Odfjell Terminals has continued the development of the first dedicated ethylene export terminal in the US at its facility in Houston, Texas, the company announced Thursday in its 2017 first quarter results.
But it stressed that a final investment decision had yet to be taken.
Four new crackers are expected to start up in Texas this year, boosting ethylene production and taking advantage of ethane sourced from the US' abundant shale gas reserves.
Off the back of those reserves, the US is at a cost advantage to Europe and Asia, whose primary ethylene feedstock is naphtha.
In Texas, Occidental/Mexichem's cracker in Ingleside, with a capacity of 550,000 mt/year, was expected to start up in H1.
It was not clear when the unit would reach full run rates, but Mexichem said on April 27 during its first-quarter earnings call, it estimated a 70% run rate to be reached in 2017.
Also planned for startup is ExxonMobil's cracker in Baytown with a capacity of 1.5 million mt/year, expected to start up in H2 as well as Chevron Phillips Chemical's cracker in Baytown with a capacity of 1.5 million mt/year and Dow Chemical's cracker in Freeport, also with a capacity of 1.5 million mt/year.
All the crackers have corresponding PE capacities. Enterprise Products announced in September last year it is considering an ethylene export terminal at its Morgan's Point, Texas, facility that hosts the ethane export terminal.
Enterprise said it could have an ethylene export facility in Texas online in under two years, but has yet to decide whether to proceed with the project.
