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Shell expects new US petrochemical complex to start up by year-end: CFO

• Author Kristen Hays 
• Editor Benjamin Morse 
• Commodity Petrochemicals

Shell Chemicals expects its new petrochemical complex in southwest Pennsylvania to come online by year-end, Royal Dutch Shell CFO Jessica Uhl said Feb. 3.

She said during the company’s Q4 2021 earnings call that the company was finishing up the project in 2022, “which should hopefully be up and running by the end of the year.”

The project also will mark Shell’s re-entry into polyolefins. In 2017, CEO Ben Van Beurden said during a company earnings call that Shell has been in polyolefins “through a very difficult convoluted way in the past through a number of joint ventures,” but the new complex “will be a re-entry in a way that will sustain our position as a polyolefins player.” read more

Pennsylvania ethylene cracker plant more than 95% built as Shell prepares for operation

Shell Chemicals on Monday confirmed the company’s multi-billion dollar Potter Township complex, long considered one of the largest construction projects in the nation, is now more than 95% complete. 

The company has yet to announce a firm opening date, but crews began start-up activities early last year around the time Shell CEO Ben Van Beurden announced the chemical plant will be “fully operational” in 2022. read more

Extract from a letter to the Beaver County Times about Shell’s new Pennsylvania  ethylene cracker plant

FROM DAVE SUTTON

In great detail, the article describes how the opening of this plant will render the Beaver Valley environment untenable for human habitation.

According to the self-proclaimed experts quoted, cancer will be rampant, the air will be toxic along with the water. Even the light and noise from the plant will destroy everyone’s well-being. However, the Beaver County Emergency Services stands ready to aid at a moment’s notice. read more

The Times

Critics, defenders debate cracker plant impact as project nears completion

Pennsylvania Record

Construction crew at Shell Cracker Plant wants overtime pay, files suit

By Marian Johns | Dec 1, 2021

PITTSBURGH — Construction workers on the Pennsylvania Petrochemical Complex, known as the Shell Cracker Plant, in the western part of the state are claiming they did not receive overtime pay.

Daniel Davidson, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, filed a complaint Nov. 2 in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County against Brand Industrial Services Inc., BrandSafway Industries and others alleging violation of the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act. read more

The Pennsylvania Petrochemical Complex is more commonly referred to as the ‘Shell Cracker Plant’

PENNSYLVANIA RECORD

Class action lawsuit: Shell Oil Company workers allege they were not paid time-and-a-half for overtime

By Nicholas Malfitano | Oct 26, 2021

PITTSBURGH – A class action lawsuit brought on behalf of workers at Shell Oil Company alleges that the employees in question did not receive time-and-a-half compensation when they worked overtime hours.

Robert J. Merryman of Beaver Falls filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Oct. 15 versus Global Scaffold Construction Services, Inc. and Christopher Fannin, of Walker, La. read more

Sniffing out danger? That odor from the Shell cracker plant put the community on alert

Hi there, John,

There was a major smell incident near the Shell ethane cracker plant in Beaver, PA recently.

Here’s one news link: Shell cracker plant confirms a sweet-smelling odor came from its Beaver County facility

Community members encountered a powerful smell. And per the article, “On Mon., Sept. 27, the PADEP issued Shell a notice of violation for the odor and fugitive dust, and it considers this an open compliance matter, meaning that it is an ongoing violation of environmental law. Each day the violations continue is considered a separation offence. The notice of violations is neither an order or any final action by the PADEP.” read more

Federal, state agencies probing Shell’s Falcon ethane pipeline after whistleblowers’ allegations

Early last year, Penn­syl­va­nia’s top en­vi­ron­men­tal of­fi­cial tried to raise an alarm at the high­est level of the fed­eral agency re­spon­si­ble for pipe­line safety.

“I write to you re­gard­ing a very se­ri­ous pub­lic safety mat­ter for Penn­syl­va­nia,” the let­ter from Patrick McDon­nell, sec­re­tary of Penn­syl­va­nia’s Depart­ment of En­vi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion, be­gan. read more

Shell Pennsylvania petchems project 70% complete, operational in 2022: spokesman

• AuthorJacquelyn Melinek 
• Editor Richard Rubin 
• Commodity Oil,  Petrochemicals
• OIL | PETROCHEMICALS
• 12 Mar 2021 | 18:00 UTC
• New York

New York — Shell Chemical’s $6 billion petrochemical complex in Pennsylvania is now more than 70% complete and projected to be operational sometime in 2022, a company spokesman said March 12.”

