ExxonMobil has commenced production on a new high-performance polyethylene line at its Beaumont polyethylene plant in Texas, US.
Image: The new polyethylene line increases Beaumont polyethylene plant production capacity by 65%. Photo: Image by LEEROY Agency from Pixabay.
The new Beaumont high-performance polyethylene line will increase polyethylene plant production capacity by 65% or 650,000 tonnes per year.
Bringing site capacity to nearly 1.7 million tonnes per year, the expansion project created more than 2,000 jobs during the peak construction phase, currently supports approximately 40 permanent jobs.
In 2017, ExxonMobil commissioned two new 650,000 tonnes-per-year high-performance polyethylene lines at its plastics plant in Mont Belvieu, Texas.
Commenting on the commissioning of new polyethylene line at Mont Belvieu plant, ExxonMobil Chemical Company president Neil Chapman said: “The expansion of our Mont Belvieu facility further enhances our ability to meet growing global demand for high-performance polyethylene products around the world.”
The firm said that the projects would help meet the growing demand for polyethylene, particularly products used for liquid and food packaging, agricultural films, and construction liners.
ExxonMobil Chemical Company president Karen McKee said: “The availability of new supplies of domestically produced natural gas liquids provides us with a significant advantage when expanding polyethylene production to meet worldwide demand growth.
“Our unique polyethylene products offer enhanced performance benefits to our customers, including strength and ease of processing, compared with commodity products.”
ExxonMobil’s Beaumont’s polyethylene plant expansion is part of the firm’s 2017 Growing the Gulf initiative, which involves the construction and expansion of manufacturing facilities along the US Gulf Coast.
The initiative is expected to create more than 45,000 jobs across the region.
Employing more than 2,000 people, the ExxonMobil’s Beaumont petrochemical manufacturing complex comprises the refinery, chemical plant, polyethylene plant, and lubricant blending and packaging plant.
Located on 300 acres west of Beaumont, the Beaumont polyethylene plant is equipped to produce granular and pelletised polyethylene used for the manufacturing of plastic products.
In June 2019, ExxonMobil and Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) said that they will start construction on a $9bn (£7bn) petrochemical plant in San Patricio County, Texas in the third quarter of this year.
The project involves the construction of a 1.8 million metric tonne ethane steam cracker, two polyethylene units, and a monoethylene glycol unit.