Shell Closes On Purchase Of Proposed Cracker Plant Site
Horsehead Holding Corp. (Horsehead) announced Monday that it closed on the sale of its former zinc smelter to Shell Chemical (Shell), which is the proposed site for an ethane cracker plant in Beaver County. Although Shell has not made a final decision on whether to build the cracker plant, it has been considering the Horsehead property as a site for the plant, which would convert ethane, a component of natural gas, into polyethylene. Shell is moving forward with developing the site, having demolished the smelter plant and relocated power lines. Shell indicated that this is a necessary step in the plans to acquire permits and continue development of the site.