Montell: worldscale PP plan for Qingdao

06 March 2000 00:00  [Source: ACN]

Montell Polyolefins has further strengthened its PP presence in Asia with the recent signing of an MoU with the Chinese to build a worldscale PP facility in Qingdao, Shangdong, China. ACN understands the proposed capacity is between 250 000 tonne/year and 300 000 tonne/year. Preliminary discussions concerning the project began between Sinopec and the provincial authorities since last October (ACN 18 Oct, p21).

The agreement was signed between Montell's Taiwanese affiliate, Taiwan Polypropylene (Taiwan PP) and the Qingdao Kailian Group (Kailian). Taiwan PP and Montell will take a combined 90% stake in the PP project and Kailian the balance 10%. The plant will use Montell's Spheripol process. Kailian will provide the propylene feedstock from its Qingdao refinery and the PP output will be sold in China.

The partners will prepare pre-feasibility studies and expect to submit a project proposal to the authorities in China for approval before year-end.

The Qingdao Kailian Group is wholly owned by the Qingdao municipal government and is made up of more than 40 chemical units, one of which is Qingdao Petrochemical Works.

Montell has also signed a letter of intent with Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical to revamp the latter's 140 000 tonne/year PP plant. It has also licensed its technology to Huabei Oilfield Refinery for a 50 000 tonne/ year PP plant in Hubei.

In South Korea, Montell and its joint-venture partner Daelim Industrial are planning to almost double their combined PP capacity from 530 000 tonne/year to 1m tonne/year. The feasibility study is expected to begin in H1 this year (ACN 13/20 Dec, p31).

In Japan, Montell and its Japanese partners also plan to expand a PP line in Oita by 50 000 tonne/year to 140 000 tonne/year.

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