JGC America, part of the Japanese JGC Group, said this week its wholly-owned US subsidiary has been awarded a basic engineering services contract by Odfjell Terminals for the possible development of an ethylene export terminal at the Norwegian group’s facility in Seabrook, Texas.

Under the contract, JGC would provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) services for project. The proposed terminal is planned to be located adjacent to the company’s existing liquids terminal and positioned near major US ethylene pipeline corridors. The new facility would allow for much faster turnaround of customer offtake carriers than currently available terminals, Odfjell said.

“Leveraging our industry leading cryogenic terminal and ethylene experience, we will work closely with Odfjell to develop and deliver a cost efficient execution strategy,” said Takehito Hidaka, president of JGC America.

Four new crackers fed with US shale gas-derived ethane exceeding 5 million t of capacity are expected to start up in Texas this year, boosting US ethylene capacity and widening local producers’ advantage over competitors in Europe and Asia, who generally depend on the more expensive naphtha.  All of the crackers will have downstream PE units.

Up to now, Targa Resources operates the lone US ethylene export terminal. However, in September 2016, Enterprise Products Partners said it was weighing plans for its own ethylene terminal in Texas that could be ready by 2018.