Texas city vetoes Exxon plant, Golden Pass OK

CORPUS CHRISTI, December 23, 2016 – The southern Texas city of Portland has requested it be ruled out as location for ExxonMobil’s new petrochemicals plant, officials said late on Thursday.

The city council yesterday signed off on the documents to be submitted to ExxonMobil, which is scouting the area for a location for a greenfield ethylene plant. With a planned annual production capacity of 1.6 million tonnes, it will be the largest-such facility in the world. Portland, a city located across the bay from Corpus Christi, believes the proposed plant, while beneficial for economic and industrial growth, would be detrimental to residents’ quality of life.

ExxonMobil fared better some 475 kilometres to the northeast, in Port Arthur, as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this week grated approval to go head with the Golden Pass LNG export terminal. Exxon will operate the facility, which will comprise three liquefaction trains, with Qatar Petroleum International. The terminal will have a capacity of 15.6 million tonnes per year.

The first LNG train is scheduled to begin operations in July 2020, followed by a second one six months later. Full operations are anticipated for the third quarter of 2021.

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