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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Formosa Plastics Corp.
Louisiana, a subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Corp. USA, is investing USD332
million to expand its production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin and add
production equipment in two other units at the company’s industrial
manufacturing site in Baton Rouge, La., on the east bank of the Mississippi
River, reported Oil&Gas
Journal.
The project will include installation of new machinery and
equipment for the expansion of the PVC resin production unit, expected to result
in a 20% increase in production capacity and sales; installation of new
machinery and equipment for a halogenated acid production unit for internal use
in the production of vinyl chloride monomer; and installation of utilities
equipment needed for operations, the Louisiana Economic Development (LED)
said.
Launch of the new operations is scheduled for late 2021 or early
2022, LED said.
The expansion of the existing PVC unit will result in an
additional 300 million lb/year of resin production, said Paul Heurtevant, plant
manager of Formosa’s Baton Rouge site.
LED estimates the project will
create 15 direct jobs and 66 indirect jobs. Formosa also will retain 230
existing jobs.
The expansion project is slated to create 500 construction
jobs beginning in early 2020, LED said.
LED said it began discussing
potential expansion plans with Formosa in March, and the company considered a
Texas location before committing to Louisiana.
To secure the project, LED
offered Formosa a competitive incentive package that includes a
performance-based grant of up to USD500,000. The company also will have access
to the Louisiana’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs, LED
said.
Formosa’s Baton Rouge site currently includes three operating units
to produce PVC, a synthetic plastic polymer with a variety of uses in the
construction industry, including as insulation on electrical wires, in flooring
for buildings needing a sterile environment, and as piping and siding.
As
MRC informed
before, Formosa Petrochemical Corp reduced its October average run rate at
the 540,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Mailiao refinery in October to about 70% from
more than 87% last month due to maintenance. Formosa, Asia’s sixth-largest
standalone refinery by capacity, took an 80,000-bpd residue desulphurizer
down for a planned maintenance.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's overall production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) reached 809,000 tonnes
in the first ten months of 2019, up by 3% year on year. At the same time, not
all Russian producers raised their output,
Formosa Petrochemical is
involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined
petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene,
propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa
Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins
products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the
company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and
pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company"s plastic products include
acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene
(PP) and panlite (PC). |
