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Wood County cracker plant plans in doubt

File Photo The former SABIC plant is demolished in November 2015 to make way for a planned ethane cracker plant that has, to date, not come to fruition. Braskem America, which owns the property, is exploring options for the site, with some officials believing the company does not plan to move forward with the cracker project.

PARKERSBURG — Despite a consensus that an ethane cracker plant in Wood County will not happen with the current developer, a local official involved with the original announcement believes the door hasn’t completely closed.

“Do I think they’ve made a final decision?” Polymer Alliance Zone President and former West Virginia Secretary of Commerce Keith Burdette said Wednesday. “No, I don’t.”

During a meeting of the West Virginia Legislature’s Joint Committee on Natural Gas Development Tuesday, West Virginia Development Office Executive Director Mike Graney indicated Braskem no longer planned to build the cracker plant and related facilities and was marketing the property, Delegate John Kelly, R-Wood, chairman of the committee, said Wednesday.

“It’s my understanding that Braskem is not prepared to move forward on the cracker plant,” Kelly said Wednesday. “They’re just not going to be able to do it.”

Questions to the Development Office and Braskem about the comments were answered with identical statements from Braskem America communications director Stacey Torpey and West Virginia Department of Commerce Press Secretary Andy Malinoski.

“Due to a number of recent inquiries about its site in Parkersburg, Braskem has engaged a financial adviser to help evaluate strategic alternatives for the site,” the statements said. “All interested parties are directed to contact Kevin McGowan of McGowan Corporate Real Estate Advisors. Braskem will have no further comment at this time.”

Torpey’s statement was received after the newspaper contacted McGowan.

The $4 billion Appalachian Shale Cracker Enterprise, also known as Project ASCENT, was announced in November 2013 at a ceremony attended by then-Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and numerous state and local officials. The 360-acre SABIC property at Washington Bottom — former location of Marbon, Borg-Warner and GE Plastics — was purchased in 2014. Brazil-based Odebrecht was developing the project, which would have been operated by Braskem America.

In preparation for the project, developers did environmental studies on the site, applied for permits, secured ethane supplies and arranged for some of the technology that would be used in the facilities. Changes in the natural gas market caused the project to be re-evaluated, although many state officials believed it would still ultimately come to fruition.

Odebrecht withdrew from the project in 2016, with Braskem indicating it would continue to pursue it.

Updates about the project have been scarce in the intervening years, but Burdette said Wednesday that before he left the secretary’s office, “they turned away several suitors on that property that I know of.”

The cracker plant would convert ethane, a byproduct from Marcellus and Utica shale natural gas, into ethylene, a component in the polymer industry. The Polymer Alliance Zone promotes the expansion of the region’s industrial base by attracting and supporting polymer businesses and related companies. Burdette said he has spoken with Braskem officials “relatively recently” and did not get an indication they had given up on the project.

“Bringing in a real estate professional does not necessarily mean they’re trying to sell everything off,” he said. “I’m not so sure it’s to market the property. It may be to handle inquiries.”

Even if Braskem does decide to throw in the towel, Burdette said, there are other companies looking to develop cracker plants in the region.

Kelly and local officials agreed the potential availability of the property is not necessarily a bad thing.

“We don’t have a lot of quality sites right now that are prepared like that one is,” he said, noting it has already been through the brownfield process that assesses potential environmental risks.

Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said he has been optimistic Braskem would sell the property if its cracker plans were not moving forward.

“We’re hoping that we’ll see a purchaser of that property that can go to work quickly,” he said.

Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce said reports the project won’t happen as originally hoped are “disappointing, but I think the property is still of high value and marketable for a (variety) of industries.”

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.

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