MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian petrochemical producer Braskem is no longer pursuing a petrochemical project, which would have included an ethane cracker, in West Virginia, reported Plastemart.
And the company is seeking to sell the land that would have housed the cracker.
"Due to a number of recent inquiries about its site in Parkersburg, Braskem has engaged a financial advisor to help evaluate strategic alternatives for the site," the company said, declining further comment.
The project, announced in 2013, has been on Braskem's back burner for several years.
In May 2018, Mark Nikolich, CEO of Braskem's US arm, Braskem America, said the project remained on hold pending progress on infrastructure, such as pipelines. The company had not found the right risk profile by that time, he said last year. Since then, Braskem has faced multiple other challenges. The company is facing fallout from a government report that linked its salt mining operations in Brazil to geological damages, leading to one cash freeze of RD3.7 bln (USD973 mln) and a lawsuit seeking a second freeze of RD2.5 bln (USD657 mln).
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption was 1,081,100 tonnes in the first half of 2019, up by 8% year on year. Deliveries of all PE grades increased. Meanwhile, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.
Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
MRC