Shell is moving ahead with feasibility plans for building a $1.2 billion monoethylene glycol plant at its Louisiana complex, state and company officials announced Monday.
The company has announced no further details about the potential project, including its capacity and possible startup date, as the design and engineering phase is ongoing. The company expects to make a final investment decision in 2020, according to a statement from Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and Rhoman Hardy, Shell Chemicals' vice president for Gulf Coast manufacturing.
Shell is eyeing its chemical complex in Geismar, Louisiana, for the MEG plant. The company already has 400,000 mt/year of ethylene glycol capacity at Geismar, according to its annual filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The site also has 1.3 mt/year of linear alpha olefins capacity including a $717 million, 425,000 mt/year alpha olefins plant that finished commissioning in January, according to Shell.
MEG is used as antifreeze and to make paints, adhesives, paper, polyester fibers and polyester terephthalate, a resin used to make plastic bottles.
US MEG capacity has already seen two other significant additions so far in 2019 with Lotte Chemical's February startup of a 700,000 mt/year plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana, while Sasol began operations at a 380,000 ethylene oxide/MEG unit at its own Lake Charles complex, but the company has said it will not achieve formal startup until the plant makes on-spec product for 72 consecutive hours. Sasol's plant is slated for formal startup in June.
In January and February, the parish and school district that encompass Geismar approved Shell's applications for tax breaks on the project. Louisiana Economic Development and Shell will complete talks on an incentive package for the project before Shell makes its final investment decision.
