Groundbreaking Event Held for New Ethane Cracker Facility

A groundbreaking ceremony held by LACC LLC Tuesday marked the start of construction of the company’s new ethane cracker facility and an ethylene glycol plant in Calcasieu Parish, LA.

A joint venture between Atlanta-headquartered Axiall Corporation and Republic of Korea-based Lotte Chemical Corporation, the boards of the two companies agreed on a final investment on Dec. 17, 2015 to construct the new facilities near Axiall’s existing chlor-alkali chemical facility in Lake Charles, LA.

“Among Korean petrochemical companies, Lotte Chemical is the first to locate a project in the United States; as such, this project represents a significant investment by Lotte Chemical,” the South Korean company’s president and chief executive officer said in a statement.

The ethane cracker will produce and estimated 1 million tons of ethylene annually and the new the ethylene glycol plant is expected to output 700,000 tons each year. The total capital investment in the facilities is about $3 billion, Axiall said in a press release, and the new locations will generate about 200 new direct jobs and about 1800 indirect jobs. The company estimates that 2000 temporary construction jobs will result from the project.

“For Axiall this commitment marks the next phase of our continued investment in the Lake Charles area,” Tim Mann, president and chief executive officer of Axiall said in the release. “Our contruction site is just west of our largest chemicals plant, where we have operated for nearly 70 years.”

CB&I was awarded the contract for the main steam cracker. LACC said it will “engage a number of other firms” to develop offsite facilities and revamp existing infrastructure.

The company said that it expects the facility to be operational by early 2019.