Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Regulation | Shell
Shell Cracker Agrees to $10M Shakedown from PA, Restarting Now
In March, Shell said its Pennsylvania ethane cracker facility had not–using new, more accurate methods of measuring emissions–violated emissions limits at any point during the facility’s somewhat troubled startup (see Shell Claims PA Cracker Plant Did Not Exceed Air Emissions Limits). However, the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says it did exceed emissions limits, a number of times. Shell is not going to push the issue. Yesterday, PA Gov. Josh Shapiro announced his government had shaken down Shell and is forcing the company to pay nearly $10 million in fines and bribes “contributions” to benefit local communities. That’s the protection money price to restart the now shutdown plant and to keep it going.
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The Shell ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA (near Pittsburgh) has experienced a number of problems over the past six months during startup, including flaring and foul odors (see 
Yesterday two radicalized Big Green groups–the Environmental Integrity Project (based in D.C.) and the Clean Air Council (based in Philadelphia)–filed a lawsuit against the Shell Polymers Monaca Plant (ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA), claiming the plant has repeatedly violated federal air pollution limits. The lawsuit requests the court assess huge fines and force it close down unless it can operate without any further violations of the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) and the federal Air Pollution Control Act (APCA). In other words, the radicals seek to shut down the $10 billion plant and keep it shut down–throwing 600 permanent employees out of work. Nice people at the Environmental Integrity Project and Clean Air Council, eh?
The Shell ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA (near Pittsburgh) has experienced a number of problems over the past six months during startup, including flaring and foul odors (see 
Last night, Shell hosted a virtual community meeting to address air monitoring and recent problems experienced at the company’s ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA. Executives answered questions about the plant’s environmental record over the past six months, including a recent odor event earlier this month (see 
The mighty Shell ethane cracker has had “issues” getting and staying fully up to speed. Since it officially went online last November, Shell has received three separate notices of violation (NOVs) for exceeding allowable air pollution limits, largely related to repeated flaring episodes (see 
The mighty Shell ethane cracker seems to have “issues” in getting and staying fully up to speed. We’ve previously reported on a series of emergency flaring episodes at the plant (see 
GAIL (formerly known as Gas Authority of India Limited), is a huge natural gas and petrochemical company located in India. The country of India owns and operates GAIL. It is the largest natural gas utility company in the country. Earlier today, GAIL signed an agreement with Shell for Shell to source and supply ethane that GAIL can import and use to replace natural gas and naphtha as feedstock for its petrochemical plants. Last month GAIL invited companies to bid on providing it with a very large ethane carrier (VLEC) for 20 years starting mid-2026 so it can import ethane from the U.S.
Last year demand for ethane in the U.S. increased by 9%, which equates to an increase of 200,000 barrels per day (bbl/d). U.S. ethane consumption averaged just under 2.0 million bbl/d in 2022, reaching a peak of almost 2.2 million bbl/d in July. Why the increase? Largely due to two new ethane cracker plants coming online, one in Texas and one in Pennsylvania. The PA Shell cracker and the TX Port Arthur cracker, together, can consume 156,000 bbl/d of ethane.
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) early last week to the Shell ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA, now called the Shell Polymers Monaca facility, for the third time since it officially began operation last November. In a letter dated Feb. 13 (copy below), the DEP stated the facility violated rolling 12-month emission standards in both November and December. Shell faces fines of $25,000 per day for each day the facility exceeds emissions limits. In light of this most recent NOV, two anti-fossil energy groups have asked the DEP to immediately shut down the facility to stop extra air pollution in the region.
It hasn’t been a problem-free startup for the mighty Shell ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA, now called the Shell Polymers Monaca facility. We’ve noted some of the more prominent issues as we’ve spotted them in the news. Things like the plant exceeding allowed air emissions (see 
Yesterday two radicalized Big Green groups–the Environmental Integrity Project (based in D.C.) and the Clean Air Council (based in Philadelphia)–filed a notice of intent to sue the Shell Polymers Monaca ethane cracker plant near Pittsburgh. The notice, as well as the coming lawsuit, has all the hallmarks of being planned long ago, perhaps years ago, before the cracker plant even came online. The false claim in the notice and coming lawsuit is that the cracker plant is “repeatedly” violating air pollution limits.
It hasn’t been a problem-free startup for the mighty Shell ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA, now called the Shell Polymers Monaca facility. We’ve noted some of the more prominent issues as we’ve spotted them in the news. Things like the plant exceeding allowed air emissions (see