On a daily basis workers are commissioning major pieces of equipment within our infrastructure units – a phased process that will continue until start-up” said the spokesman, Curtis Smith, in an email. “That includes connecting pipes and wiring that will eventually loop and extend for hundreds of miles along the site’s 386 acres,” he said. read more

Sixty-one new COVID-19 cases were reported at Beaver County’s cracker plant this week, bringing the total number since March to 335.

CHRISSY SUTTLES | BEAVER COUNTY TIMES: 12 Dec 2020

POTTER TWP. — Coronavirus cases continue to grow at Shell Chemicals’ ethane cracker plant site as COVID-19’s third wave hammers the region.

Sixty-one new virus cases were reported at Beaver County’s petrochemical complex this week, bringing the total number since March to 335. Since mid-November, total cases have tripled. read more

Shell’s Pennsylvania Ethane Cracker Completes 70% Construction

Zacks Equity Research October 13, 2020

Royal Dutch Shell plc. (RDS.A – Free Report) said that its petrochemical complex of several billion dollars in Western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete and in the process to enter service in the early 2020s. The news was disclosed by Hilary Mercer, vice president of Shell Polymers via an online presentation at Shale Insight 2020 conference.

Currently under construction, the plant is in Beaver County, about 48 km northwest of Pittsburgh, and will be self-sustained with its natural gas power plant and water treatment facility. The plant’s costs are estimated to be $6-$10 billion, where ethane will be transformed into plastic feedstock. The facility is equipped to produce 1.5 million metric tons per year (“mmty”) of ethylene and 1.6 mmty of polyethylene, two important constituents of plastics. read more

Why The Oil Industry’s $400 Billion Bet On Plastics Could Backfire

Scott Carpenter: Senior Contributor: Energy Sept 5, 2020Key takeaways:

• Oil companies plan to invest $400 billion into new petrochemical plants, betting that demand for plastic will keep growing.
• Authors of a new report say the industry and other forecasters fail to consider that large majorities favor legislation to curb plastic use and waste and that governments are acting.
• Plastics impose a cost of $1000 per tonne — through CO2 emissions, air pollution, and collection costs. Calls to shift those costs onto producers through taxes are growing.
• Outside experts said the long-term outlook for plastics demand remains uncertain and will depend on consumer preferences and government actions.

The COVID-19 pandemic and accelerating green growth around the world have eviscerated many of the oil industry’s dogmas: that renewables would suffer from high costs, that governments would slow-walk environmental commitments, that investors would continue to reward long-term bets on oil with generous market values.

But one nugget of wisdom has survived everything the market has thrown at it, and now oil companies like ExxonMobil and Shell are wagering billions on it: that the world’s demand for plastics is still growing, with no end in sight. read more

The Guardian: ‘War on plastic’ could strand oil industry’s £300bn investment

Major oil firms plan to grow plastic supply to counter impact of shift against fossil fuels

Jillian Ambrose: Fri 4 Sep 2020 06.00 BST

The war on plastic waste could scupper the oil industry’s multi-billion dollar bet that the world will continue to need more fossil fuels to help make the petrochemicals used in plastics, according to a new report.

Major oil companies, including Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell, plan to spend about $400bn (£300bn) to help grow the supply of virgin plastics by a quarter over the next five years, to compensate for the impact of electric vehicles and clean energy technologies on demand for fossil fuels. read more

Big Oil’s Petrochemical Bet Is A Risky One

By Tsvetana Paraskova – Aug 19, 2020, 5:00 PM CDT

Petrochemicals are expected to underpin global oil demand growth in the future as growth in transportation fuels demand is set to slow with the increased use of electric vehicles, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in March in its annual Oil 2020 report with projections until 2025. But are petrochemicals really profitable?

“Petrochemical feedstocks LPG/ethane and naphtha will drive around half of all oil products demand growth, helped by continued rising plastics demand and cheap natural gas liquids in North America,” the IEA said in March when the COVID-19 pandemic was already upending global oil demand growth projections for this year. read more

Shell: 17 new COVID cases at cracker plant, 14 active

By Chrissy Suttles: Posted Aug 4, 2020 at 5:28 PM

The site has seen 35 confirmed COVID-19 cases since March — 14 active and 21 recovered. More than 1,000 tests have been conducted at Shell’s on-site lab, with approximately 1 percent coming back positive.

POTTER TWP. — The number of COVID-19 cases at Beaver County’s ethane cracker plant has nearly doubled in less than three weeks.

Another 17 employees at the Shell Chemicals complex have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since mid-July, and 35 people have been infected since the pandemic hit Pennsylvania in March. read more