MOSCOW (MRC) -- Formosa Petrochemical is considering construction of a USD9.4-billion petrochemical complex in St. James Parish, Louisiana, that would include a new ethylene cracker and several downstream, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
A final investment decision (FID) is expected by mid-2016. If approved, construction would begin in 2016, with hiring to begin in 2018. The project was announced by Louisiana governor Bobby Jundal and Formosa Petrochemical chairman Bao-Lang Chen.
The proposed project would be built on the west bank of the Mississippi river near the Gramercy bridge. It would be built in two phases, with the first phase including an ethylene cracker and derivatives plants, including high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), ethylene glycol, and polypropylene.
A second phase, for which construction would begin in 2022, would double the capacities of those plants. No plant capacities were announced. Louisiana offered the company an incentive package, including a $12-million grant to offset infrastructure costs. The project is expected to create 1,200 permanent jobs and 8,000 indirect jobs, according to the state of Louisiana.
Formosa Plastics, an affiliated Formosa company, is currently building a 1.15 million tpy ethylene plant at Point Comfort, Texas.
As MRC informed earlier, Formosa Plastics Corporation, U.S.A. will build a new, state-of- the-art polypropylene (PP) production line at its Point Comfort, Texas site. This will be the first new PP production to be built in the US in many years. It continues the company’s longstanding commitments to its customers, its employees and the communities in which it operates.
Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company's plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
MRC