Shell says cracker plant will begin operations in 2022
Observer-Reporter
A barge makes it way up the Ohio River in 2019 near Royal Dutch Shell’s cracker plant, which is under construction in Potter Township, Beaver County.
Observer-Reporter
In this March 2019 photo, Royal Dutch Shell’s cracker plant is under construction in Potter Township, Beaver County.
Finney
Ciccolella
The long-awaited and highly polarizing cracker plant will be fully operational in 2022.
Shell Pennsylvania Chemicals, owner-operator of the massive facility in Beaver County, made that announcement on Tuesday. That was the first time the company targeted a launch date more specific than “the early 2020s.”
Plastics manufacturing will be the hallmark of a facility that is under construction along a 340-acre tract in Potter Township, located below Interstate 376 and along the banks of the Ohio River. And plastics manufacturing is why this is a polarizing endeavor, one that is opposed by a number of environmental support groups, which are concerned about potential impacts from the operation.
Ethane, sourced from natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, will be converted to polyethylene pellets, a feedstock for plastics production.
This $6 to $10 billion project has been in the works for almost a decade. Shell initiated discussions about building a cracker in the Beaver Valley in mid-2012, and did not make a final decision to invest in this until June 2016. Route 18 had to be partially rerouted near the site and the property, once home to a zinc plant, required remediation.
Construction on the plant itself did not begin until November 2017. An estimated 7,000 workers have toiled there over the past 3½ years, some of whom endured a monthslong shutdown beginning last spring because of COVID-19. The facility reopened later in the year.
When operational, the facility will be the first cracker operation in the United States, outside of the Gulf Coast, in 20-plus years.
Banking
Two banking officials with Washington County ties have risen to a presidency within their firms.
KeyBank has appointed Dwayne Finney president and commercial bank sales leader for its Western Pennsylvania market region. He resides in Canonsburg and possesses a master’s degree in business administration from Waynesburg University.
John Ciccolella, a Washington & Jefferson College alumnus, is the new Pittsburgh market president for Bank of America Corp.
Finney was previously executive vice president and head of corporate banking for Citizens Bank, where he served in leadership roles over the past 18 years. Finney, who has a bachelor’s from Bethany College, succeeds Todd Moules, who left for a job in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Timothy Burke, regional sales executive for the Cleveland-based bank, said in a prepared statement: “Dwayne’s experience developing high-performing teams and his deep roots in our community will help drive our commercial bank and market growth to the next level.”
Ciccolella has assumed a position previously held by Brian Ludwick, who relocated to Texas. He left Wells Fargo & Co. to joined Bank of America in spring 2019, months after the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank opened its first Pittsburgh area branch in Upper St. Clair.
Brian Moynihan, BofA’s chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement. “John has built and nurtured important relationships within the market and will expand on that work to ensure we’re a great partner in Pittsburgh.”
Real estate
Roger Dolanch, broker/owner of Century 21 Frontier Realty, announced that the Jim Dolanch team won the Grand Centurion award for 2020 sales.
The award, presented by Century 21 Real Estate LLC, goes to independent Century 21 franchise sales teams that earn either $1,194,000 in sales, or close 300 transaction sides within a calendar year.
“The receipt of this award is a great honor,” Roger Dolanch said in a statement. “The hard work and diligence displayed by the Jim Dolanch team is truly exemplary of the spirit guiding our company.”
Cal U.
California University of Pennsylvania’s Research and Real Life series will next feature Brady Hunsaker, a software engineer for Google Maps. The virtual event will take place from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday.
To join, visit https://calu.zoom.us/j/91572415318.
Hunsaker has been a Google employee for 13 years. He resides in Zurich, Switzerland, works on infrastructure that helps to understand user behavior when using Google Maps. He previously taught in the University of Pittsburgh’s industrial engineering department.
The series highlights people with Western Pennsylvania roots and is organized by Azadeh Block, associate professor of social work and director of Cal U’s Center for Undergraduate Research.