The new facility will produce materials used in packaging, agricultural film, construction materials, clothing, and automotive coolants.
The operation includes a 1.8 million metric ton per year ethane steam cracker, two polyethylene units capable of producing up to 1.3 million metric tons per year, and a monoethylene glycol unit with a capacity of 1.1 million metric tons per year.
“We built this state-of-the-art chemical plant ahead of schedule and below budget, by leveraging our global projects expertise in execution planning and delivery, while keeping everyone safe and healthy,” said Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company. “This is a remarkable achievement that positions us well to help meet growing global demand for performance products while providing meaningful investment in the U.S. Gulf Coast.”
“This is a very proud moment for the parent companies,” said Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh, SABIC’s executive vice president of Petrochemicals. “It was with a great deal of dedication that our teams were able to safely start up each element of the plant before the close of 2021. As we begin this next chapter for GCGV, we look forward to continuing our role as a good neighbor in the Coastal Bend.”
Construction began in the third quarter of 2019, creating an estimated 6,000 high-paying construction jobs, and the manufacturing plant now directly employs more than 600 people.
ExxonMobil and SABIC have partnered together for 40 years on petrochemical projects. Gulf Coast Growth Ventures represents their first joint venture in the Americas. SABIC is the operating partner for two long-standing joint ventures with ExxonMobil in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kemya in Jubail and Yanpet in Yanbu. Ownership interests in Gulf Coast Growth Ventures is evenly divided with 50 percent to ExxonMobil and 50 percent to SABIC. ExxonMobil is the site operator.
