MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thailand's integrated oil refiner IRPC Pcl plans to invest USD280 million next year with an aim to expand the production capacity of a petrochemical product and boost its long-term earnings growth, a top executive said, reported Reuters.
IRPC will increase its polypropylene production capacity by 63%, or 300,000 t from current levels, to 775,000 t by the middle of next year, President and CEO Sukrit Surabotsopon told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
Once the expansion is completed, Sukrit said IRPC will be Southeast Asia's largest producer of polypropylene (PP) - a synthetic resin which is a polymer of propylene, used chiefly for films, fibers, or molding materials.
As MRC informed previously, IRPC restarted its PP unit following a maintenance turnaround at the end of the first week of Decmeber. The plant was shut for a planned maintenance in mid-November 2016. Located in Rayong province of Thailand, the PP unit has a production capacity of 175,000 mt/year. The company also operates two more PP units at Rayong province, having a production capacity of 150,000 mt/year each.
IRPC, part of state-controlled PTT Pcl, Thailand's largest energy firm.
PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC