MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol has announced its low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant reached beneficial operation on 15 November 2020, as per the company's press release.
The LDPE unit is the seventh and final Lake Charles Chemicals Complex unit to come online. The LCCP is now 100% complete with total capital expenditure forecast to be within the previously communicated guidance of USD12,8 billion.
“This milestone safely brings our Lake Charles Chemicals Project to a close and sets the stage for the next step in the evolution of our chemicals business,” said Sasol President and Chief Executive Officer Fleetwood Grobler. “The completion of this unit and its impending transition to our joint venture with LyondellBasell will accelerate our transformation to a more specialty chemicals-focused company with a strong presence of base chemicals in our portfolio.”
Sasol’s LDPE unit uses ExxonMobil technology and has a nameplate capacity of 420,000 tons per year (420 ktpa). LDPE is used to manufacture plastic bags, shrink wrap and stretch film, coatings for paper cups and cartons, container lids, squeezable bottles, and other applications. The beneficial operation of the final LCCP unit signals that 100% of total nameplate capacity of the LCCP is operational.
The LDPE unit is one of the three LCCP plants that will form part of the Sasol/LyondellBasell Louisiana Integrated Polyethylene joint venture.
To date, Sasol’s Lake Charles Chemicals Project has generated more than 800 full-time quality manufacturing jobs, with up to 6,500 people on site during construction, USD4 billion to Louisiana businesses and nearly USD200 million in local and state taxes.
As MRC reported earlier, Sasol said Sept. 21 the new LDPE plant, which had been slated to start up in early 2020 before it was damaged by fire during commissioning in January, did not sustain any significant storm impacts. And the company resumed commissioning the plant then.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, September estimated LDPE consumption in Russia fell to 23,930 tonnes from 47,610 tonnes a month earlier. Russian producers reduced their domestic LDPE shipments due to shutdowns for maintenance at production capacities in Ufa, Tomsk and Kazan. Russia's estimated LDPE consumption totalled about 406,500 tonnes in January-September 2020, which virtually corresponded to the last year's figure.
Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 31 270 people working in 32 countries. The company develops and commercialises technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels, petrochemicals and low-carbon electricity.
MRC