DILLES BOTTOM – A year ago Friday, Belmont County officials announced PTT Global Chemical’s intention to build a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker on the site of the former FirstEnergy R.E. Burger power plant.
Today, contractors working for FirstEnergy Corp. are demolishing the shuttered power plant to make room for the massive petrochemical complex, which would cover nearly 500 acres between the Ohio River and Ohio 7. Instead of watching pipelines ship lucrative Marcellus and Utica shale ethane to cracker plants along the Gulf Coast or in Canada, the Upper Ohio Valley could see a manufacturing renaissance if PTT Global Chemical proceeds with its planned multibillion-dollar petrochemical complex.
A final investment decision is expected by the end of this year.
“We have made great progress over the past year,” Belmont County Commissioner Mark Thomas said. “We have held numerous meetings with the company leaders and their representatives. Everyone is working collaboratively to make sure we have everything in place.”
Toasaporn Boonyapipat, president and CEO of PTT Global Chemical America, agreed with Thomas in terms of the cooperation and communication.
“A slowdown in drilling and decrease in oil prices will pose an opportunity for the project, as construction costs will likely fall, not to mention construction companies are likely to be more competitive in securing major projects as well,” he said. “PTT Global Chemical America’s decision will be based upon the cost and operational analysis we receive from the firms performing the front-end engineering design.”
If built, the cracker construction would generate thousands of temporary jobs and hundreds of full-time permanent jobs, along with the millions of dollars in wages paid. There would also be associated economic activity in the area as far north as East Liverpool, as far east as Washington, Pa., as far south as Marietta and as far west as Zanesville, according to Ohio State University public affairs professor Edward Hill.
“Everything is very positive at this point,” Commissioner Matt Coffland added. “It all looks good.”
Ethane Abundance
Ethane is one of the natural gas liquids often prevalent in “wet” shale natural gas. Recently, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected domestic ethane production to increase by 300,000 barrels per day by 2017, with a significant quantity of this growth coming in the Marcellus and Utica region covering Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
The Sunoco Logistics Mariner East pipeline now sends ethane from this area to Philadelphia for export to Europe, while Sunoco’s Mariner West line ships ethane to Ontario, Canada for processing by NOVA Chemicals Corp. Moreover, the ATEX Express ships the product southward for cracking in Texas and Louisiana, while Kinder Morgan is developing the Utopia Pipeline to move ethane to Canada for processing.
Although tens of thousands of barrels of ethane are on their way out of the region, Boonyapipat said these ethane pipelines will not impact PTT’s efforts.
“They will have no significant impact to the project. This region has an abundance of natural gas resources, including ethane, which is why PTT Global Chemical America chose this site and why it already is investing over $100 million to determine the feasibility of a petrochemical complex,” he said.
Current Site Work And Project Scope
FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young said the company hopes to have the Burger plant removed from the site before the end of this year, adding the stack should come down in early summer.
Meanwhile, engineers working for PTT continue working at the 300-acre Ohio-West Virginia Excavating property to the west of the FirstEnergy site.
“PTT Global Chemical America’s engineering firms are performing their front-end engineering design work to determine the cost, footprint and operations of the facility. PTT Global Chemical America will submit environmental permits to state and federal regulators this spring,” Boonyapipat said.
Boonyapipat said PTT intends to own the complex, rather than enter some type of payment in lieu of taxes agreement, similar to that entered by the Marshall County Commission to facilitate development of the planned $615 million natural gas-fired Moundsville Power plant.
However, Thomas said the county did explore “economic incentives” – potentially affecting real estate taxes – which could further the cracker’s development.
“The state of Ohio, JobsOhio and Belmont County have been strong partners throughout this process, and we would expect that to continue once the plant is under construction and operational,” Boonyapipat said.
JobsOhio is the state’s private economic development corporation initiated by Gov. John Kasich.
Boonyapipat said the current estimate calls for the plant to consume 65,000 barrels of ethane per day. That is more than the 50,000 barrels per day Kinder Morgan intends to move via its Utopia project.
“Nothing that we see is anything but positive,” Thomas added. “We are very hopeful.”
From The Intelligencer Wheeling News Register | April 24, 2016
