ExxonMobil has announced it will proceed with a $2 billion investment to expand production in Baytown, Texas, USA.

The energy and chemicals major will build a 400,000 t/y Vistamaxx performance polymer plant as well as a 350,000 t/y linear alpha olefins (LAO) facility. The expansion, which will mark ExxonMobil’s entry into the LAO market, is expected to go online in 2022.

“Our Baytown chemical expansion will put us in a solid position to maximize the value of increased Permian Basin production and will deliver higher-demand, higher-value products produced at our Gulf Coast refining and chemical facilities,” said CEO Darren Woods. “Global demand for chemicals is expected to be greater than energy demand growth and GDP growth over the next 20 years.”

The project is in addition to ExxonMobil’s Growing the Gulf Initiative, which it launched in 2017 to build and expand manufacturing facilities along the US Gulf Coast. The group is aiming to spend $20 billion over 10 years to build and expand 11 manufacturing facilities, including increasing oil production in the Permian Basin.

Last year, ExxonMobil formed a joint venture with SABIC to build an ethane-based complex in San Patricio County, Texas, comprising a 1.8 million t/y cracker, a monoethylene glycol plant and two PE units. The complex is anticipated to start production in 2021-2022.