LyondellBasell has received a key permit required in the company’s multi-plant ethylene expansion program, which when fully operational is expected to increase annual ethylene capacity by 1.85 billion pounds per day, for a total estimated capacity of 11.8 billion pounds per day in North America. The ethylene expansion program began in 2013 and represents a total investment of approximately $1.3 billion in the company’s Texas plants in Channelview, La Porte and Corpus Christi, which benefit from shale gas production. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a final greenhouse gas permit for the Corpus Christi project. The permit is the first to be drafted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and issued by EPA under a new program designed to help improve permitting efficiency and productivity for applicants in Texas. The multi-plant ethylene expansion is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2015 (see Daily GPI, Jan. 3).