Meglobal plans to construct a new world-scale monoethylene glycol (MEG) production facility at Dow's Oyster Creek site in Freeport, Texas and will be its first manufacturing unit in the United States.
According to a press release, the new Meglobal plant will create 1,400 construction jobs at the project's peak, and will employ around 50 new workers when it goes on stream in mid-2019.Meglobal plans to construct a new world-scale monoethylene glycol (MEG) production facility at Dow's Oyster Creek site in Freeport, Texas and will be#
Meglobal is a subsidiary of Equate Petrochemical Company, which in turn is a partnership between Petrochemical Industries, Dow Chemical, Boubyan Petrochemical and Qurain Petrochemical.
“The site provides Meglobal with greater flexibility to satisfy customer needs for consistent and reliable delivery of ethylene glycol products,” said Ramesh Ramachandran, president, Meglobal International FZE.
Additionally, the new site will benefit through a long-term ethylene supply agreement with Dow from its new ethylene cracker.
“Establishing MEG production in the US Gulf Coast is an important investment for us, as it greatly enhances our global footprint and is directly aligned to our growth strategy,” said Equate CEO Mohammad Husain.
“Additionally, ethylene producer economics through a long-term supply agreement with Dow, provide a unique competitiveness for the production plant,” Husain added.
Dow's new ethylene cracker is part of the existing infrastructure that makes the Dow Texas operations attractive for locating the new MEG plant on the US Gulf Coast.
“Construction continues to progress on the site, with the cracker more than 40 per cent complete and on track for start-up in the second quarter of 2017,” Dow said.
Dow will also complete ethane feedstock flexibility for an ethylene cracker at the company's Louisiana operations site, on track for start-up in the second half of 2016.
These projects will complement previous milestones of Dow's completed investments in the US Gulf Coast including the restart of an ethylene cracker at the St. Charles site in 2012.
It will also complement the world-scale propane dehydrogenation unit (PDH) that began commercial operations in December 2015.
“This announcement is in line with Dow's strategy to integrate with cost-advantaged production that will ultimately enable growth,” said Brian Ames, Dow's senior vice president for Feedstocks and Performance Plastics.
“With decades of operability in mind, Dow continues to track aggressive timelines and harness our first-mover advantage in the region, resulting in positive economic benefits even in a low-oil environment,” Ames stated.
MEG is used in a number of market applications, including polyester fibres, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and packaging, antifreeze and coolants, paints, resins, deicing fluids and heat transfer fluids. (AR)
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