Thailand’s PTTGC lets contract for Map Ta Phut ethylene expansion

PTT Global Chemical PCL (PTTGC), through contractor Samsung Engineering Co. Ltd., Seoul, has let a contract to CB&I, Houston, to provide technology licensing and material supply for PTTGC’s recently approved project to expand olefins production capacity at its existing operations at Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Thailand’s Rayong Province, about 150 km southeast of Bangkok.

CB&I will deliver licensing of proprietary technology and basic engineering for an ethylene plant and pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation unit that, once completed, will produce 500,000 tonnes/year of ethylene, 250,000 tpy of propylene, and other byproducts, the service provider said on Feb. 15.

As part of the more than $95-million contract, CB&I also will provide detailed engineering and supply equipment for its proprietary Short Residence Time (SRT) pyrolysis heaters.

This latest contract follows PTTGC’s Jan. 23 approval of its Map Ta Phut Retrofit (MTPR) Olefins Reconfiguration project, which 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 (OGJ Online, Jan. 23, 2018).

PTTGC previously awarded Samsung Engineering and local Thai partner TTCL PCL an 880-billion won contract to provide engineering, procurement, and construction services for the project (OGJ Online, Jan. 24, 2018).

Scheduled to begin commercial operation sometime in 2020, the olefins plant will use a main feedstock of naphtha and LPG sourced predominantly from PTTGC’s refining and aromatics units at the site.

Once commissioned, the MTPR Olefins Reconfiguration project will increase PTTGC’s overall olefins nameplate capacity at Map Ta Phut to 3.738 million tpy from 2.988 million tpy.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].