Shell's $6 Billion Polyethylene Cracker Plant Opens In PA

BEAVER COUNTY, PA — After more than five years of construction, Pennsylvania's first polyethylene cracker plant began operations Tuesday on the banks of the Ohio River about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

Dubbed Shell Polymers Monaca, the vast 384-acre plant will produce 3.5 billion pounds of polyethylene annually. Polyethylene pellets can be used in a variety of products such as household goods, consumer and food packaging and industrial and utility products.

“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," Huibert Vigeveno, Shell downstream director, said in a news release.

Why did Shell decide to built the plant in a small Western Pennsylvania community? Strategic reasons. Shell Polymers Monaca is located within a 700-mile radius of 70 percent of the U.S. polyethylene market.

Shell is employing 600 full-time workers at the plant.