Thailand’s PTTGC takes FID on olefins plant at Map Ta Phut

PTT Global Chemical Public Co. Ltd. (PTTGC) has approved a $985-million project to build an olefins plant as part of an expansion of its existing operations at Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Thailand’s Rayong Province.

Scheduled to begin commercial operation sometime in 2020, the olefins plant will be able to produce 500,000 tonnes/year of ethylene and 250,000 tpy of propylene from a main feedstock of naphtha and LPG, increasing the company’s overall olefins nameplate capacity to 3.738 million tpy from 2.988 million tpy, PTTGC said in a Jan. 23 filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

Alongside receiving approval of the project’s environmental health impact assessment from Thailand’s Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, PTTGC’s proposed plant also has been granted a factory expansion permit by the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, the operator said.

Officially called the Map Ta Phut Retrofit (MTPR) Olefins Reconfiguration, the project aims to increase feedstock flexibility, increase production at the site, and reduce reliance on natural gas from the Gulf of Thailand by increasing use of the operator’s internal naphtha and LPG feedstock from refining and aromatics units or, alternatively, enabling imports of less-expensive feedstock from abroad, according to PTTGC’s 2016 annual report.

While PTTGC confirmed it also let a contract for engineering, procurement, and construction of the olefins plant on Jan. 23, the operator disclosed neither the value nor recipient of the contract award.

In addition to its existing olefins capacity at Map Ta Phut, PTTGC also operates 145,000 b/d of crude distillation capacity, 135,000 b/d of condensate distillation capacity, and 2.419 million tpy of aromatics capacity at the integrated location.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].