1. 37 injured in Exxon fire in Baytown, shelter-in-place issued
In July ExxonMobil's Baytown Olefins facility caught fire and 37 people sustained non-life threatening injuries and a shelter in place was issued.
2. Restart of idled St. Croix oil refinery set for early 2020
The Lime Tree Bay Refining project is a $1.6 billion plan to refurbish the St. Croix oil refinery after being shut down in 2012.Once restarted, the plant will be able to process up to 210,000 barrels per day of oil.
3. Fire breaks out at Celanese chemical facility in Clear Lake
In September a fire broke out at the Celanese facility in Clear Lake, the fire was put out before Pasadena FD arrived on scene and no personnel sustained injuries.
4. TPC Group contains fire, sends representatives to survey damage at Port Neches plant
In the beginning of December there was an explosion at the TPC Group Plant in Port Neches, TX. The explosion injured 3 worker and TPC Group activated its Emergency Response Plan and requested assistance from Port Neches Fire Department and Huntsman.
5. Chevron Phillips names potential Texas site for$5.8B petrochemical project
The city of Orange, Texas is on the short list of places where Chevron Phillips Chemical is considering building a massive $5 to $6 billion petrochemical expansion. The new project would generate 3,500 construction jobs at peak construction with an average salary of about $90,000.
6. INEOS Oxide to build ethylene oxide unit in Texas
INEOS Oxide confirmed its new 1.2 billion lb (circa 520 kt) Ethylene Oxide (EO) unit and associated downstream Ethylene Oxide Derivatives (EOD) to be built at INEOS’ Chocolate Bayou manufacturing works. Chocolate Bayou is currently hosts to two Olefins crackers, two Polypropylene units and two Cogen facilities operated by INEOS O&P USA.
7. McDermott awarded engineering contract for two ethylene crackers
McDermott International, Inc. received a technology contract from Baltic Chemical Company (BCC) and a sizeable Extended Basic Engineering (EBE) contract from China National Chemical Engineering No. 7 Construction Company Limited (CC7). The ethane cracking project is owned by Baltic Chemical Complex LLC, a subsidiary of RusGazDobycha. McDermott's Lummus Technology will provide both the Process Design Package (PDP) Engineering and the license for its olefin production and recovery technology.
8. Motiva acquires Flint Hills' Port Arthur chemical plant
Motiva Enterprises and an affiliate of Flint Hills Resources signed an agreement for Motiva to acquire a 100 percent ownership interest in Flint Hills Resources Port Arthur site. The Flint Hills plant operates a 1.57 billion-pound-per-year ethylene cracker, a unit producing nylon component cyclohexane, and a network of pipelines and storage caverns.
9. Chevron Phillips Chemical, Qatar Petroleum to develop $8B Gulf Coast petrochemical project
Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC and Qatar Petroleum signed an agreement to jointly pursue development of the U.S. Gulf Coast II Petrochemical Project (USGC II). This project will include a 2,000 KTA ethylene cracker and two 1,000 KTA high-density polyethylene units.
10. Hamilton heading up expansion at ExxonMobil Polyolefin plant
ExxonMobil moved ahead with its construction work on its polypropylene project to expand polypropylene manufacturing capacity by up to 450,000 tons a year at its Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Polyolefins Plant.
