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has made quantum leaps in the export The numbers surrounding the project ary plus bene? ts, not to mention the $22 Interestingly, LaRue sees even more of crude oil, going from zero barrels in are Texas-big, as it is projected to cre- billion in economic gains for the state room for growth, particularly in the 2015 to ? ve million barrels in 2016, with ate 6,000 jobs during peak construction, during construction and the $50 billion cracker market. “I think this is really a projection to export 35 million barrels create 600 new permanent jobs at the in economic gains for the state during the start of a wave of larger announce- in 2017. site with a $90,000 average annual sal- ? rst six years. ments,” he said, adding, “You see con- $50 Billion in Investment “About ? ve years ago with the shale revolution, logistics started to change,” said LaRue. “We received a lot of inter- est from mid-stream oil companies that wanted to move oil to other U.S. ports, which drove a mini-construction boom with new docks.”

The mini-construction boom in new docks is one piece in a mega-construc- tion boom in and around the port, with nearly $50 billion in investment over the past four years to today. “That’s more than some states,” LaRue said.

While cheap energy courtesy of the current global oil and gas price swoon conspired to reduce port revenues last year, there is a silver lining, LaRue said. “We have a lot of new industries coming in and we’ve been able to attract a lot of foreign direct investment because – not just because of the shale oil – but we have a lot of natural gas, and there are a lot of companies right now that want natural gas to use in their processes.”

Austrian steel maker Voestalpine is one, as it is using gas to heat iron ore and make it into an iron briquettes, im- porting the raw materials and exporting the briquettes to Europe. MG is another, an Italian PET manufacturer, currently building one of the largest PET plants.

The list goes on, with OxyChem in- volved in a JV producing ethylene; Chi- nese TPCO ? nishing a plant this year to manufacture oil and gas pipe, and Che- niere, which is building an LNG plant in

Port Corpus Christi, a project which in and of itself has 3,500 people working today. “We have a lot of work for a lot of people right now,” LaRue said. “Be- tween TPCO, M&G and Cheniere, we probably have 5,500 to 6,000 construc- tion workers active today (in the port) … and this is in a community of 300,000.

The drop in oil prices has had its impact as a lot of the people that were working the shale formations have come down and are working construction for us.”

While each of these projects is sub- stantial, the showstopper was recently announced; a joint venture between Exx- onMobil and SABIC for a new $10 bil- lion, 1,300-acre plastics manufacturing complex on the South Texas Gulf Coast.

The project is under engineering re- view and design now, and when it comes to fruition it is touted to be the largest ethylene cracker in the country. www.marinelink.com 57

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