Hanwha Total Petrochemicals Co. Ltd., a 50-50 joint venture of Hanwha Group and Total SA, will invest nearly $500 million to expand the polyethylene (PE) capacity of its Daesan refining and petrochemicals integrated complex in Chungnam Province, South Korea, about 145 km from Seoul.
The proposed project will increase PE capacity by about 60% to 1.1 million tonnes/year by yearend 2020, Total said.
Ethylene capacity at the site simultaneously will increase by 10% to 1.5 million tpy, the operator said.
The proposed project complements ongoing investments totaling $750 million to increase the Daesan complex’s ethylene production capacity by 30% to 1.4 million tpy by mid-2019 and to expand PE production capacity by 50% to 1.1 million tpy by yearend 2019 (OGJ Online, Dec. 11, 2017; Apr. 12, 2017).
The planned investments—which are intended to take advantage of competitively priced propane feedstock abundantly available due to the US shale gas revolution—will better position the Daesan complex to capture margins across the propylene-polypropylene value chain as it currently does in the ethylene-PE value chain, as well as allow the complex to meet local demand and supply Asia-Pacific’s fast-growing polymers market, Total said.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
