Shell Solicits Bids For Ethane From Proposed Cracker Plant

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Shell Chemical, a division of Royal Dutch Shell, has begun to solicit ethane commitments from Marcellus Shale operators for its proposed Beaver County, Pennsylvania cracker plant.  The company has already secured commitments from CONSOL Energy Inc., Noble Energy Inc., Seneca Resources Corp. and Hilcorp Energy Co.  Shell has indicated that the response from bidders will help to determine whether it will build the first world-scale cracker plant in the Marcellus region.  The bidding period will last two months.