CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A spokesman for Gov. Tomblin’s administration says West Virginia was in contention for the ethane cracker plant now expected to be built in Ohio.
PTT Global Chemical informed state officials last week the Ohio site was a better fit, according to Chris Stadelman, the governor’s communications director.
“It’s nothing about our tax base, nothing about our tort system,” Stadelman told MetroNews “Talkline” on Wednesday. “The problem was the site they liked in West Virginia was too far from where the natural gas was being produced.”
The West Virginia site under consideration was in Mason County.
“We were certainly willing to work with them to try and get a pipeline built to get (natural gas) there, but that’s not an easy process. That’s a multi-year process,” Stadelman said. “In the end, our understanding is they are looking closer to the raw material source.”
An announcement was scheduled Wednesday in St. Clairsville, Ohio—right across the river from West Virginia’s northern panhandle—concerning plans to build the plant in the Shadyside, Ohio.
Meanwhile, West Virginia’s ethane cracker project in Wood County is currently on hold, though Stadelman said Braskem America CEO Fernando Musa met with Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and state Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette on Tuesday in Charleston.
“It’s a purely financial decision based on energy prices and worldwide conditions,” Stadelman said. “They are still very happy with the site in Wood County, with the business climate in West Virginia, with the employee base we are going to be able to generate.”
Plummeting oil prices—making it cheaper to process ethane from oil than natural gas—have forced Braskem and its partner Odebrecht to re-evaluate the Wood County ASCENT project
“The problem has nothing to do with anything that we can fix,” Stadelman said. “It’s just watching how this worldwide market evolves.”
Last week Musa told the publication Chemical Week the West Virginia location has distribution-system advantages
Stadelman said the pause is not out of character for either company.
“With an investment of this magnitude and the changes in the worldwide energy markets, re-evaluating the best configuration for the project is understandable and consistent with the company’s overall approach,” he said.
Ethane cracker industrial plants us intense heat to break down ethane and process it into ethylene, which is used in producing plastics, adhesives and some pharmaceuticals.