ExxonMobil Chemical Co. has reached mechanical completion of two 650,000-tonne/year high-performance polyethylene lines at its plastics plant in Mont Belvieu, Tex. The company expects production to begin during the third quarter.
Part of a previously announced multibillion dollar expansion project in the Baytown, Tex., area, the polyethylene lines will process ethylene feedstock from the new 1.5 million-tpy steam cracker currently under construction at the Baytown complex (OGJ Online June 19, 2014).
ExxonMobil Chemical Pres. Neil Chapman said the “facility will double the plant’s production capacity, making it one of the largest polyethylene plants in the world.”
The Baytown expansion project is one of 11 ExxonMobil announced as part of its 10-year, $20-billion “Growing the Gulf” initiative. As part of the initiative, ExxonMobil Chemical and Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) last month selected a site in San Patricio County, Tex., as the possible location for a jointly owned petrochemical complex the companies hope to build on the Gulf Coast (OGJ Online, Apr. 14, 2017).