Cedar Bayou plant is a petrochemical manufacturing facility located in Baytown, Texas. It is the largest U.S. manufacturing facility of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company. The plant operates seven process units on approximately 1,400 acres producing Ethylene, Propylene, Normal Alpha Olefins (NAO), High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE), and Polyalphaolefins. Cedar Bayou plant opened in 1963 as Gulf Oil and was sold to Chevron Corp. in 1985. In 2000, Chevron Corp. and Phillips 66 merged their chemical businesses to form Chevron Phillips Chemical Company.
Cedar Bayou plant employs approximately 800 employees and 1,200 nested contractors.
History
Gulf Oil
When Gulf Oil decided to build a new chemicals plant in 1962, the company made the announcement at a Baytown Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Some 230 people attended a lunch on March 13, 1962 to hear Gulf Oil vice president Dr. Alexander Lewis Jr. discuss his company's plans for the 1,000 acres of prairieland just east of the town's center. Attendees of the lunch paid $2.50. Baytown Mayor Al Clayton attended the historic Chamber lunch alongside County Commissioner V.V. Ramsey, County Judge Bill Elliott, Houston Chamber of Commerce executive vice president Marvin Hurley, and congratulatory telegrams were sent by Texas Governor Price Daniel and Texas Senators John Tower and Ralph Yarborough.
Gulf Oil's new project was being represented as the initial development of what someday is expected to be a vast complex of interrelated industrial facilities. Named the Cedar Bayou plant, Gulf Oil would build one ethylene unit and preserve about 15 additional acres for future expansion. The geographic location of Cedar Bayou plant was favorable in relation to raw material supplies from the growing pipeline grid in Texas and the nearby underground storage facilities, or salt domes, in Mont Belvieu, Texas. Approximately 65 people were employed at the plant.
In 1975, Gulf Oil announced two expansion projects at Cedar Bayou plant. A new ethylene unit was to be built and replace the original ethylene unit that opened the plant in 1963. This ethylene unit is still in operation today. In addition, a low-density polyethylene plant was also constructed on the plant's vacant west end. By 1976, the Cedar Bayou plant's employee base had increased to 350 workers – 250 of which were Gulf Oil employees and 100 were nested contractors. During the expansion projects, construction workers peaked at 2,500.
On Sept. 28, 1982, the Cedar Bayou plant received a letter from an anonymous person that ten bombs had been hidden within the plant. The sender of the letter threatened to detonate the bombs unless Gulf Oil paid $15 million. Gulf Oil shut down the Cedar Bayou plant after determining the letter was a legitimate threat. A search of the Cedar Bayou plant located five sophisticated bombs in metal casings. A federal and multi-state investigation led to the arrest of four people—John Marvin McBride; his common-law wife, Jill Renee Bird; Michael Allen Worth, and Theodore D. McKinney, all of Durango, Colorado. Charges against Jill Renee Bird were dropped in exchange for her husband's cooperation.
Chevron Corporation
The era of Gulf Oil ended for the Cedar Bayou plant in 1984. During this time, Gulf Oil was negotiating what newspapers called the “largest business takeover in U.S. history” when Standard Oil Co. of California, also known as Socal, purchased the struggling Gulf Oil for $13.3 billion. When the deal was complete, Socal transferred its newly acquired Texas Gulf Coast plants to Chevron Corporation, which at the time was owned by Socal. By acquiring Gulf Oil, Socal nearly doubled its worldwide proved oil and gas reserves overnight.
In September 1985, Chevron Corporation announced an expansion of the plant's existing alpha olefins unit.
On October 12, 1990, a fire was reported at the Cedar Bayou plant. News reports stated that a 100-foot flame could be seen coming from the plant. The fire was extinguished by the plant's internal fire brigade. No injuries occurred.