LyondellBasell has received a final greenhouse gas permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its multi-plant ethylene expansion program in Texas.

The permit is the first to be drafted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and issued by the EPA under a new program aimed at improving permitting efficiency and productivity for applicants in Texas.

The expansion, for which work started last year, represents a total investment of about $1.3 billion at LyondellBasell's Channelview, La Porte and Corpus Christi, Texas plants.

When all upgrades are fully operational at the end of 2015, annual ethylene capacity is expected to rise by some 1.85 billion lbs for an aggregate projected capacity of 11.8 billion lbs in North America.

Start-up at Channelview facility is planned for early 2015, with Corpus Christi plant due to start up in late 2015.  

LyondellBasell's expansion projects are aimed at leveraging the U.S. natural gas liquids advantage. The company restarted its methanol plant at Channelview, TX, in Q4 2013 to benefit from low-cost natural gas from shale formations. The facility had been out of operation since 2004 as a result of rising natural gas costs.

The methanol facility and the other major expansion projects are expected to bring in new capacity at considerably lower cost than building new facilities, LyondellBasell said.