MOSCOW (MRC) -- SK Advanced Co. has begun trial production of propylene at its recently completed propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant in Ulsan, South Korea, as per GV.
The new 600,000-t/y facility will be subject to performance testing. It will "take one to three months to monitor and confirm the plant reliability and sustainability to operate on a commercial basis," said Advanced Petrochemical. Commercial operations are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2016.
SK Advanced was created in 2014 as a joint venture of SK Gas Co. and Advanced Petrochemical's Advanced Global Investment Co. (AGIC) for the purpose of building the approximately USD 1-billion PDH project. AGIC held a 35% equity interest in the project and SK held the remaining 65%.
Petrochemical Industries Co., a 100% owned subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corp., recently decided to acquire a 25% interest in the joint venture. Following completion of the transaction, for which a date was not given, SK will hold a 45% stake in SK Advanced and AGIC will hold 30%.
As MRC wrote previously, in 2012, Advanced Petrochemical Company (Advanced) and Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (Satorp) signed on a sales agreeent for the supply of 50,000 tonnes per year of propylene from Satorp Refinery to be built in Jubail Industrial City (2) to Advanced. Under this agreement, Satorp will provide Advanced with 50,000 tonnes of propylene annually for an initial period of three years and it will be renewed on an annual basis. And it is expected to commence supply starting from January 1, 2014 and Satorp will supply propylene by a pipeline from Jubail (2) to Jubail (1).
MRC