At the request of local authorities in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Shell Chemical Appalachia –US shale gas arm of the Anglo-Dutch group energy and chemicals group – said it is temporarily halting building activity on its $6 billion petrochemical complex currently going up at Monaca, Pennsylvania, for an undetermined period.

Shell said the suspension reflects the need to avoid health risks posed to construction workers by the COVID-19 virus now circulating through all 50 US states.

“The health and well-being of our workers and nearby communities remains Shell’s top priority,” Shell said, adding that this is “especially relevant at time when the world is taking drastic measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus.”

Without being specific, Shell said that over the coming days it will implement “additional mitigation measures” aligned with guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC). Once these are complete, it “will consider a phased ramp-up that allows for the continuation of safe, responsible construction activities.”

Around 7,500 people are working — alternatively on day or night shift — at the construction site. No investment cost for the project, which Shell said is at its “peak construction phase,” has been announced.

Facilities include a 1.5 million t/y ethane cracker and downstream polyethylene plants with a combined output of 1.6 million t/y. The site’s feedstock will be derived from the shale gas of the nearby Marcellus and Utica basins.

 Shell earlier announced a start-up date in the “early 2020s” for the biggest shale-gas complex not on the US Gulf.