The EPA finalized greenhouse gas permits for a pair of projects in the Corpus Christi, Texas, area planned by Flint Hills Resources and OxyChem.
Flint Hills will spend $600 million to upgrade its West Refinery in Corpus Christi to process more Eagle Ford crude. The company has also agreed to a number of emissions reduction activities at the West Refinery, including lowering emission limits on storage tanks and sulfur dioxide limits on combustion of fuel gas in heaters. Flint Hills said the project would require about 2,000 contractors when new construction begins.
OxyChem is teaming up with Mexichem to build a 1.2 billion-pounds-per-year ethylene cracker in Ingleside. The new unit will use cracking furnaces equipped with catalytic reduction technology designed to control nitrogen oxide emissions. Nearly all of the ethylene produced will be used to manufacture vinyl chloride monomer on site. The project is expected to create 1,700 construction jobs and 150 permanent jobs.
