Shale gas fuels Dow expansion plans
27 Apr 2011
Midland, Michigan - Dow Chemical Co. plans to increase its ethylene and propylene production and to exploit increasing supplies of US shale gas in the Marcellus and Eagle Ford shale regions.
The US-based group’s plan includes:
- Re-starting an ethylene cracker at the company’s St. Charles operations site near Hahnville, LA by the end of 2012;
- Improving ethane feedstock flexibility for an ethylene cracker at its Louisiana site in Plaquemine, LA in 2014;
- Increasing ethane feedstock flexibility for an ethylene cracker at the Dow Texas Operations site in 2016;
- Constructing a new, world-scale ethylene production plant in the U.S. Gulf Coast, for start-up in 2017.
Meanwhile, Dow is currently constructing a new, world-scale, on-purpose propylene production facility at Dow Texas Operations, for start-up in 2015;
The company is also exploring an option to commercialize its own technology to produce propylene from propane, with the potential start-up of a new production unit in 2018.
Dow plans to supply the required ethane and propane for these projects through a variety of supply arrangements, including:
- A possible joint venture fractionator in Texas
- Supply from existing fractionators
- Supply from future new fractionators to be built within the industry
- Potential supply deals from various shale gas developments
The company has signed ethane and propane supply contracts based on the Eagle Ford shale gas and is pursuing several more agreements from this area.
In addition, Dow has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a subsidiary of Range Resources Corp., concerning a long-term supply agreement for the delivery of ethane from the Marcellus Region in southwest Pennsylvania to Dow’s existing operations in Louisiana.
