After raking in tax benefits that state officials said would lead to tens of thousands of new jobs and a regional boom, Shell’s CEO recently told analysts the company would sell its facility in Monaca.

In November 2022, Shell began operating its facility in Beaver County, north of Pittsburgh, which converts ethane, a component of natural gas, into ethylene, a raw ingredient in plastics and other chemicals.

The company now plans to sell the facility, with CEO Wael Sawan saying in a recent earnings call that the plant’s isolation from other facilities means “we’re not the natural owner of that asset.”

The state government had given Shell a $1.65 billion tax break over 25 years to build the plant, with former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett claiming its construction would lead to 20,000 permanent jobs, both directly and indirectly, as it drew new workers and businesses to the county.

However, according to research by the Ohio River Valley Institute, those jobs never materialized, and the county’s economic is declining compared to the rest of the state and the U.S. Shell currently employs about 500 people in Monaca and “regularly averages” about 400 contractors, a company spokeswoman told Inside Climate News.

Anne Keller, managing director at energy consultancy Midstream Energy Group, told Inside Climate News that the state’s giveaway to Shell was “stunning” and unprecedented in the industry.

“The state got dealt,” Keller told the news outlet.