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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The COVID-19 outbreak
has led Shell Chemical to temporarily suspend construction on the massive
plastics and petrochemicals site it's building in Monaca, Pa, reported PlasticsNews.
"The health and well-being of our
workers and nearby communities remains Shell's top priority," Shell Pennsylvania
Chemical Vice President Hilary Mercer said in a March 18 statement. "That's an
ethos we live by every day, but it's especially relevant at a time when the
world is taking drastic measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
We're committed to doing our part."
Mercer added that "in the days ahead
[Shell] will install additional mitigation measures aligned with CDC (US Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention) guidance."
"Once complete, we will
consider a phased ramp-up that allows for the continuation of safe, responsible
construction activities," she said.
Mercer also said that Shell officials
"are proud of the over 8,000 workers who have committed their time and expertise
to one of the largest construction projects in the United States, and the first
of its kind in Pennsylvania.
"The decision to pause was not made
lightly," she said. "But we feel strongly the temporary suspension of
construction activities is in the best long-term interest of our workforce,
nearby townships and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
"Our goal is to
build a positive, decades-long legacy in the region. That means earning our
right to live and work here every day. It also means caring for people. While
understandably disappointing to many, we believe this decision honors that
approach."
Shell began construction in Monaca, near Pittsburgh, in late
2017. The 386-acre project will be the first US petrochemicals project built
outside of the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana in several decades. Production
is expected to begin in the early 2020s.
The complex will use ethane from
shale gas produced in the Marcellus and Utica basins to make around 3.5 billion
pounds of polyethylene resin per year. The complex will include four processing
units, an ethane cracker and three PE units. Most of the resin made in Monaca is
expected to be sold to Shell customers within North America.
Shell
Chemical is a unit of global energy firm Royal Dutch Shell. The business is
based in The Hague, Netherlands, with US headquarters in Houston.
As
MRC informed
earlier, in mid-February 2020, Shell confirmed coronavirus case at its
Singapore refining site. Namely, a contractor working at Shell's Pulau
Bukom manufacturing site in Singapore contracted the new
coronavirus.
We also remind that Shell Singapore restarted its
naphtha cracker in Bukom Island in early December, 2019, following a two months
maintenance shutdown since the beginning of October 2019. Thus, this cracker was
taken off-stream for the turnaround on 1 October 2019. The cracker is able to
produce 960,000 tons/year of ethylene and 550,000 tons/year of
propylene.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing
polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 215,390 tonnes in the first month of
2020, up by 23% year on year. Shipments of all grades of high density
polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) increased due to
higher capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments
to the Russian market were 127,240 tonnes in January 2020, up by 33% year on
year. ZapSibNeftekhim's homopolymer PP accounted for the main increase in
shipments.
Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and
gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered
office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in
terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is
vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry,
including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing,
petrochemicals, power generation and trading. |
