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Cedar Bayou plant | CPChem Baytown, Texas page

Originally opened in 1963 as a Gulf Oil Corporation facility, the Cedar Bayou plant began with a single ethylene unit (steam cracker) on 1,000 acres of prairie land east of Baytown. Following Gulf Oil's acquisition by Chevron Corporation in 1985, the facility operated under Chevron stewardship for 15 years before becoming part of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company in 2000 through the merger of Chevron's and Phillips 66's chemical businesses. This more than 60 year evolution has transformed Cedar Bayou from a pioneering petrochemical startup into CPChem's largest U.S. manufacturing facility.

The plant is situated on 1,800 acres of land in the heart of the Houston Ship Channel region, 28 miles east of Houston. Only 33 percent of the property is devoted to petrochemical manufacturing; the remaining acres are used for special projects and greenspace that act as a natural buffer between the facility and the community.

The plant features seven main process units:

• Ethylene Production: 1.5 million tonnes/year (2018 expansion)
• Normal Alpha Olefins (NAO): Integrated feedstock for downstream products
• Polyalphaolefins (PAO): 58,000 tonnes/year (expanded 2017)
• High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
• Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE)
• Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE)
• Propylene and aromatics

Major Expansions took place in the 2014-2018 time period:

• 2015: NAO capacity expanded by 100,000 tonnes/year
• 2017: PAO capacity increased from 48,000 to 58,000 tonnes/year (20% increase)
• 2018: New 1.5 million tpy ethane cracker startup