification to supply new markets,” he said.