China
ExxonMobil this month made a final investment decision to proceed with a
multibillion-dollar chemical complex in the Dayawan Petrochemical
Industrial Park in Huizhou, Guangdong Province in China. “Demand for
performance polymers will continue to increase in China, and we’re well
positioned to meet the needs of that growing market,” said Karen McKee,
president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company. “We look forward to
progressing this exciting project as we work to build a competitive
growth platform in Dayawan.” Construction is underway on the greenfield
project, which includes a flexible feed steam cracker, three performance
polyethylene lines, and two differentiated performance polypropylene
lines. ExxonMobil’s history in China dates back to 1892 when its
predecessor Standard Oil began marketing kerosene to light the Mei Foo
lamps in Chinese homes.
“ExxonMobil is prioritizing near-term capital investments on advantaged
assets with the highest potential value and ability to generate
attractive shareholder returns,” the company said on November 8. “These
include chemicals projects to grow high-value performance products by
60% by 2027. Besides the chemical complex in China, ExxonMobil and
SABIC’s joint venture in San Patricio County, Texas, Gulf Coast Growth
Ventures, is in the process of starting up.” Site Selection documented that project’s location decision in May
2017.
Kentucky
Batavia, New York–based Chapin International, known for its array of
compressed air sprayers, spreaders and irrigation products, is expanding
in two Kentucky locations at once, most recently via this investment in
Boyle County near the South Danville Bypass that was aided by incentives
from the state and from the city, located south of Lexington. The
company also will increase investment in its Mount Vernon operation in
Rockcastle County (located along I-75 halfway between Lexington and the
Tennessee state line) to $13.9 million and double job creation at that
facility — just announced last year — to 200 full-time positions. Chapin
now has more than 1.75 million sq. ft. of production facility space in
New York, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky combined, will grow to have over
500 U.S.-based employees and “will be twice the size of any U.S.-based
sprayer producer and is positioned to compete with off-shore sprayer
manufactures well into the 2030s,” the company said.
“As Covid continues to be an issue in the United States and the world,
the increased demand for sprayers continues and the need to fight the
spread is even more imperative,” said Chapin International President Jim
Campbell in August. “At the same time, people have had more opportunity
to be at home and are enjoying gardening and improvement projects more
than ever before. At the start of the pandemic, Chapin was at planned
capacity. That was quickly overwhelmed by demand. With our recent
expansion into Kentucky, we will now be able to produce over 12 million
yearly sprayers in the United States as long as raw materials and labor
[are] available.”
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