by Ben Hunkler | Feb 16, 2023 | Blog Posts, Petrochemicals & Plastics
On Friday, February 3, a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous petrochemicals derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, sparking what may be one of the worst environmental disasters in US history. Thousands of fish have turned up dead in nearby waterways; a plume...
by Kathy Hipple and Anne Keller | Dec 19, 2022 | Petrochemicals & Plastics, Reports
Download In November 2022, Shell officially began production at its long-anticipated ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, churning out lentil-sized resin pellets, known as nurdles, by the ton. When it reaches full capacity, the complex will...
by Eric de Place | Aug 29, 2022 | Blog Posts, Petrochemicals & Plastics
Key Takeaways Appalachian ethane is already fueling a petrochemical buildout in the Gulf Coast and around the world. The region’s production of natural gas liquids, including ethane, is forecasted to grow faster than any other region of the US over the next 30 years....
by Eric de Place | Jun 1, 2022 | Petrochemicals & Plastics, Research
Sometime soon, Shell’s petrochemical plant in western Pennsylvania will finally begin operations, churning out millions of pounds of tiny resin pellets for plastic manufacturing. Despite a barrage of hype about a large-scale petrochemical buildout in Appalachia that...
by Eric de Place | Apr 15, 2022 | Blog Posts, Petrochemicals & Plastics
The plastics industry is facing a triple threat. Product bans, public opinion, and corporate pledges all conspire to curtail future profits and undercut expansion plans. This trio helps explain why the ballyhooed petrochemical buildout in Appalachia has never...
by Eric de Place | Apr 4, 2022 | Blog Posts, Petrochemicals & Plastics
Last week, Ohio lieutenant governor John Husted spoke the unvarnished truth about the Ohio Valley’s long planned petrochemicals buildout. Responding to news about the perennially delayed project in Belmont County, he said, “The industry itself is not growing....
by Eric de Place and Molly Kiick | Nov 30, 2021 | Petrochemicals & Plastics, Reports
Beaver County, Pennsylvania is a real-time case-study in the local economic impacts of petrochemical development. It is home to the construction site of a Shell petrochemical facility estimated to cost $6 billion. First announced in 2012, the project is nearing...
by Ben Hunkler | Nov 23, 2021 | Blog Posts, Petrochemicals & Plastics
Four years ago, petrochemical industry boosters predicted a new wave of industry would roll across the natural gas-producing region of Appalachia, spurring billions of dollars in capital investments and a veritable economic renaissance in a place that sorely needed...
by Kathy Hipple and Anne Keller | Nov 10, 2021 | Petrochemicals & Plastics, Reports
The Appalachian petrochemical buildout is on shaky ground. Despite speculation that supply chain constraints, COVID-induced shortages of key products, and volatile energy prices could “re-shore” virgin plastics production in the Ohio Valley, a concurrence of factors...
by Sean O'Leary | Aug 27, 2021 | Blog Posts, Petrochemicals & Plastics
According to a recent report from S&P Global/Platts, “PTTGC America’s final investment decision on a new petrochemical complex in southeast Ohio remains on indefinite hold until the company secures a new partner in the project, the company said in an email...
