LyondellBasell, Bora advance JV for Chinese ethylene complex
LyondellBasell Industries NV has signed definitive agreements to form a 50-50 joint venture with Liaoning Bora Enterprise Group (Bora) to build a 1.1 million-tonnes/year ethylene cracker and associated polyolefin derivatives complex in Panjin, China (OGJ Online, Sept. 9, 2019).
Under the agreements, the partners will form Bora LyondellBasell Petrochemical Co. Ltd., a Sino-foreign JV, that will operate the proposed $2.6-billion complex, LyondellBasell said.
LyondellBasell also will provide the complex licensing for its proprietary Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process (Hostalen ACP) for production of polyethylene (PE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE), as well as its proprietary Spherizone and Spheripol technologies for production of polypropylene.
Already under construction, the complex—which will produce products to serve growing demands of various industries in China, including packaging, transportation, building and construction, and healthcare and hygiene—is scheduled for startup in second-half 2020, LyondellBasell said.
LyondellBasell, which expects to make its equity contribution in the coming months, said formation of the JV is subject to approvals by relevant government authorities, including antitrust review by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation.
The proposed complex comes as part of LyondellBasell’s plan to further expand its business in China, a large market with growing demand for high-quality polyolefin products, according to Bob Patel, LyondellBasell’s chief executive officer.
"The combination of LyondellBasell's leading technology and Bora's operational excellence will allow us to reliably produce and provide these needed products to local customers," Patel said.
According to IHS Markit, the Asia-Pacific is the largest and fastest-growing polyolefin market in the world, with China accounting for more than 60% of the Asian polyolefins market and representing 40% of global growth.
LyondellBasell—which currently operates three polypropylene compounding plants in China at Guangzhou, Suzhou, and Dalian—also recently signed a memorandum of understanding to form a 50-50 JV with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) to build a grassroots propylene oxide (PO) and styrene monomer (SM) unit it Zhenhai, Ningbo, China (OGJ Online, Dec. 27, 2019). If approved, construction of the proposed plant—which would produce 300,000 tonnes/year of PO and 600,000 tpy of SM—would begin this year, with startup scheduled for some time in 2022.
Complex overview
In a Nov. 13, 2019, presentation to investors, LyondellBasell said construction on the petrochemical complex—which will include the flexible naphtha-LPG cracker and units equipped to produce 800,000 tpy of PE-HDPE and 600,000 tpy of PP from flexible feedstock provided by Liaoning Bora Petrochemical Co. Ltd. subsidiary Panjin North Asphalt Fuel Co. Ltd.’s adjacent 10 million-tpy refinery—was about 50% completed.
Alongside cracking, HDPE, and PP units, the Bora LyondellBasell Petrochemical complex is also to include a butadiene unit, a 120,000-tpy methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) unit, a 35,000-tpy butene-1 plant, a cracked gasoline hydrogenation plant, an aromatics extraction plant, and a styrene plant, according to a series of August 2019 releases from Management Commission of New District of Liaodong Gulf of Panjin.
Robert Brelsford | Downstream Editor
Robert Brelsford joined Oil & Gas Journal in October 2013 as downstream technology editor after 8 years as a crude oil price and news reporter on spot crude transactions at the US Gulf Coast, West Coast, Canadian, and Latin American markets. He holds a BA (2000) in English from Rice University and an MS (2003) in education and social policy from Northwestern University.
