Trade Journal Reports Shell Cracker Decision ‘Soon’

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Shell Chemicals, the division of Royal Dutch Shell that may build a $4 billion ethane cracker plant in Monaco, Pa., has completed front-end engineering design work and “is expected to make a final investment decision soon,” reports IHS Chemical Week.

The trade journal said it interviewed the executive vice president of Shell Chemicals, Graham van’t Hoff, at an event in Germany.

The cracker plant was first proposed in March 2012. Since then Shell has secured a purchase option on the Ohio River site of a former zinc plant in Monaca, Pa. According to the Pittsburgh Business Times, the sale of the property could be completed in the next few months.

A spokesman for Shell told the business publication there is no timeline for making a final decision on whether the cracker plant will be built.

Last week a public hearing was held in Monaca on Shell’s air emissions permit.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.