|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
- Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) has been cleared to continue constructionof its multi-billion dollar ethane cracker in western Pennsylvania after the U.S. Department of Commerce waived restrictions on imported steel from South Korea, Argentina and Brazil.
- Piping for the Shell project has been sitting in port for months, unable to move to Pennsylvania since the Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports.
- The cracker, which is expected to enter service in the early 2020s, is designed to consume more than 100K bbl/day of ethane to produce 1.5M metric tons/year of ethylene and 1.6M metric tons/year of polyethylene.