ExxonMobil Begins Commissioning New Ethane Cracker in Texas

ExxonMobil Chemical has started commissioning a new ethane cracker at its complex in Baytown, Texas, US as part of a multi-billion expansion that will dramatically boost its plastics production.

The massive cracker, capable of producing 1.5-mtpa of ethylene, is expected to come online during the second quarter of the year. It will supply the company’s production of polyethylene at its recently expanded Mont Belvieu plant.

ExxonMobil last year transformed that polyethylene facility into one of the largest in the world by adding two production lines that nearly doubled output. The plant now has the capacity of 2.5-mtpa.

ExxonMobil Chemical President Mr. John Verity said, “With the completion of the project in Baytown, we are on the verge of fully realising one of ExxonMobil’s most significant US Gulf Coast investments. Our new ethane cracker will allow us to economically meet rapidly growing demand for high-performance polyethylene products around the world, while continuing to sustain economic development and create jobs for decades to come.” Alongside the ethane cracker in Baytown, ExxonMobil proposes to construct a petrochemical complex in San Patricio County, Texas, in collaboration with SABIC. Jointly owned by ExxonMobil and SABIC, the complex will include a separate 1.8-mtpa ethane cracker.

The majority of ExxonMobil’s planned new chemical capacity investment in the Gulf region is directed towards supplying high-demand products for international export markets, including Asia, to support the US’s balance of trade.