Shintech Commits to Phase 3

By ROY PITCHFORD; GARY PERILLOUX

PLAQUEMINE – Shintech Louisiana, the company building a $1 billion chemical plant in Iberville Parish, said Wednesday it will spend another $900 million in a new phase starting in late 2008 or early 2009.

The latest expansion adds another 150 permanent jobs to the previously announced 200 permanent jobs. It also extends work for many of the 2,900 construction workers building the current Shintech project at the former Ashland Chemical site south of Plaquemine.

“I just think it’s fantastic,” said Deborah Biggs, executive director of the West Baton Rouge Parish Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a boon for everybody.”

Shintech is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Shin-Etsu Chemical, the world’s largest producer of polyvinyl chloride plastic.

The $1 billion project under way is being built in two phases, with the first phase due to open in early 2008. The second phase will begin at that time and complete the $1 billion project in 2009.

The third phase starts then, pending timely approval of permits. That phase could open in 2010, said Shintech plant manager David Wise.

“Shintech is a company that still believes in building in and working in America,” Wise said, in an allusion to huge multibillion- dollar investments taking place in petrochemical plants in China and other overseas locations.

PVC demand justified the expansion, and Shintech will supply vinyl chloride monomer, a PVC precursor, to a variety of customers, including Shintech Louisiana’s own PVC plant in West Baton Rouge Parish between Plaquemine and Addis.

That plant has operated since late 2000 and Shintech has had a plant in Texas since 1974.

Construction began at the 1,737-acre Plaquemine site in late 2005 with plans to make 1.3 billion pounds a year of PVC, along with raw materials.

The $900 million expansion would create an additional annual production capacity of 1.2 billion pounds of caustic soda and 1.8 billion pounds of vinyl chloride monomer.

The first $1 billion phases include chlor-alkali facilities that will produce the caustic soda and facilities for vinyl chloride monomer production.

Wise said conversations with members of Shintech’s community advisory panel and Iberville and West Baton Rouge parish officials produced enthusiastic support for the additional investment.

While the official announcement came Wednesday, Wise said word of the expansion had begun to surface earlier in the week and the company decided to disclose its plans.

“It’s hard to keep a secret on the Westside,” Wise said with a smile. He said Shintech would continue to hire locally and buy products locally.

Of the eventual 350 permanent jobs created by the two construction phases, 250 would be full-time direct employees of Shintech and the remainder permanent contractor jobs working on site. The construction phase continues to boost business for many companies on the west side of the Mississippi, said Biggs, the West Baton Rouge chamber director.

“I can’t tell you the number of times I have been stopped by the police to let a truck deliver big equipment to Shintech,” she said, mentioning a recent such road delay on La. 1 that prompted an impatient driver to honk his horn behind her.

“I walked back to him and said, ‘Sir, this means jobs and economic stability. It happens every day: Hang onto your shorts.’ When I see one of those (delivery vehicle drivers), I just want to get out and hug them like all the military people I see at the airport when I travel.”

(c) 2007 Advocate; Baton Rouge, La.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.