A second ethane cracker in the vast Marcellus and Utica shale basins took a major step forward with the March 12 announcement that Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical and its new partner, South Korea-based Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd., have nearly secured 500 acres on the Ohio River in Belmont County, Ohio, for their planned petrochemical complex. With the addition of Daelim, PTTGC’s original plan has grown from a $5.7-billion shale-gas processing plant to produce 1 million tonnes of ethylene per year to a $10-billion cracker producing 1.5 million tonnes. Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC began main construction on a petrochemical complex in Pennsylvania in November 2017. PTTGC has invested about $150 million in preliminary engineering design and has contracted separately with Fluor Corp. and Bechtel for front-end engineering design work.