MOSCOW (MRC) -- French energy major Total said its joint USD5 billion petrochemical project with Saudi Aramco in the Saudi city of Jubail will not be hit by planned cuts in investment, although the partners were focused on controlling costs, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Total, like other oil companies, has announced deep cuts in spending, and is expected to shelve some projects after restrictions on movement to contain the coronavirus destroyed fuel demand and led to a collapse in the price of oil.
“The recently announced objective by Total to reduce its capital expenditure for 2020, including USD500 million in the downstream sector, does not include this project,” Total said in a statement to Reuters earlier this year.
It said the partners were focused on controlling the cost and engineering studies for the petrochemical complex located next to the Satorp refinery were underway.
The complex, which would comprise a mixed-feed cracker with the capacity to produce 1.5 million tonnes a year of ethylene, is expected to start in 2024, Total said, adding the partners were pursuing efforts to keep to the announced schedule.
As MRC wrote before, in November 2019, Total disclosed that itis evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
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