Shell eyeing $1.4-B project to further expand its alpha olefins capabilities
A few years after completing a $717 MM expansion of its alpha olefins production facility in Geismar, Shell Chemical LP is eyeing another $1.4 billion project at the site to continue ramping up production.
Shell Chemical on Wednesday won approval from the state Board of Commerce and Industry for an Industrial Tax Exemption Program break for the $1.4-B project, which the company says will create a “world scale” linear alpha olefin plant at the Geismar facility. Linear alpha olefins are used to make detergents, waxes, plastics and premium lubricants.
The Geismar expansion will be the sixth time Shell Chemical has deployed its “proprietary technology” at one of its sites to produce linear alpha olefins, according to the company’s application for the ITEP incentive.
Shell Chemical’s ITEP application says project work will include building reactors, heat exchangers and compressors, as well as boilers and turbines to generate steam and electricity. Shell will also build storage tanks, a 12,000-square-foot warehouse for equipment and materials, and a 14,000-square-foot building that will house a cafeteria and safety meeting space.
Shell Chemical will receive a roughly $17 MM property tax break for the first year of the linear alpha olefins project while paying nearly $4.3 MM in taxes.
Shell expects the linear alpha olefin expansion will create 12 permanent jobs with an average salary of $85,000, as well as 750 construction jobs.
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