QatarEnergy begins construction of $8.5bn polymers plant in US

State-owned QatarEnergy and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company have broken ground on the $8.5 billion Golden Triangle polymers plant in Orange County, Texas, US.

Located about 180 km east of Houston, the plant will include an ethylene cracker unit with a capacity of 2.08 million tons per annum and two high-density polyethylene units with a combined capacity of two million tons per annum, QatarEnergy said in a statement.

The plant is expected to startup in 2026. It will be owned by Golden Triangle Polymers Company LLC, a joint venture in which QatarEnergy holds a 49 percent equity interest, with 51 percent held by Chevron Phillips.

Ahmad Saeed Al-Amoodi, QatarEnergy’s executive vice president, surface development and sustainability, said: “We are investing $8.5 billion to build this world-scale facility, which is QatarEnergy’s second largest investment in the US after the more than $11 billion investment in the Golden Pass LNG production and export facility, which is currently under construction in Sabine Pass, Texas.”

Last week QatarEnergy announced a third oil discovery with its partners, Namibia’s oil major Namcor and Shell, in the Jonker-1X deepwater exploration well, in the Orange Basin offshore southern Namibia.

In February, the Lebanese energy ministry said that QatarEnergy will join TotalEnergies and Eni in a three-way consortium to explore oil and gas in two maritime blocks off the coast of Lebanon.