Page 10 - NorthAmOil Week 11 2021

NorthAmOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES NorthAmOil

Shell edges closer to petchem

complex completion

PENNSYLVANIA ROYAL Dutch Shell’s petrochemical plant in to cost $6bn to build, but given the delays,
Pennsylvania is now more than 70% complete, costs could escalate to up to $10bn.
and scheduled for start-up sometime in 2022, the The facility will use ethane feedstock, derived
super-major told media last week. from gas production from the region’s Marcellus
The complex includes an ethane cracker and Utica shale plays, and convert it into the pol-
and three polyethylene units, and had initially yethylene pellets, which are used to make plastics.
been projected to enter service in 2021, but was Shell is not the only company to envision
delayed after construction work was briefly sus- using the region’s shale output as feedstock for
pended in March 2020 amid the coronavirus an ethane cracker. Thailand’s PTT is proposing
(COVID-19) pandemic. Once work resumed, a similar petrochemical project in Ohio, but
Shell Chemical only returned workers to the site delayed its final investment decision (FID) on
in Beaver County gradually, in a bid to restrict the scheme last year amid the pandemic. PTT
the spread of the virus at the site. Global Chemical America (PTTGCA) was since
The super-major is now commissioning said to be targeting the first half of 2021 for an
pieces of equipment at the site in a phased pro- FID, though the company warned that this dead-
cess that is set to continue until the complex line was not set in stone.
enters service. This includes portions of the In February, it was reported that PTTGCA was
plant’s water treatment facility, with the 250- now focused on finding a partner for the project.
MW power plant that will provide electricity to “There are very substantive conversations
the rest of the complex set to follow soon. The going on with a number of companies that the
cracker and polyethylene units will be brought project team feels good about,” a PTTGCA
online after the power plant goes operational. spokesman for the project, Dan Williamson, told
The complex had initially been estimated Reuters at the time.™

ENERGY TRANSITION

Valero, BlackRock join

CCS pipeline partnership

US MIDWEST US refiner Valero Energy and BlackRock Global Navigator will lead construction on the sys-
Energy & Power Infrastructure Fund III have tem and will operate it once it enters service,
announced this week that they are partnering which is targeted for late 2024. According to
with Navigator Energy Services to develop an the companies’ statement, Navigator will seek
industrial-scale carbon capture and storage additional commitments to use the remaining
(CCS) pipeline system. capacity on the system in the coming months
The first phase of the project is expected to via a binding open season process.
include more than 1,200 miles (1,931 km) of car- The proposal comes as CCS is being increas-
bon dioxide (CO2) gathering and transportation ingly talked up as a key component of the energy
pipelines spanning five states in the Midwest – transition, helping companies and countries
Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota and to reach their decarbonisation goals. Also
Illinois. The project will have the capacity to this week, data analytics and consulting firm
permanently store up to 5mn tonnes per year of GlobalData published a release saying that CCS
CO2, and there will be potential to expand this to was “integral” to meeting climate objectives
up to 8mn tpy depending on demand. The pro- globally. The firm’s data show that the US leads
ject would have a central sequestration facility, the way in both active and planned CCS projects,
for which south-central Illinois is being consid- with over 60mn tpy of combined existing and
ered as a location. planned capacity by 2020.
The pipeline is intended to serve biorefin- Globally, CCS capacity is anticipated to reach
eries and other industrial operations. Valero, 120mn tpy by 2030, according to GlobalData,
which says it is the largest producer of renew- but this falls far short of the 10bn tpy that the
able fuels in North America, will be an anchor Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
shipper on the pipeline, securing most of the (IPCC) estimates will be needed by 2050 in order
initial capacity. to support global climate ambitions.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 11 18•March•2021