PKN ORLEN lets contract for Plock ethylene expansion project

Polski Koncern Naftowy SA (PKN ORLEN), through its contractors, has let a contract to KBR Inc. to license technology for the proposed Olefins 3 complex to be built as part of the operator’s Petrochemicals Development Programme (PDP) at its existing 16.3-million tonnes/year dual refining and petrochemical manufacturing site in Plock, Poland (OGJ Online, Dec. 9, 2019).

As part of the contract awarded directly by a consortium of Hyundai Engineering Co. Ltd. and Técnicas Reunidas SA—PKN ORLEN’s main engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC) contract for the Olefins 3 complex—KBR will deliver licensing, basic engineering design, and proprietary equipment for implementation of its proprietary Selective Cracking Optimum Recovery (SCORE) ethylene technology at the new plant, the service provider said on Aug. 9.

While KBR disclosed neither a value nor duration of the contract, the Olefins 3 project’s technology licensing agreement follows PKN ORLEN’s late-June 2021 contract award to Hyundai Engineering and Técnicas Reunidas for the inside battery limits (ISBL) portion of the proposed complex, which—at an overall cost of 13.5 billion zloty—will be Europe’s largest petrochemical project in 20 years and the operator’s largest capital investment ever, according to PKN ORLEN releases dated June 22 and May 24, 2021.

An initiative to advance a pillar under PKN Orlen’s ORLEN2030 strategy specifically involving maximizing profitability of its existing operations to increase overall competitiveness and improve energy efficiency, the grassroots Olefins 3 complex will include construction of a new 740,000-tpy steam cracker, the upgrade of an existing 300,000-tpy ethylene unit, and the shuttering of Plock’s more than 40-year-old, original 340,000-tpy ethylene unit, PKN ORLEN said.

Designed to increase Plock’s ethylene production capacity by 60% to 1.04 million tpy from 640,000 tpy, the Olefins 3 project also will include construction of five additional units for production of ethylene oxide, ethylene glycols, pyrolysis gasoline, ethyl tertbutyl ether, and styrene to expand the site’s repertoire of derivates supply to domestic and export markets.

PKN ORLEN said it will source the additional 1 million tpy of required feedstock for the Olefins 3 expansion from the integrated Plock refinery as well as other ORLEN Group refineries in the region.

Scheduled to reach mechanical completion in first-quarter 2024, the Olefins 3 complex is slated begin production in early 2025, the operator confirmed in a May 2021 release.