MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil has announced plans to spend GBP140 million over the next two years in an additional investment program at its Fife ethylene plant, which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y, according to ScottishEnergyNews.
The programme will aim to upgrade key infrastructure and introduce new technologies to significantly improve the plant’s operational reliability and performance. In particular, the impact of flaring is expected to be reduced.
The project is also expected to support around 850 local construction jobs and benefit 40 local suppliers.
Jacob McAlister, plant manager at the Fife ethylene plant, said: "This investment further contributes to the local economy and across Scotland through job creation and procurement contracts."
The program adds to other recent investments that ExxonMobil is making in its UK production assets. In April, the company said it planned to proceed with an expansion at its Fawley refinery and petrochemical plant near Southampton.
This project, which will cost more than ?800 million, will see the addition of a hydrotreater to remove sulfur from diesel, along with a hydrogen plant. Construction is scheduled to start late this year with start-up anticipated in 2021.
A USD75 million project to double capacity of advanced elastomers in Newport, Wales, was also completed in May.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC