Appalachian Resins

In February 2013 MDN brought you news about plans from Appalachian Resins (AR) to build a polyethelene (PE) manufacturing plant complete with a “baby” ethane cracker. The original plan was to build it in the Wheeling, WV area. However, a year later the location shifted across the border to Monroe County, OH. As late as April of this year AR was still committed to the project (see Ohio “Baby Cracker” Plant Still a Go – 2018 Startup Date). Turns out commitment is a fickle thing when it comes to cracker plants–either baby or fully grown. AR recently revealed they have put their “baby cracker” plant project on hold. The leaders of AR say with both Shell and the PTT Global projects heating up, they don’t believe there will be enough talent in the region to build their project. Interestingly, the CEO of AR says he firmly believes the PTT Global project (a company based in Thailand) will get built–but not for the reason you might expect (i.e., economics)…
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Lots of cracker plant talk today on MDN. Last October, MDN told you about potential plans for a “baby” ethane cracker plant–smaller than the typical project–to be built (potentially) in Monroe County, OH (see Ohio to Get “Baby” Ethane Cracker Originally Slated for WV). The company behind that project is Appalachian Resins (AR). Their plan is to build an ethylene/polyethylene production facility rather than a full-blown cracker plant. Although smaller, it would still be a huge (really huge) economic boom for the region. A few weeks ago DownstreamToday learned that AR is still committed to moving forward with their plans to build the baby cracker in Monroe County, even though some of the economics have changed…
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In February 2013 MDN told you about plans from Appalachian Resins (AR) to build a polyethelene (PE) manufacturing plant complete with a baby ethane cracker (see “Small” Ethane Cracker Plant Coming to Wheeling, WV). The company, at that point, said they would begin construction somewhere south of the Wheeling, WV area by the end of 2013. That didn’t happen. Now we know why. Last week, AR’s CEO Jim Cutler announced he had signed a letter of intent with the Monroe County (OH) Port Authority to build the plant in Monroe County instead. The location for the plant moved just across the Ohio River, from the WV side to the OH side of the river. The cost to build the new facility is a cool $1 billion. No doubt both sides of the border will benefit, but this is definitely a loss for WV and a big gain for OH…
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