MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thai Oil on 11 July notified the Stock Exchange of Thailand that its wholly-owned Thai Paraxylene Co. (TPX) is setting up a joint venture with Mitsui & Co. to produce and distribute linear alkyl benzene (LAB) in Thailand, said Apic-online.
Formation of the new venture, named Labix Co. Ltd., is expected to be completed during July 2013. It will be owned 75% by TPX and 25% by Mitsui.
Labix plans to build a 100,000-t/y LAB plant that is due to begin commercial output in the second quarter of 2015.
Thai Oil last year announced plans to build a USD300-million, 100,000-t/y LAB facility in Chon Buri’s Si Racha district of Thailand.
As MRC wrote earlier, Mitsui Chemicals is considering investing in the US petrochemical business using cheap natural gas there as a feedstock. Low natural gas prices resulting from the US shale-gas boom are stimulating new investments iin petrochemical plants there.
Thai Paraxylene Company Limited (TPX) manufactures and distributes aromatic products such as paraxylene, which is used as a raw material in producing purified terephthalic acid (PTA). TPX was established in 1996 and is headquartered in Sriracha, Thailand. As of 10/31/2004, Thai Paraxylene Company Limited is a subsidiary of Thai Oil Public Co Ltd.
MRC