Strategically located within a 700-mile radius of 70 percent of the U.S. polyethylene market, Shell Polymers Monaca sits on 384 acres adjacent to the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. SPM contracted most of its natural gas feedstock at Final Investment Decision from the nearby Utica and Marcellus basins. The advantages of proximity are not limited to production; SPM also offers customers shorter supply chains, which translates to increased flexibility and access to polyethylene pellets that can be used in a wide variety of products such as common household goods, consumer and food packaging, commodity and specialty films, pipe, blow-moulded containers and injection-moulded parts.
“I’m proud that in delivering this facility we’ve had a strong and innovative safety focus; invested in the community through employment and education; and helped repair and improve the local environment by remediating a brownfield site. These commitments are core to Shell’s Powering Progress strategy today and will remain so in the years to come,” said Huibert Vigeveno, Shell Downstream Director.
Shell started main construction at Shell Polymers Monaca in April 2017 after taking a Final Investment Decision in June 2016.
The facility will produce ~ 3.5 billion pounds (1.6 million tonnes) of polyethylene annually and is expected to ramp up to full production by the second half of 2023. The plant will have three reactors: two gas phase reactors and a slurry reactor.
SPM hosts 600 full time positions with several thousand more resulting from private industry and public services required for support.
