(CENS) -- Formosa Plastics U.S.A. will expand the annual capacity of ethylene of its naphtha cracking complex by 800 KT, from the original plan of 450 KT, with the investment amount exceeding USD 1.5 bln, much higher than USD 900 mln originally, said Li Chih-tsun, chairman of Formosa Plastics, yesterday (July 28).
The expansion project is for the third naphtha cracker of Formosa Plastics U.S.A., which embraces shale gas as raw material, different from the first and second naphtha crackers, which use naphtha as raw material. Following the completion of the expansion project, by 2015 at the latest, Formosa Plastics U.S.A. will boast annual capacity of 2.42 million metric tons of ethylene and 1.24 million metric tons of propylene, compared with 3 million metric tons of ethylene and 2.37 million metric tons of propylene of Formosa Plastics Group`s petrochemical complex in Mailiao offshore industrial zone, Yunlin County.
The expansion project will take place at the Point Comfort production base in Texas and is expected to be approved by 2012. In addition to ethylene and propylene, it also involves the production of downstream EVA.