PTT looking for a partner for its Ohio petrochemical plant

Reuters · 02/05/2021 21:29
PTT looking for a partner for its Ohio petrochemical plant

- A U.S. subsidiary of state-owned Thai oil and gas company PTT PCL PTT.BK said on Friday that it was focused on finding a partner for its proposed petrochemical plant in Ohio that will turn ethane into plastics.

"The focus of the project is finding a partner. There are very substantive conversations going on with a number of companies that the project team feels good about," said Dan Williamson, a spokesman for the project.

He said he could not share the names of those companies at this time.

Williamson also said the team was in the process of meeting with members of President Joe Biden's administration to brief them on the benefits of the project, which will cost an estimated $10 billion to build and create hundreds of full-time jobs and thousands of construction jobs.

He also noted that renewables would be part of the project.

Last summer, PTT's PTT Global Chemical America (PTTGCA) subsidiary delayed making a final investment decision to build the ethane cracker from the first half of 2020 to the first half of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. nL1N2DI1T2

Williamson said the company still hopes to make a final investment decision during the first half of 2021 but noted that time frame is a "reasonable hope" and not a "set in stone" prediction.

If it were not for the pandemic, the company has said the plant would likely already be under construction. nL2N2GK19O

The ethane cracker is designed to produce about 1.5 million metric tons of ethylene per year and will take 4-6 years to build.

In addition to PTTGCA's project, Royal Dutch Shell PLC RDSa.L is building an ethane cracker nearby in western Pennsylvania that is expected to enter service in the early 2020s. nL1N2H00V3


ANALYSIS-Pandemic exposes cracks in oil majors' bet on plasticnL8N2DF05A

Thai company PTT delays decision on $5.7 bln Ohio petrochemical plantnL1N2DI1T2

Shell to suspend construction of Pennsylvania chemical facility nL1N2BB2KX

Shell says Pennsylvania ethane cracker about 70% completenL1N2H00V3

PTT signs ethane supply deal with Range for Ohio petrochemical plantnL2N2GK19O

PTT says committed to proposed Ohio petrochemical plantnL1N2I41TB

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by David Gregorio)

((scott.disavino@thomsonreuters.com; +1 332 219 1922; Reuters Messaging: scott.disavino.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))