LyondellBasell secures permit to move ahead with its multi plant ethylene expansion program

LyondellBasell Industries, an American public multinational chemical company based in Houston, Texas, has successfully secured a key permit required to continue with its ethylene expansion program began in 2013 at the company’s Channelview, La Porte and Corpus Christi plants which benefit from shale gas production.

According to Jim Gallogly, chief executive officer of LyondellBasell, by successfully getting the permit their multi plant ethylene expansion program is on target to be fully operational by the end of 2015.

La Porte expansion will add about 363,000 tpy of ethylene capacity at the plant, while the Channelview project will expand the site’s capacity by 113,000 and Corpus Christi cracker by 363,000 tpy.

LyondellBasell’s $1.3 billion multi plant expansion project when fully operational is expected to increase North American ethylene capacity by an estimated 1.85 billion pounds/year, for a total estimated capacity of 11.8 billion pounds/year.

The company’s required plant modifications at the La Porte facility are well in progress and scheduled for completion this summer. It expects construction at Corpus Christi to start during the second half of this year with start-up planned for late 2015. While, start-up at the Channelview plant is planned for early 2015.

On April 16, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final greenhouse gas for the company’s proposed project. The permit is the first to be drafted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and issued by EPA under a new program designed to help improve permitting efficiency and productivity for applicants in the State of Texas.

LyondellBasell’s tactic of expanding their existing facility and getting hold of the feedstock advantage is more swift and cost-effective, rather than build a new plant from the ground up, which requires at least five years or more.