CHARLESTON,W.Va. — The Brazilian company with plans to build a massive $1 billion ethane cracker plant in Wood County could soon begin an expensive 12-month evaluation to determine if it will break ground on the project.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and state Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette liked what they heard from Odebrecht during last week’s visit to Brazil. Burdette told MetroNews on Tuesday the company has secured all the ethane it needs for the project and a strategy for bringing it to Wood County. The next step, Burdette said, is a $150-million pre-engineering phase that will begin early next year.
“It’s a very big and very expensive process,” Burdette said. “In effect, they are going to design and engineer this plant and they will spend $150 million in doing it.”
Burdette expects the company will follow that work with a final investment decision by the end of 2015.
“We think that is the last major hurdle before a final go/no-go decision is made,” he said. “Basically this company will have done everything to prepare for this project in advance of a final investment decision.
“We are comfortable we are very much on target. There is a very, very long list of boxes and they are systematically checking them off on a very regular basis.”
Since announcing the venture on Nov. 14, 2013, Odebrecht has purchased the Wood County property, started the permitting process, identified the anchors for the plant’s ethane supply and hired a technology provider for one of the polyethylene plants planned for the site.
The project is called Ascent, Appalachian Shale Cracker Enterprise.