By Tess Stynes
W.R. Grace & Co. said that its Advanced Refining
Technologies joint venture with a unit of Chevron Corp. plans to
spend about $135 million to build a residue hydroprocessing
catalyst plant and additional alumina capacity at Grace's
manufacturing operation in Lake Charles, La.
Construction is expected to begin late this year with completion
targeted for 2018.
W.R. Grace said the plant will be designed to meet increased
catalyst requirements for technologies used in the crude refining
process.
W.R. Grace said its has made capital investments of more than
$100 million at its Lake Charles operation--which represents a
significant portion of its refining catalyst manufacturing
capacity--over the past six years.
The Columbia, Md.-based company in February announced a plan to
split into two firms--one making catalysts used in oil and chemical
refining and the other producing chemicals used in cement and
concrete--without apparent prompting by activist investors. In
recent years, a series of conglomerates have announced plans to
narrow their focuses in a number of ways. In many of those cases,
activist investors have pushed for the breakups.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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