Bringing home bronze: Corpus Christi’s ethane cracker

​​​​CORPUS CHRISTI – Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp. snared Business Facilities’ Bronze Award for the Gulf Coast Growth Ventures ethane cracker.​

The ethane cracker in Corpus Christi is the first substantial greenfield project in the U.S. for the Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corp. ​

Corpus Christi undertook engineering, data, workforce analytics and infrastructure assessments on more than 20 sites in the MSA before zeroing in on the winning location.​​​

Gulf Coast Growth Ventures is a partnership between Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) and Exxon. 

This project will have an estimate direct economic impact for the region of $11.3 billion over the next ten years.

The new ethane cracker will create almost 650 direct new jobs at $90,000 salaries, and more than 3,000 indirect jobs. 

These jobs will turbocharge the entire Corpus Christi MSA (includes Aransas, Nueces, San Patricio Counties).

In May 2017, the companies selected the Corpus Christi MSA site, and the project is currently in EPA permitting. 

They have let the first contracts do site preparation that amounts to over $100 million in contracts. 

Already contractors are on site doing preliminary work.​​