After several years of development, Shell’s $6 billion Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex — the first of its kind in the Marcellus/Utica shale play — is really taking shape about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The facility, which will consist of a 3.3-billion-lb/year ethylene plant and three polyethylene units, is in its final stages of construction, as is a pipeline that will supply regionally sourced ethane to the steam cracker. When the Falcon Pipeline and the PPC comes online, possibly as soon as 2022, they will provide a new and important outlet for the vast amounts of ethane that is now either “rejected” into natural gas for its Btu value or piped to Canada, the Gulf Coast, or the Marcus Hook export terminal near Philadelphia. Today, we discuss progress on the Marcellus/Utica’s first world-class petrochemical complex and what it will mean for the play’s NGL market.
Visualize the infrastructure behind U.S. NGL movement.
The U.S. NGLs Map provides a comprehensive view of the transport, processing, and export networks moving NGLs across the U.S.
Since the start of the Shale Revolution in the late 2000s, the Marcellus/Utica region has become a hydrocarbon-production juggernaut. By the early 2010s, production of dry natural gas in northeastern Pennsylvania and wet, NGL-rich gas in western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, and eastern Ohio had really taken off, spurring an extraordinary build-out of gas gathering networks, gas processing plants, de-ethanization units, fractionators, new and repurposed gas pipelines, and NGL pipelines that lasted through the decade. We’ve blogged about the development of the shale play and its infrastructure countless times, and discussed them in detail in Drill Down reports like Join Together With Demand, and Dog Days Are Over. As important as all of those pipes and plants are, it could be argued that the crowning jewel of the Marcellus/Utica’s emergence as a global hydrocarbon player is Shell’s long-planned petrochemical complex in Beaver County, PA.
Construction on Shell’s Petrochemicals Complex in 2020. Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
We took our first in-depth look at the Shell petchem project in May 2016 in Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More. There, a few weeks before Shell announced a final investment decision to build the facility, we described what the Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex (pictured above; purple icon in Figure 1) will consist of:
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About the song
“Building the Perfect Beast” was written by Don Henley and Danny Kortchmar, and it appears as the sixth song on Don Henley’s second solo studio album of the same name. Recorded in 1983-84 at Record One, Bill Schnee Studio, and The Villa in Los Angeles, the album was produced by Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar, Greg Ladanyi, and Mike Campbell. Released in November 1984, the album went to #13 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. It has been certified 3x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). “The Boys of Summer” single from the album won a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance in 1985. Five singles were released from the LP. Personnel on the song “Building the Perfect Beast” were: Don Henley (lead, harmony vocals, percussion, synthesizer), Danny Kortchmar. (guitar, synthesizer, percussion, chant voices), Michael Boddicker (programming, sequencing), Albhy Galuten (Synclavier), Keith McCormick (African drums), Martha Davis, Patty Smyth, J.D. Souther, Waddy Wachtel, Michael O'Donoghue, and Carla Olson (chant voices), and Patty Smyth (harmony vocals).
Don Henley is an American musician, singer, songwriter, drummer, record producer, and founding member of the Eagles. As a solo artist, he has released five studio albums, two compilation albums, and 27 singles. As a member of The Eagles, he has released seven studio albums, two live albums, 10 compilation albums, and 30 singles. The Eagles have sold more than 150 million records worldwide and have 49 Platinum records, as certified by the RIAA. The Eagles have won numerous awards and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Henley is said to be the fourth-wealthiest drummer in the world behind Ringo Starr, Phil Collins, and Dave Grohl. He still records and tours.
