Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP is considering a further capacity expansion at its Cedar Bayou petrochemical complex in Baytown, Tex.
The company has undertaken a study to boost the Cedar Bayou plant’s production capacity of low-viscosity polyalphaolefins (PAO) capacity to 58,000 tonnes/year from its current capacity of 48,000 tpy, the company said.
In an effort to streamline the planned expansion, all necessary environmental notifications for the proposed project already have been filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, CPC added, saying it will seek final approval for the expansion during second-quarter 2015.
If approved, the expansion project is targeted for completion in 2016, the company said.
The proposed PAO expansion at Cedar Bayou follows ongoing capacity expansion projects at the complex, including the addition of a 1.5 million-tpy ethane cracker as well as a project to boost normal alpha olefins (NAO) production at the site by 100,000 tpy (OGJ Online, Apr. 8, 2014).
The NAO expansion project, which is due to be completed in July 2015, will provide the NAO feedstock used for PAO production, CPC said.
These latest expansion plans for the company’s US Gulf Coast operations come as part of CPC’s strategy to capitalize on North American increased shale resource development (OGJ Online, June 18, 2014).
