Lotte Chemical USA Corporation
Lotte Chemical USA Corporation
Lotte Chemical USA Corporation (“LC USA”) was founded in 2014 after Korean parent company Lotte Chemical Corporation (“LCC”) sought to expand its footprint in the Americas. By venturing in the U.S. and other markets in the Americas, LC USA takes advantage of the increasing demand for its family of products and the emerging chemical manufacturing markets on the continents.
LCC designed LC USA as a holding/corporate entity to house all of its basic chemicals’ businesses in the Americas. The first two businesses include an ethane cracker making ethylene and an ethylene glycol plant on the same site using the ethylene as its feedstock. These two plants work in harmony to create the final product, Mono-ethylene Glycol (“MEG”), sold worldwide.
For these first two business ventures, LC USA selected Westlake, Louisiana to build their manufacturing facilities. LC USA chose Westlake to take advantage of the existing infrastructure which included access to competitive feedstock resources, a distribution network and a skilled and well-trained workforce. The ability to use local waterways was a key factor allowing us to move large components of the plant during construction without impeding local roadways, utilities, and more. This resulted in an on-time, on-budget project.
LC USA broke ground on these two plants as part of its basic chemical manufacturing businesses in 2016. This was a greenfield location which required some wetland reclamation (see Stewardship page). This $3.1 billion dollar investment in the community brought many jobs and a fresh set of plants to the area. Both plants began production in 2019 and are operating at peak performance today.