Thailand’s state-owned oil and gas company PTT on Wednesday said its US unit PTT Global Chemical America (PTTGCA) had signed an ethane supply contract with US oil and gas producer Range. Under the deal, Range will provide 15,000 bpd of ethane as feedstock for PTTGCA’s proposed ethane cracker in the petrochemical complex in Belmont County, Ohio. PTTGCA will use the ethane to produce polyethylene.
PTTGCA said in June it faced delays in reaching a Final Investment Decision (FID) for the project due to the coronavirus pandemic. The FID was initially planned to be made in this year’s first half, but it was deferred to the first half of 2021. PTTGCA said the contract with Range was a step forward to reaching the FID. The proposed ethane cracker will be able to produce about 1.5 million tons/year of ethylene. Industry analysts estimate that it will cost $5.7 billion and take 4-6 years to build.
