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On October 1, ExxonMobil announced that it would delay the development of a proposed new polyethylene (PE) production project. ExxonMobil said in a statement: “Given the current market conditions, we will slow down the progress of the ‘Coastal Plains Project.’” ”The company had previously been considering locating this project in Calhoun County, Texas. It is reported that ExxonMobil originally planned to build an ethane cracking unit as part of the Coast Plain Project, with an annual ethylene production capacity of 2.2 million tons ； At the same time, it is planned to build a downstream plant for metallocene linear low-density polyethylene (mLLDPE) as a supporting facility; the production capacity has not yet been finalized, with an initial estimate ranging from 1.8 million to 2.7 million tons per year. “The “Coastal Plain Project” is still in the preliminary planning stage, and ExxonMobil has not yet made a final investment decision (FID). The exposure of this project came from documents submitted by ExxonMobil to apply for tax incentives in Texas. According to the application documents, the “Coastal Plain Project” is currently in its second phase of development; construction is likely to begin as early as 2026, with operation expected around 2031. Furthermore, ExxonMobil mentioned in its application that it is considering launching similar projects in the Middle East, other regions of North America, China, India, Indonesia, and other places. It is worth noting that the company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian government in November 2023 to explore the possibility of carrying out petrochemical projects there. ExxonMobil did not specify the details of the market conditions that caused the project delays, but industry experts say that many changes have taken place in the global market since the project application was submitted at the end of 2024. On the one hand, after the United States imposed tariffs on most parts of the world, many economists lowered their forecasts for global GDP growth. On the other hand, the ethylene and polyethylene markets have long been plagued by overcapacity, and AccuSens predicts that it will be not until 2028 or 2029 before these markets start to recover. Previously, Dow Chemical had suspended its “Path2Zero Polyethylene Project” in Canada, a project for which the final investment decision had already been made.