Dow Picks Freeport For Ethylene Plant

Dow Chemical will build a previously announced U.S. ethylene cracker at its giant complex in Freeport, Texas. The cracker is part of a $4 billion investment program Dow announced a year ago to take advantage of low natural gas prices by expanding its ethylene and propylene capacity on the Gulf Coast. Dow says the cracker will start up in 2017. A propylene facility planned for Texas will open in 2015, the company says, and an idled ethylene plant near Hahnville, La., is on track to be restarted at the end of the year. In announcing the siting decision, Dow CEO Andrew N. Liveris said shale is yielding affordable natural gas that is “putting us on the threshold of an American manufacturing resurgence.”