Shell Picks Pennsylvania for Petrochemical Plant

Initial reports indicate that Shell Oil has tentatively chosen to put a new multibillion-dollar petrochemical plant in Pennsylvania to take advantage of an abundance of natural gas from the Marcellus shale. The company said it signed an option on land in Beaver County, which is just northwest of Pittsburgh.

Shell chose the site, as it offers good access to transportation by water, rail and road as well as access to natural gas and gas liquids that the petrochemical complex would use both as a power source and feedstock.

The plant would be one of the first located because of the boom in shale gas production, which has taken place in the past two to three years. Pennsylvania beat out Ohio and West Virginia despite their attempts to charm the company into starting the plant in their states.

Shell said that if the project goes forward, up to 10,000 people would be working on it during construction. Once the plant is operating, it would employ several hundred full-time employees. Although Shell would not say how much it expects to spend building the plant, it said such plants typically cost “several” billion dollars.

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