MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thailand's PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) has received board of director approval to invest USD288.2-million in a project that will expand linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) capacity and add a new hexene-1 plant, as per Apic-online.
The project, scheduled to begin commercial operations in 2018, will double PTTGC's LLDPE capacity to 800,000 t/y from 400,000 t/y and increase the company's total polyethylene capacity to 1,995,000 t/y. It also involves construction of a 34,000-t/y comonomer hexene-1 unit.
PTTGC, in a message to the Stock Exchange of Thai-land, did not specify where the project would be located, but PCN recently reported that the company was finalizing plans for construction of a new metallocene LLDPE plant at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Rayong, Thailand.
As MRC reported before, PTT Global Chemical is studying several options for supplying sufficient raw material to its petrochemical plants, including imports of oil feedstocks after declines in global crude prices. The move is part of a plan to cope with a potential drop in domestic natural gas supply after Thailand's government put bidding for new oil and gas concessions on hold.
PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC