Shell CEO: Monaca Cracker Is the ‘800-Pound Asset,’ Still for Sale

Shell CEO Wael Sawan had warm words yesterday for the company's Beaver County ethane cracker plant, calling it "the 800-pound asset" in Shell's chemicals business and saying it has been performing very, very well. Then, in the same breath, he repeated what he's been saying for more than a year: Shell is not the "natural owner" of chemical assets, and it is in "deep discussions" to sell or partner them, with news expected in the coming months. Sawan's comments came during Shell's third-quarter 2026 earnings call. There's one new wrinkle. If Shell can't get the price it wants, the more likely outcome may be folding its chemicals business into someone else's and keeping a minority stake, rather than selling outright. We read through the call transcript and Shell's 3Q documents to see what they tell us about Monaca and the chemicals division.

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