Formosa eyes $9.4bn Louisiana cracker complex

OREANDA-NEWS. September 08, 2015. Formosa Petrochemicals is considering a \\$9.4bn industrial complex in St James parish, Louisiana, including a new ethylene cracker and a host of downstream chemical products units, including polyethylene and polypropylene.

The proposed project would be built on the west bank of the Mississippi river near the Gramercy bridge. It would be built in two phases, with the first phase including an ethylene cracker and derivatives plants, including high density polyethylene, low density polyethylene, ethylene glycol, and polypropylene. A second phase would double the capacities of those plants. No plant capacities were announced.

A final investment decision on the project will be made in mid-2016. If approved, construction would begin in 2016, with hiring to begin in 2018. The second phase of construction would begin in 2022, the company said.

"We believe strategic growth in petrochemicals in the future will be in the US, especially in Louisiana," said company chairman Bao-Lang Chen. "It is the right and perfect location for our company's next development base."

Louisiana offered the company an incentive package including a \\$12mn grant to offset infrastructure costs.

Formosa Plastics, another division of the parent company Formosa Group, previously announced it will add 1mn t/yr of ethylene capacity at its Point Comfort, Texas, facility, scheduled for operations in 2016. That new olefins plant and propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit will include 14 cracking furnaces, four PDH reactors, four steam boilers and associated equipment. The company also announced plans to build additional polyethylene capacity at the site, including a 625,000 t/yr low density polyethylene plant set for start-up in 2017.