It’s been nine years since Formosa Petrochemical filed its first permit applications for a proposed $9.4 billion petrochemical complex in Louisiana and, while the greenfield project has faced legal setbacks, it recently posted an important win and may — emphasis on may — eventually make it across the finish line. The Sunshine Project would be massive and consequential, with two steam crackers each capable of consuming 75 Mb/d of ethane, a big propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit and a number of other petchem production facilities that together would employ more than 1,200. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at the project and its long and winding road toward potential construction and startup.
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.
Formosa Petrochemical Corp., an affiliate of Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Group, announced plans for the Sunshine Project in Louisiana’s St. James Parish back in April 2018, with the hope of starting construction at the 2,400-acre site on the west bank of the Mississippi River the following year. (As we’ll get to in a moment, that timeline turned out to be optimistic.) The plan is massive and far-reaching: a soup-to-nuts petchem complex that would be built in two phases over eight to 10 years. As shown in Figure 1 below, Phase I would involve: a 1.2 million metric-ton-per-year (MT/year), ethane-only steam cracker, a 400,000 MT/year linear-low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant, a similarly sized high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plant, and a 900,000 MT/year ethylene glycol plant, as well as a 600,000 MT/year PDH unit and a 600,000 MT/year polypropylene facility. Phase II would include a second 1.2 million MT/year ethane cracker, 400,000 MT/year LDPE plant, 400,000 MT/year HDPE plant, and 900,000 MT/year ethylene glycol plant. The support units include two utility facilities, one with boilers to produce steam and a second with combustion turbines to burn natural gas for electricity. A wastewater treatment plant and a logistics facility with storage and loading on trucks, railcars, barges and ships would round out the complex.
Figure 1. Plans for Phases 1 and 2 of the Sunshine Project. Source: Formosa Petrochemical
Join Backstage Pass to Read Full Article
About the song
“He Is Not Dead Yet” was written by Eric Idle and John Du Prez and appears as the ninth song on Monty Python’s Spamalot (Original Broadway Cast) album. The scene in the musical features a man (Christopher Sutton) who insists he is not dead and proceeds to prove it with a dance number but is knocked unconscious with a shovel by Sir Lancelot (Hank Azaria) at the end of the scene. The musical is a parody of the King Arthur myth about the search for the Holy Grail. The original 2005 Broadway musical was seen by more than 2 million people and grossed $175 million. It won three Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Personnel on the cast record were: Steve Rosen, Abbey O'Brien, Ariel Reid, Brad Bradley, Brian Shepard, Emily Hsu, Greg Rueter, Jennifer Frankel, Jenny Hill, Kevin Covert, Lisa Gadja, Scott Taylor, Thomas Cannizzaro, Christian Borle, Tim Curry, Michael McGrath, Christopher Sieber, David Hyde Pierce, Darlene Wilson, James Ludwig, John Bolton, Pamela Remiar, Rick Spaans, Sara Ramirez, Christopher Sutton, Hank Azaria (performers), Dave Kuhn (bass), Scott Kuney (guitars, banjo, ukulele), Ken Dybisz (saxes), Diane Barere, Jeanne LeBlanc, Stephanie Cummins (cello), Sean McDaniel (drums, percussion, programming), Zohar Schondorf (French horn), Anthong Geralis (keyboards), Alden Banta (clarinet), Dave Mancuso (timpani), Mark Patterson (trombone), Tony Corruso (trumpet), and Larry Hochman (orchestrations).
Monty Python’s Spamalot (Original Broadway Cast) was recorded in New York City and produced by Eric Idle and John Du Prez. The album was released in July 2005 and went to #8 on the Billboard Top Cast Albums chart.
Monty Python were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Tery Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. The group became popular through their BBC comedy series, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which aired from 1969 to 1974. The group made five successful films from 1971 to 1983. Due to the success of Eric Idle’s Spamalot in 2005, PBS ran the entire run of Monty Python’s Flying Circus along with one-hour specials on each group member the same year. Plans for a feature film of the musical were developed but never reached fruition. On a side note, the term “spam” about unsolicited email is derived from Python's 1970 “Spam” sketch. The group has released 15 studio albums and two live albums. Every member of the troupe went on to success in film, television, and stage projects, often in partnership with other group members.
