MOSCOW (MRC) -- Westlake Chemical's ethane-based steam cracker project with South Korea's Lotte Chemical in Louisiana remains on target for a late 2018 completion, with start up expected in the first half of 2019, Westlake said Tuesday during an earnings call, reported Apic-online.
The 1 million mt/year steam cracker being built in Lake Charles, Louisiana, remains on schedule, according to Westlake, which holds a minority share in the project, with an option to increase its stake down the line. Construction began in mid-2016.
The steam cracker was originally a joint venture between Lotte and Axiall Corp., which was acquired by Westlake in 2016.
Ethylene produced at the facility would be used for Westlake's vinyls production.
In addition, Lotte plans to build and operate a new 700,000 mt/year monoethylene glycol (MEG) manufacturing plant adjacent to the cracker, with most of the MEG slated for export, the company has previously said.
As MRC wrote before, in mid-July 2016, US petrochemical producer Westlake Chemical restarted its Petro-1 steam cracker in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The startup talk was on the tail end of an 80-day planned outage that started on April 19. The turnaround also included a capacity expansion of 113,000 mtpa. The company operates two steam crackers at the site - Petro-1, with current ethylene capacity of 567,000 m tpa, and Petro-2, with 886,000 m tpa.
Westlake Chemical Corporation is an international manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and building products with headquarters in Houston, Texas. The company's range of products includes: ethylene, polyethylene, styrene, propylene, chlor-alkali and derivative products, PVC suspension and specialty resins, PVC Compounds, and PVC building products including siding, pipe, fittings and specialty components, windows, fence, deck and film.
Established in 1976, Lotte Chemical has been solidifyng its position by localizing cutting-edge petrochemical technologies. Among the high-quality products produced by Lotte Chemical through its efficient processes are ethylene, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PP, functional resin, EG, SM, PIA, PET, etc. Lotte Chemical’s products are being distributed to 152 countries around the world. With the acquisition of Pakistan’s PTA in 2009, Artenius in the UK in 2010 and Titan Chemical Corp., Lotte Chemical is now able to efficiently supply excellent products to an increasing number of countries. The company is further accelerating its efforts to strengthen its global competitiveness by establishing overseas branches in Hong Kong, Russia, and USA, along with the sales corporation in China for active sales activities both in domestic and abroad.
MRC