Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP – a joint venture of Chevron Corporation (CVX) and ConocoPhillips (COP) – announced plans to set up a major 1-hexene producing facility in Baytown, Texas. This is supposed to be the world’s biggest 1-hexene plant with a production capacity of up to 250,000 metric tons per year.
Located at Cedar Bayou, the plant will be supported by superior infrastructure, feedstock availability and high-grade operating system. 1-hexene forms an important constituent in the manufacture of polyethylene – used in making films, pipes, detergent bottles, and food and beverage containers.
For the engineering and construction of the unit, Chevron Phillips entered into agreements with S & B Engineers and Constructors Ltd. Chevron Phillips targets to commence construction of the plant in the first half of 2012, with operations expected to come online in the first quarter of 2014.
The plant will be build based on Chevron Phillips’ proprietary, 2nd generation, on-purpose 1-hexene technology that generates a co-monomer grade 1-hexene from ethylene.
The Woodlands, Texas based Chevron Phillips has also incorporated this technology at various units operated by joint ventures formed by its wholly owned subsidiaries. The technology has been implemented with success at Qatar Chemical Company Ltd.’s (Q-Chem) facility in Mesaieed. The Saudi Polymers Company will also utilize this technique at its plant in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
Management of Chevron Phillips believes that this project will serve as a significant step in the expansion plans of the company as well as satiate the growing demand of its global customer base.
In 2000, Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips united their worldwide petrochemical businesses to form one of the leading producers of olefins and polyolefins and a supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, and proprietary plastics – Chevron Phillips Chemical Company.
Currently, Chevron Phillips along with other joint ventures partners operates 36 production facilities across United States, Colombia, Singapore, China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Belgium.
We are maintaining our long-term Neutral recommendations on both Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips.
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