(New York) Qatari energy giant QatarEnergy and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company (CPChem) will invest $8.5 billion to build a plastics production plant in Texas, the two groups said in a statement on Wednesday. .
The construction of the plant will start immediately in Orange (Texas), located about 180 km east of Houston.
It will produce Marlex polyethylene, a plastic used in particular to manufacture gas pipes, kayaks or coolers. The plant’s output is expected to be sold primarily in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
The site, which should be operational in 2026 and will create 500 jobs, will be owned by Golden Triangle Polymers, a joint company 51% controlled by CPChem, with QatarEnergy extending the balance (49%).
This is QatarEnergy’s second largest investment in the United States, after the $11 billion investment in the Golden Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) production terminal, located in the far southeast of Texas, near from the Gulf of Mexico, to be delivered at the end of 2024.
“This new investment will place QatarEnergy among the largest petrochemical producers in the world,” Qatari Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said in the statement.
“It will also significantly increase our presence in the United States,” he added.
CPChem is a petrochemical company jointly controlled by American oil companies Chevron and Phillips66.
QatarEnergy is engaged in a development phase of its downstream activities (refining and petrochemicals), which should generate a “new phase” of growth.
Both groups said the plant’s greenhouse gas emissions are expected to be around 25% lower than comparable sites in the United States and Europe.