ExxonMobil Corp. has let a contract to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI), Tokyo, to supply equipment and services for the operator’s current project to add a unit that will expand production of granular and pelletized polyethylene (PE) by 65% from current rates at its 1-million tonne/year PE plant in Beaumont, Tex.
MHI will deliver the reaction, finishing, and shipping equipment for the plant’s PE production train, as well as associated water, air, and steam utility installations for the expansion project, the service provider said.
This latest contract for the Beaumont PE expansion follows ExxonMobil’s earlier contract let to MHI for construction of a two-unit PE plant at the company’s concurrent 1-million tpy expansion of its PE production site in Mont Belvieu, Tex., MHI said.
MHI also completed delivery of two grassroots 650,000-tpy PE units for ExxonMobil’s addition of a second petrochemical complex at its operations on Singapore’s Jurong Island in 2011.
A value of the current contract, however, was not disclosed.
Beaumont expansion
Already under construction and scheduled for startup sometime in 2019, the 650,000-tpy PE unit comes as part of ExxonMobil’s strategy to capitalize on lower feedstock prices resulting from rising supplies of US shale gas and associated liquids, the company said upon announcing the project in early November.
ExxonMobil also has let contracts to Zachry Group, San Antonio (OGJ Online, Nov. 15, 2016), and Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Dallas (OGJ Online, Nov. 15, 2016), for the PE expansion at Beaumont.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].