Royal Dutch Shell expects its chemicals division to earn between $3.5 billion to $4 billion annually by 2025, and Beaver County’s ethane cracker plant will likely play a role in that.
Shell executives made those remarks Wednesday during an open house for investors. The event was designed to highlight the gains being made in Shell’s many downstream businesses, which includes the chemicals sector.
The company, which is in the midst of building a $6 billion cracker plant in Potter Township, has repeatedly maintained its Beaver County project will be ready for production sometime early in the next decade.
In a news release discussing the downstream sector, the company said its chemicals business “has been through a transformational and profitable journey” recently despite fluctuating crude oil and natural gas costs.
Despite changing markets, Shell said it expects to earn up to $4 billion annually from the chemicals business, mostly because of “world-scale” projects like the local cracker plant, and also because the global demand for petrochemicals is expected to grow by about 3 percent annually.
John Abbott, the director of Shell’s downstream sector, added that the chemicals division had a record year in 2017.
“This (downstream) business will continue to create value for shareholders and customers,” he said Wednesday.
Shell executives said they have identified opportunities to grow the chemicals business well beyond 2025 with future “world-class” investments.