MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) has received board of directors' approval to invest in a new olefins project at Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, Rayong Province, Thailand, as per Apic-online.
The project, expected to cost about USD985-million, in-volves a new facility with a production capacity of 500,000 t/y of ethylene and 250,000 t/y of propylene, using naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas as the main feedstocks. Commercial operations are planned to begin in 2020.
Once complete, PTTGC's nameplate olefins capacity will increase to more than 3.7-million t/y from nearly 3-million t/y currently.
An engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement for the project was signed on 23 Jan. 2018, the company noted. Details of the agreement were not given; however, according to a Korean press report, the EPC contract was awarded to Samsung Engineering.
In 2016, PCN reported that the company was also planning to carry out a feasibility study for downstream production of acrylic acid, styrene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and polystyrene, among others.
As MRC informed before, PTT is on track to start commercial operations at its new 400,000 mt/year metallocene C6 linear low density polyethylene (MLLDPE) plant at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, in the first quarter of 2018. PTT had started up the plant by the end of last year.
PTT currently has a total capacity of 800,000 mt/year of HDPE, 300,000 mt/year of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and 400,000 mt/year of LLDPE at the same site.
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