Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Bradford/Lycoming/Sullivan/Union counties), members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and labor and economic leaders recently toured the $6 billion Shell petrochemical plant located in Beaver County.
The plant is currently under construction approximately 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh on the Ohio River near the company’s source of ethane. In addition, the facility will provide Shell with a competitive advantage because more than 70 percent of the company’s North American polyethylene customers are located within a 700-mile radius of Pittsburgh.
When completed, the facility will take oil and gas from the Marcellus and Utica basins and convert them into ethylene. The facility will include three polyethylene units with a combined annual production of approximately 3.5 billion pounds and an ethane cracker with an approximate annual average capacity of 1.5 million metric tons of ethylene.
Ethylene is used in plastics manufacturing.
“The cracker plant is transformational,” Yaw said. “Pennsylvania is a global energy leader, and this project reaffirms that. It is already providing enormous economic and employment benefits to western Pennsylvania and the state.”
The complex also includes cooling water and water treatment, power and steam generation, warehouses, office buildings, logistics, storage, and an emergency flare.
Yaw is Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee chairman.