Global oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell–which posted $368 billion in revenue during 2010–plans to build an ethane cracker in Appalachia.

With the possible cracker facility to bring hundreds of chemical jobs paying in the range of $60,000 per year, officials with Bayer Corp. believe a plot of land near the company’s New Martinsville facility would be an ideal location for the $1 billion project.

“If a company is looking for a place to site an ethane cracker, we believe that our available land at the New Martinsville and Institute Industrial Parks could be an ideal location,” said Bayer spokesman Bryan Iams. “These sites are strategically located within the Marcellus (Shale) gas field and each has direct access to major waterways, railways, and highways.”

When asked if he could comment specifically about a possible deal with Shell, Iams said he could not disclose the companies with whom Bayer has been in discussion.

“We are interested in talking to anyone who has an interest in putting an ethane cracker in this Marcellus Shale field,” he said. “For New Martinsville and the surrounding areas, this would bring a significant positive impact.”

Based in the Netherlands, Royal Dutch Shell is the parent company of Houston-based Shell Oil Co. The company’s 93,000 employees helped produce 3.3 million barrels of natural gas and oil per day in 2010. Though Shell confirmed plans to build an ethane cracker last week, officials did not pinpoint an exact location or a start date.

Shell also took over some natural gas leases in Wetzel and Tyler counties last year. Bryan Lastrapes, business development manager for Shell, said during a Pittsburgh news conference the $4.7 billion acquisition of East Resources Inc. included the local assets.

Ethane is one of the prevalent natural gas liquids–along with propane, butane, and pentanes–found in the “wet” Marcellus Shale gas in northern West Virginia. Once the gas is processed, these liquids are the byproducts.

The cracking action involves even more processing of the ethane to make ethylene. The new substance is then used in plastic production.

“Ethylene is a building block for the chemical industry,” said Charlie Burd, executive director of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia.

Burd said West Virginia is competing with Pennsylvania and Ohio to gain a cracker plant, but he pointed out having the ethane so close to the Ohio River makes the northern panhandle a prime contender.

“The onslaught of the Marcellus production gives the northern panhandle a great chance to get one of these plants,” he said, though he noted the Kanawha Valley near Charleston would also be a good location.

“Several years ago, we had crackers in the Kanawha Valley. But those operations moved down to the Gulf Coast as the industry moved that way,” Burd said. “Now, we have a chance to get them again.”

Burd also thanked acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin for assembling the “Marcellus to Manufacturing Task Force” and thanked legislators for approving tax credits to encourage the construction of an ethane cracker.

“Their foresight in creating incentives to bring this to West Virginia could pay huge dividends,” he said.

The possible New Martinsville ethane cracker would add to the already planned gas processing facilities in Marshall and Wetzel counties. About nine miles southeast of Moundsville, Caiman Energy’s Fort Beeler cryogenic facility is now ready for operation, with another larger facility set to be open by the end of the year.

Caiman is also building a 25-mile natural gas liquids pipeline that will connect the Fort Beeler plant with a fractionation facility under construction on the Ohio River in Marshall County.