We are one of the world's leading manufacturers of petrochemicals through our joint-venture company Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC (CPChem) and its affiliates. Our Chevron Oronite Company is a global fuel and lubricants additive business.
Chevron Phillips Chemical Company
CPChem is half-owned by Chevron. Headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, CPChem has about 4,700 employees at 38 manufacturing facilities in Belgium, China, Colombia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea and the United States.
CPChem is a top supplier of products used to make many popular and convenient items, including:
- Olefins and polyolefins, used to make food packaging, a variety of industrial pipe products and fuel tanks
- Alpha olefins, used in synthetic motor oils and lubricants and in making polyethylene
- Aromatics, used to make a variety of items, from aspirin and air bags to clothing and compact discs
- Styrenics, used in packaging, electronic parts, housewares, tires, carpeting and toys
- High-density polyethylene (HDPE), a polyolefin used in milk jugs, water pipes and plastic lumber
In its position as an industry leader, CPChem is involved in a number of projects.
In Qatar, CPChem has interests in three projects in Mesaieed and Ras Laffan Industrial City.
- CPChem owns a 49 percent interest in Qatar Chemical Company Ltd., a joint venture that owns a major olefins and polyolefins complex in Mesaieed. The petrochemical complex includes an ethylene cracker, a polyethylene plant and a 1-hexene plant. An ethylene cracker heats ethane to make ethylene and other products. The organic compound 1-hexene is used to make HDPE and other chemicals.
- Also in Mesaieed, CPChem has a 49 percent interest in Qatar Chemical Company II Ltd. (Q-Chem II), a project that makes HDPE and normal alpha olefins. Q-Chem II plants reached capacity in 2011. Normal alpha olefins are used to make polyethylene, synthetic motor oils, automotive additives, surfactants and other products.
- Q-Chem II also owns 54 percent of the capacity rights in a joint-venture project that includes an ethylene cracker in Ras Laffan Industrial City. The unit provides ethylene feedstock to the alpha olefins and HDPE plants at Mesaieed.
CPChem also is active in Saudi Arabia, with interests in four facilities in Al-Jubail.
CPChem's 35 percent-owned Saudi Polymers Company is expected to begin commercial operations at a new petrochemical facility in 2012. The project is designed to be one of the world's largest operations for the production of HDPE, 1-hexene, polystyrene, polypropylene and other products. Polystyrene is used to make plastic dinnerware, CD cases and insulation, among other things. Polypropylene is used in the manufacture of automotive parts, carpeting and food packaging.
CPChem has a 50 percent interest in three other companies in Saudi Arabia.
- The Saudi Chevron Phillips Company plant produces materials used in making plastics, gasoline blending stocks and other products.
- The Jubail Chevron Phillips Company facility makes a number of chemicals used to produce medicines, synthetic rubber, dyes, films and packaging.
- The Petrochemical Conversion Company project includes construction of a nylon 6,6 polymer manufacturing facility and a number of polymer conversion projects. Architects often call for nylon 6,6 for use in commercial settings that get a lot of wear and tear, like offices and airports. Operations are expected to begin in 2013.
In late 2011, CPChem completed the acquisition of a polyalphaolefins plant in Beringen, Belgium. The acquisition more than doubled the size of CPChem's polyalphaolefins business. The plant is near CPChem's existing specialty chemicals operations in Tessenderlo. Polyalphaolefins are used in many synthetic products, including lubricants, greases and fluids.
In the United States, CPChem is conducting a feasibility study to evaluate a potential U.S. Gulf Coast ethylene cracker and derivatives complex to capitalize on feedstock from the development of natural gas from shale in North America.
CPChem also is building a 1-hexene plant at Cedar Bayou, Texas. Operations are expected to begin in 2014. The plant is anticipated to be the largest 1-hexene unit in the world. Also in Cedar Bayou, CPChem runs one of the world's largest loop slurry HDPE plants.
Americas Styrenics LLC, 50 percent owned by CPChem, was formed in 2008. The company has the largest polystyrene capacity in the Western Hemisphere.
By the end of 2011, 17 of CPChem's 20 eligible facilities in the United States had been recognized for their high level of safety by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration Voluntary Protection Program. The program identifies facilities that operate with outstanding safety performance and exhibit a culture of safety.
Visit the CPChem website.
Updated: April 2012
Cautionary Statement