US chemicals and energy giant Williams may add a second ethane cracker at its company's Geismar, Louisiana complex in the US. The company said it is seeking partners for the project that could cost $5 billion or more and have a capacity of 1.5 million t.

John Dearborn, Williams' senior vice president of NGL and petchem services, told an investor conference call that the existing cracker, Geismar 1, has been expanded about as much as possible.

The plan is to build a new, large cracker, Geismar 2, and sell its output on a fee-for-service basis.

Williams did not disclose the estimated cost of the cracker or capacity, but it is expected to be about the same size as Sasol's world-scale ethane cracker in Lake Charles being built at a cost of $5-7 billion.

In other news, Williams said it planned to restart its original cracker, Geismar 1 in June, almost a year after an explosion that killed two and injured more than 100 shut down the facility.

The expansion, which will take capacity to 885,000 t/y from 613,000 t/y, is estimated to cost $350-400 million, including $100 million to repair damage.