MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polyethylene production at Mexico's Etileno XXI petrochemical complex is on course to begin in Q1-2016, with resins available to the US market, said Plastemart, citing Platts.
"We hope to start production of the first PE grades in March and by Q2 we will have various grades available to export to the US,' the source said. Company officials previously said the cracker would begin operations in February, with the startup of output at the polyethylene plants coming in March. There was market talk that PE resins from the complex would not be available to the US market. However, that claim was dismissed as exports to the US have always played a part in the company's strategy.
The project is anchored by a 1 mln mt/year ethylene steam cracker and includes 1 mln mt/year of PE capacity.
The joint venture between Brazil's Braskem (with 75%) and Mexico's Grupo Idesa (25%) will focus on meeting Mexico's growing PE demand, with remaining output available for export, including to the US and South America.
As MRC wrote before, in 2012, Braskem Idesa announced the approval of a line of credit in the amount of USD700 million by the Brazlian National Economic and Social Development Bank - BNDES to finance the construction of the largest petrochemical complex being developed in the Americas: Braskem Idesa- Etileno XXI Project. The group of financial institutions will also include Mexico's development banks, Bancomext and Nafinsa- Nacional Financiera, and commercial whose loans are subject to the completion and closing of the formal documentation.
Braskem is Brazilian main producer of polyethylene and polypropylene. In addition with ongoing plants located in both petrochemical complexes, in April 2008 Braskem opened a 300,000 metric ton polypropylene plant in the city of Paulinia (Sao Paulo).
MRC