Sad Final Chapter to 2019 Philly Oil Refinery Fire: $4.2M Fine
In June 2019, a series of explosions and a massive fire occurred at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) Refining Complex (see Massive Explosion, Fire at Philadelphia Refinery). It took firefighters a full day to extinguish the blaze. The fire caused the oil refinery complex to close and lay off over 1,000 workers (see Philly Refinery to Close Following Massive Fire – 1,020 Jobs Lost). The owners put the facility, which had already been through a previous bankruptcy, up for auction. We (and many others) hoped that whoever purchased it would reopen the refinery. Those dreams vanished into thin air when it was announced the site would be converted into warehouses, complete with an increase in truck traffic, diesel fumes, and all sorts of headaches that come from a massive warehouse complex located in an urban area (see Philly Refinery Sold – To Become Huge, Polluting Truck Terminal). Sad. Read More “Sad Final Chapter to 2019 Philly Oil Refinery Fire: $4.2M Fine”
The mighty Shell ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA, has a new person in charge: Emma Lewis, senior vice president of U.S. chemicals and products at Shell. We told you Lewis had replaced Hilary Mercer back in January (see 
Although Shell maintains flaring and accidental emissions from its multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA, have not violated state and federal air standards, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says they have — on numerous occasions. Shell didn’t argue the point, and in May 2023, the company agreed to pay nearly $10 million in fines and “contributions” to benefit the local community (see 
Exactly a year ago, MDN brought you the good news that a company based in Houston, Texas called Encina (not to be confused with Encino Energy, which drills for natural gas and oil in Ohio) was proposing to build a $1.1 billion plastics recycling plant along the Susquehanna River in Northumberland County, PA — about 60 miles north of Harrisburg (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) sent a letter to the Shell ethane cracker plant on Feb. 22 essentially saying, “You’re time is up.” The cracker plant facility has 120 days from Feb. 22 (until Jun. 21) to file for a federal Title V Operating Permit for air emissions. If the facility doesn’t at least file for the permit, it’s lights out until it does.
Although Shell maintains flaring and accidental emissions from its new multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA, have not violated state and federal air standards, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says they have — on numerous occasions. Shell didn’t argue the point, and last May, the company agreed to pay nearly $10 million in fines and “contributions” to benefit the local community (see 
Although Shell maintains flaring and accidental emissions from its new multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA, have not violated state and federal air standards, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says they have — on numerous occasions. Shell didn’t argue the point, and in May 2023, the company agreed to pay nearly $10 million in fines and “contributions” to benefit the local community (see 
Yesterday, Shell’s new CEO, Wael Sawan, spilled some major beans about the company’s ethane cracker in Monaca (Beaver County), Pennsylvania. Sawan’s comments about the cracker came during a quarterly conference call with analysts to discuss the company’s performance during the fourth quarter of 2023. Until yesterday, Shell had steadfastly declined to disclose how much money it spent to build the Monaca ethane cracker facility. Sawan said yesterday the number was a massive $14 billion, far more than the estimated $6-$10 billion that had been bandied about for years.
The Shell ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA (Beaver County) just hit a milestone: It’s been up and running (in a manner of speaking) for one year. Except during that one year, quite a bit of the time was spent NOT running due to various technical and equipment issues. According to a review done by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “the plant’s polyethylene units — the three clusters of pipes and vessels that turn ethylene into lentil-sized plastic beads — were down as much as they were running in that first year.”
Two weeks ago, MDN editor Jim Willis offered the opinion that PTT Global Chemical is not going to build an ethane cracker plant in Belmont County (see 
We’ll say aloud what no one else appears ready or willing to say: The long-ballyhooed PTT ethane cracker plant project in Belmont County, Ohio, announced eight years ago, is dead. That’s our humble opinion. We periodically look for signs of life in the project, and it has been a flat line for YEARS. Nothing. A local news article from earlier this week asked, “What is the future of the Belmont County Ethane Cracker plant project?” Local county leaders are still “very optimistic” it will get built. We say it’s time to face reality.
We’re off to the races! M2X Energy, based in Florida, announced the company’s first modular gas-to-methanol plant reached a key milestone and produced its first methanol at the Richard Childress Racing campus in Welcome, N.C. Richard Childress Racing is a motorsports organization with a long history in NASCAR racing and engine development. M2X uses methane (natural gas) that otherwise would be burned (flared) and converts the gas into methanol which is used as a chemical feedstock to create other things, like gasoline, antifreeze, plastic bottles–even LED and LCD screens.
The KeyState Natural Gas Synthesis project in Clinton County, PA, is developing the first carbon capture project in Pennsylvania, which will locally produce hydrogen, ammonia, and urea (see