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(ICIS) -- Mexico-based polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) producer Mexichem is in discussions to take an ownership stake in a new US
ethylene cracker, a senior executive said on Monday. “We are in the very
preliminary stages of discussions to partner on a condo cracker in the US,” said
Juan Francisco Sanchez Kramer, strategic procurement manager at Mexichem.
Sanchez Kramer spoke to ICIS on the sidelines of the 31st annual meeting
of the Latin American Petrochemical Association (APLA).“We are talking to three
potential partners on this,” he added.
Two of the potential partners have
announced firm plans to proceed with crackers in the US based on greater shale
gas availability, while the third has announced its intention to build a
cracker, noted Sanchez Kramer.“The cracker would have to be on the Gulf Coast,
so it is close to our VCM [vinyl chloride monomer] and PVC plants in Mexico,” he
said.
Companies that have announced firm plans to build a cracker in the US
include Netherlands-based LyondellBasell, US-based Dow Chemical, and Anglo-Dutch
company Shell. However, Shell announced its intention to build its cracker near
the Marcellus shale gas formation in the northeast US.
Many others, including
US-based Chevron Phillips Chemical and Brazil’s Braskem have announced they are
studying a new US cracker.
Mexichem is interested in obtaining a share in the cracker that would
allow it to take 500,000-600,000 tonnes/year of ethylene to produce ethylene
dichloride (EDC), which would be used to make vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and
then PVC.
mrcplast.com
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