You probably could have seen this one coming: Last Friday, Shell signed a second six-month extension with Horsehead Corp. on a 300-acre site in Beaver County, PA. Shell continues to evaluate the site’s suitability to build a $2 billion ethane cracker plant–a plant that will convert ethane recovered during shale gas drilling in “wet gas” areas into (among other things) ethylene–the raw material used to make plastics. The land deal was supposed to be signed, sealed and delivered by the end of 2012, but that changed when Shell and Horsehead signed their first six-month extension (see Gov Tom Corbett: Shell Cracker Plant in PA Not “Off the Rails”).
In April 2013, PA Gov. Tom Corbett, under “badgering” by the Pittsburgh Business Times (according to Corbett’s office), said he believed the deal would not be signed until 2014 (see Corbett Story Changes: Decision on PA Cracker Plant Delayed Again). It appears his prediction was accurate:
