BP poised for Indonesia petchem project

05 August 1997 18:05  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--An announcement by BP Chemicals on its planned petrochemicals investment in Indonesia is now imminent, John Robinson, chief executive, derivatives, at BP Chemicals, indicated Tuesday.

The investment will involve C4 derivatives from the Chandra Asri cracker, but the company also "expects" to be a partner in the second cracker, planned for Merak, in which it would take a fairly significant stake, well above 15%, Robinson said. The company would eventually take around 600 000-650 000 tonne/year of ethylene, he added. The Merak investment will also involve ethyl acetate.

"If we haven't announced anything yet, then watch this space," Robinson told journalists following the press conference here to announce BP's interim results.

BP Chemicals' cracker plans in Oman, to be carried out with local partners, are still at the feasibility stage, while those for the Philippines are still less advanced, Robinson said. The polyethylene project at Bataan, Philippines, however, is nearing the final go-ahead. "We are very positive about it," he commented.

Meanwhile, BP's plans for a $2.5bn petrochemicals investment at Jinshan, Shanghai, China in cooperation with Shanghai Petrochemical are advancing according to the agreed schedule. "Things are going pretty well," Robinson said, adding that a joint announcement could be expected from the partners in three months.

On the question of a possible alliance in PE with Hoechst, Robinson said progress had been made in the talks but that an agreement was not close enough to be able to announce anything.

Commenting on the dispute over PE technology with Union Carbide - upon which the UK High Court delivered a judgment in late July - Robinson said that the two companies were "talking" about the question of damages potentially to be paid by BP Chemicals to the US company. He added that no decision had been taken on whether to appeal against the ruling.

By: Angela Macdonald-Smith
+44 208 652 3214

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