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| Shell Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex | |
|---|---|
 Construction of the Shell Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex along theOhio River, Beaver County, Pennsylvania in January 2019 | |
  Shell ethylene cracker | |
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| Location | Potter Township, PA |
| Coordinates | 40°40′8.8926″N80°20′11.349″W / 40.669136833°N 80.33648583°W /40.669136833; -80.33648583 |
| Products | Polyethylene |
| Area | 386acres[1] |
| Owner | Shell Oil Company |
TheShell Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex,[2][3][4] formally known as Shell Polymers Monaca, is anethylenecracker and threepolyethylene productionplants located inPotter Township,Pennsylvania, United States, owned and operated byShell Oil Company, the American subsidiary ofsupermajor oil companyRoyal Dutch Shell.[5] The plant is near the interchange ofInterstate 376 andPennsylvania Route 18, about 25 miles (40 km) fromPittsburgh. Operations began in November 2022.[6] The nameplate capacity is 1.6 million tons per year of plastic pellets.[1][7]
The site also includes anatural gas power plant to support both the plant and the local electric grid, a 900 ft (270 m)-longcooling tower, a rail system with over 3,000 freight cars,[1] numerous loading facilities for both trains and trucks,[2] awater treatment plant, anoffice building, alaboratory, and an innovation center.[8] The complex cost around $14 billion to build.[9] In July 2025 it was put up for sale by Shell.[10]
The location of the plant has had a long history as an industrial site. BothHorsehead Corporation andKoppers had plants on the site; Koppers unofficially incorporated the area asKobuta. Before its industrial use, the area had been farmland owned by a local family, which included a private cemetery (albeit withunmarked graves) that was discovered after Shell purchased the property for cleanup; the company informed living descendants in the area of the skeletal remains.[11]
Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia engaged in atax competition for the plant. In 2012, Pennsylvania structured a deal requiring Shell to invest at least $1 billion in Pennsylvania and create at least 2,500 construction jobs in exchange for a 25-yeartax incentive of $66 million per year and tied to production, reducing Shell's tax by up to 20 per cent. The combined incentive could reach $1.65 billion.[12] Shellannounced the Pennsylvania site on March 15, 2012.[13] The deal was one of the largest tax incentives in Pennsylvania's history.[1]
Shell began leasing the bulk of the property from Horsehead in 2012, which promptly closed thezinc plant on the site and began cleanup of the site in preparation of potentially opening a cracker plant on the site, which would be used to convert natural gas products intoethylene and then into plastics.[5][14] Shell had selected the site due to the ongoingMarcellus natural gas trend and the site's prime location within theMarcellus Shale.[1] By 2015, after executing several short-term lease extensions, Shell purchased the property outright from Horsehead, and subsequently purchasing other nearby properties, effectively absorbing all of Kobuta.[15][16]
Shell pledged withBeaver County officials on environmental cleanup regardless if it opened the proposed plant, and in a worst-case scenario prepare the area land for at least some sort of future industrial use if Shell decided not to build there. This included building a massive bridge over PA 18, commenced in 2015,[17] to connect both sides of the property without requiring an intersection along the route, as well as a Shell-funded rerouting of PA 18 and infrastructure improvements to I-376. Shell also gave a donation to theBeaver County recycling center so the center could extend its operating hours.[1]
Despite a downturn in oil prices, on June 7, 2016, Shell announced it would build the plant.[18][12] In a press release, Shell stated that 70% ofpolyethylene customers in North America were within a 700-mile (1,100 km) radius of Pittsburgh and that the location would be more cost-effective for its customers than at existing facilities along theGulf Coast, which unlike North CentralAppalachia are susceptible to theAtlantic hurricane season.[5] Shell estimated the project would create 6,000 construction jobs to build the site and 600 permanent jobs for employees working at the plant.[18]
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In 2015, Shell began preparing the site for future construction, moving 7.2 million cubic yards of dirt, building new bridges and a new rail line, and completing a total relocation of PA Route 18. Docking and bulkhead facilities to be used during construction were created byAlberici.[4] Construction on the plant itself began on November 8, 2017.[8] As of 2019, over 5,000 employees were working on construction.[1]
On September 20, 2018, two of the world's largest cranes arrived on site, one 700 feet (210 m) tall and the other 430 feet (130 m) tall.[19]
On September 25, 2018 in a conference with theWall Street Journal,Ben van Beurden, the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, said that the project was within budget and ahead of schedule.[20]
ThePennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection approved two permits for a 97 miles (156 km)-long pipeline to feed the cracker plant on December 20, 2018.[21] Called theFalcon Ethane Pipeline, it connects ethane sources inHouston, Pennsylvania,Scio, Ohio, andCadiz, Ohio to the plant.[22] Construction on the pipeline began in March 2019.[23]
The Penn-Beaver Hotel ofRochester, a building dating to the 1920s, once serving as a luxury hotel, was restored due to demand from plant construction.[24] Parts ofNorthern Lights Shopping Center inEconomy were demolished for redevelopment, more than likely due to the plant.[25] However, as of January 2020, Economy Borough has not been informed of any future redevelopment plans at the site.[26] In 2018Mount Airy Casinos won the licensing to build a satellite casino just 12 miles (19 km) north of the cracker plant, although that plan was rejected by thePennsylvania Gaming Control Board in November 2019[27]
TheSouthern Beltway, which had already confirmed would be extending its second leg in 2020 fromU.S. Route 22 toInterstate 79, moved the project up a year solely as a result of the proposed plant.[28]
In late 2015, a group of environmentalists submitted anappeal to Pennsylvania's Environmental Hearing Board to challenge the air quality permit that was granted for the proposed plant; the group argued that the state should have required stricter monitoring requirements for fugitive pollutant emissions from the plant.[29]
The state of Pennsylvania allowed the factory to release 2.2 million tons ofcarbon dioxide each year while Shell anticipated the plant's emissions would be below that level.[1]
Residents also expressed concerns about the network of pipelines that would carryethane to the plant, as existing pipelines have already caused problems. In September 2018, alandslide caused by heavy rains caused theRevolution pipeline, operated bySunoco parentEnergy Transfer Partners, to explode. One house was destroyed, other homes and vehicles were damaged, power lines were downed, and roads were closed; no one was injured.[30][1][31]
Operations started in November 2022, but the complex had to be shut down only a few months later due to a problem with a system that burns off unwanted gases.[7] Shell agreed to pay $10 million in a settlement with thePennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regarding air emissions violations at the plant. The agreement included a civil penalty of nearly $5 million and an additional $5 million toward environmental projects in local communities. The plant restarted in May 2023.[7]
In October 2024, Shell announced that the complex would fail to meet its profitability target of $1 to $1.5 billionEBITDA that year.[32]
On June 4, 2025, the plant's #5 ethane furnace experienced a fire and explosion.[33][34] The following month, Shell CEOWael Swan announced that he was looking to sell the Monaca complex due to financial underperformance.[10]
Morgantown, West Virginia country-folk musicianCharles Wesley Godwin wrote his song "Cranes of Potter" about the hypothetical backstory of the woman whose buried bones were found during excavation for the complex, which he saw driving from West Virginia to his studio in Pennsylvania.[35]
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