Western Railroad Discussion > TX: Exxon and Sabic to build a new petrochemical plant in Corpus

Exxon and the Saudi Investment Fund  plan to build the world's largest steam cracker plant just outside of Corpus Christi TX. The location appears to be west of Gregory along highway 181. The plant will extract components from oil and gas to make plastic feed stocks like ethane, hexane, etc. And fuels like butane and propane.

The map shows a railroad line alongside the location, paralleling highway 181.  Similar projects in PA WV and OH are expected to generate huge volumes of oubound materials. Ethane is often converted to pellets and shipped in covered hoppers for conversion to end products at a receiver's factory.  The remaining crude oil or now dry natural gas is often exported. (If the product was intended for domestic use, the plant would likely be closer to the Permian fields.)


https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/energy/exxon-saudis-bet-on-plastics-growth-in-giant-gulf-coast-plant

https://www.caller.com/story/money/business/local/2018/12/04/work-underway-exxonmobil-proposed-gulf-coast-growth-ventures-plant-site-ahead-permit-approval/1599908002/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/19 17:10 by Lackawanna484.

Wonder if KCS and/or BNSF will have access to the plant?

No. The plant is located on Union Pacific. Neither BNSF nor KCS have access to this location. This is a former SP line. 

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Exxon and the Saudi Investment Fund  plan to
> build the world's largest steam cracker plant just
> outside of Corpus Christi TX. The location appears
> to be west of Gregory along highway 181. The plant
> will extract components from oil and gas to make
> plastic feed stocks like ethane, hexane, etc. And
> fuels like butane and propane.
>
> The map shows a railroad line alongside the
> location, paralleling highway 181.  Similar
> projects in PA WV and OH are expected to generate
> huge volumes of oubound materials. Ethane is often
> converted to pellets and shipped in covered
> hoppers for conversion to end products at a
> receiver's factory.  The remaining crude oil or
> now dry natural gas is often exported. (If the
> product was intended for domestic use, the plant
> would likely be closer to the Permian fields.)
>
>
> https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/ene
> rgy/exxon-saudis-bet-on-plastics-growth-in-giant-g
> ulf-coast-plant
>
> https://www.caller.com/story/money/business/local/
> 2018/12/04/work-underway-exxonmobil-proposed-gulf-
> coast-growth-ventures-plant-site-ahead-permit-appr
> oval/1599908002/

Ethane is NOT "converted" to plastic pellets. That would be like saying hay is converted into a ground beef. Ethane is a gas that through steam cracking can be processed to create ethene (ethylene) which is also a gas. Ethylene has many uses the major use being in the production of polyethylene which is one family of plastic which once processed into the the desired formula is formed into pellets for transportation to end users.

The crackers production will move by pipeline.  The downstream production is another issue.

Bob Wilcox
Charlottesville, VA
My Flickr Shots

Thanks for all the clarifications and updates.

Projects like this usually have a lot of state and local involvement in zoning and land use, etc.  I wonder if there's some deal for the other railroads to access the site?

The comparable Shell cracker in Monaca PA doesn't appear to have multi-rail company access, so maybe not her,e either.