Amid discussions of the viability of shale gas-fed petrochemical plants as crude oil prices continue to taper off, at least one US cracker project is definitely going ahead.

Shintech, US subsidiary of Japanese PVC producer Shin-Etsu, said it plans to start up a 500,000 t/y ethylene gas-fed cracker at Plaquemine, Louisiana in the second quarter of 2018. Construction on the $1.4 billion facility, which will be the first-of its type built by a Japanese company in the US, is expected to begin shortly.

Construction is being handled by Toyo Engineering Corporation, and Lummus Technology US will provide the ethylene process technologies.

Shintech said the investment is designed to assure a reliable supply of ethylene and to further strengthen its integrated production processes for PVC. The company is currently expanding its production capacities of PVC, vinyl chloride monomer and electrolysis at the Louisiana site.

Chihiro Kanagawa, chairman of Shintec, said the company will continue to invest in its US PVC business, to benefit from the "fundamental advantages" the US offers.