Beaver County

Time, once again, to haul out the tea leaves to see if there’s anything we can divine from an announcement yesterday by Shell that they’ve made a “final investment decision” (or FID) to move forward with a multi-billion dollar project to build a new deep-water offshore drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. What in the world does that have to do with the Marcellus/Utica? Good question! Let us read the tea leaves and connect some dots for you…
Read More “Shell Greenlights Offshore Platform – Good Sign for PA Cracker?”

Another positive sign that Shell may move forward with building a $2-$3 billion ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA. Yesterday it was reported that Shell closed on the former Horsehead zinc smelter property in Potter that would be the primary location of the cracker plant. Previously Shell extended their option to buy the property–three different times. They’ve finally bought the property–for $13.5 million according to the deed transfer, although it’s quite possible Shell paid way more than that for the property. One real estate expert in the area said the property is worth $75-$100 million. In addition to buying the old Horsehead site, Shell, over time, has also purchased 12 other parcels in the area…
Read More “Shell Buys Beaver County, PA Property for Future Cracker Plant”

More signs that Shell is much closer to a decision on whether or not it will build an ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA. An executive vice president with Shell Chemicals, speaking off-script at an event in Germany, said the company expects to make a decision “soon.” After that an official Shell spokesman, speaking on-script, came along to clean up the EVP’s poopy mess and said there is no timeline on a decision. Another positive sign, according to the EVP, is that the front-end engineering and design study on the project has been completed. But according to the spokesman, even though the study is done, there are “still hurdles” before making such a large investment decision. So it’s a tit for tat, back and forth. Our take: even though we’re suffering from cracker fatigue, we continue to be hopeful that Shell will be the first of those to announce a possible cracker to actually pull the trigger and build it…
Read More “More Signs Shell is Close to Decision on PA Ethane Cracker Plant”

Last week we told you a positive sign that the proposed $2-$3 billion ethane cracker plant to be built by Shell in Monaca (Beaver County), PA was the joint information session recently held by the Dept. of Environmental Protection and Shell to discuss an air quality permit the DEP will issue for the project (see Progress: DEP & Shell Hold Info Session on PA Cracker Plant). Here’s yet another very encouraging sign: Horsehead Corporation, which still owns the site Shell would use to build the plant, said in their first quarter update that they expect to close on a sale of the property to Shell “within the next few months”…
Read More “Shell to Close on PA Cracker Plant Property in “Next Few Months””

We understand it’s a really big commitment to decide to spend $2 billion or more on a single project, like the Shell ethane cracker plant announced in June 2011 that may (or may not) be coming to the Marcellus (see Shell Commits to Building a Billion Dollar Chemical Plant in the Marcellus Region of U.S.). But after a while (nearly four years!), the waiting grows tiresome. In March 2012 Shell settled on a potential site in Monoca (Beaver County), PA, about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh (see Shell Announces Location of Ethane Cracker Plant). In June 2012, a Shell official said a final decision on whether or not to build was “18 to 24 months away” (see Shell: Final Decision on Cracker Plant Still 18-24 Mo. Away). Er, right. The end of the 24 months was nine months ago. Still, there have been some positive signs, including a very positive sign from last Saturday…
Read More “PA DEP Signals Approval for Shell Ethane Cracker Air Quality Plan”

Shell released their fourth quarter 2014 results yesterday, along with comments on what’s ahead for 2015. Full year profits for Shell were up in 2014–to $19 billion (a mind-blowing number). However, the company plans to trim $15 billion worth of spending in over the next three years. Ouch. MDN wondered if the Shell ethane cracker plant planned for Monaca, PA is on the list to trim…
Read More “Shell Trimming $15B in Spending Next 3 Years – PA Cracker?”

We’re still a long way from a decision by Shell on whether or not they will build a $2-$3 billion ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA. However, today the company took another giant step forward in that process. Shell has told the current owner of the site, Horsehead Corporation, that Shell is exercising their option to buy the property…
Read More “Shell (Finally) Buys Site for Cracker Plant in Beaver County, PA”

All’s we can say is, It’s about time! Shell will hold a pair of public meetings next Thursday, Nov. 13, at the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland (Beaver County) PA to discuss their plans for an ethane cracker plant in Monaca with area residents. Yes, no doubt the crazies from outside of the area will show up to gripe and complain, as always happens. No big deal. As of next week it be exactly one year ago that Odebrecht announced their “world scale” ethane cracker for Parkersburg, WV (see WV Announces Brazilian Company to Build Ethane Cracker Complex). Seems to us that since that time all of the momentum to actually build a cracker plant has been with Odebrecht/WV and that Shell’s PA effort seems to have lost steam. Perhaps Shell is finally stepping up their game once again and getting serious about building a plant, originally announced all the way back in March 2012 (see Shell Announces Location of Ethane Cracker Plant)…
Read More “Shell to Hold Info Session on Monaca Ethane Cracker Next Week”