Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. and Qatar Petroleum have signed an agreement to develop an $8 billion petrochemical plant along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The U.S. Gulf Coast II Petrochemical Project (USGC II) will include an ethylene cracker with a capacity of 2 million tons per year, making it the largest cracker in the world, and two high-density polyethylene units with a capacity of 1 million tons per year each. The complex will be located in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, where there is direct access to significant ethane quantities produced by U.S. shale basins, including the prolific Permian Basin.
Pursuant to the agreement, Qatar Petroleum will own a 49 percent share in the USGC II project, while Chevron Phillips Chemical will own the remaining 51 percent share and provide project management and oversight as well as be responsible for the operation and management of the facility.
The signing took place at the White House, in the presence of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Amir of the State of Qatar, and President Donald Trump. The agreement was signed by Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the president and CEO of Qatar Petroleum; and by Mark Lashier, president and CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical.
It is the second pact between the companies to build petrochemical plants together. In June 2019, Qatar Petroleum announced a joint venture with Chevron Phillips Chemical to pursue a world-scale petrochemical plant in Qatar at the Ras Laffan Industrial City with a nameplate capacity of 1.9 million tons of ethylene per year, making it the largest ethane cracker in the Middle East and one of the largest in the world.