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First Posted: 4/16/2014 ALIQUIPPA &#8212; A plan to build a huge new petrochemical plant in western Pennsylvania is making progress, Shell Oil Co. officials said Wednesday &#8212; but there&#8217;s still no guarantee the multibillion-dollar project will actually be constructed.
That message of optimism and caution was stressed by company officials to about 200 people who showed up for the first of two public meetings regarding a proposed plant site about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
Shell has an option to purchase a 300-acre industrial site on the Ohio River and demolition of a zinc factory that was there has already begun. But Shell general manager Dan Carlson said that doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean the so-called ethane cracker plant will be built. In some other states &#8212; Colorado, for example &#8212; Shell invested tens of millions of dollars in proposed projects before deciding to shut them down.
Carlson said the company has signed long-term contracts with about 10 energy companies to supply the proposed plant. It would convert ethane from bountiful Marcellus and Utica shale oil and natural gas into more profitable chemicals used to produce plastics, tires, fertilizer, and other products.
Carlson said it&#8217;s hard to predict when the decision on whether to build the plant will be made, but it could come in the next one or two years. For now, the company is happy with the response from local communities.
In 2012, Gov. Tom Corbett signed legislation that could give Shell tax credits worth $1.7 billion or more for 25 years, beginning in 2017, if the plant is built.

Shell says Pa. gas plant not even certain