Brazil’s Braskem eyes resins production in US

03 June 2009 19:27  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Brazilian petrochemicals major Braskem is considering establishing a resins production platform in the US through an alliance with a global player, president Bernardo Gradin said on Wednesday.

Establishing a joint venture in the US would be a logical next step in Braskem’s internationalisation strategy, Gradin told ICIS in a telephone interview. Opportunities could arise during the global economic downturn, he said.

“It would probably be resins and maybe a cracker,” he said, adding that the alliance would be more likely to involve existing plants than construction of new capacity.

Braskem has a network of production sites in Brazil and is taking steps to add capacity in the Latin American countries of Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia. The company also has commercial operations in Europe, the US and China, noted Gradin.

“We think the natural next step would be to have an operation in the US. When, it is too soon to say. There are opportunities during the trough,” he said. The company is not in discussions with potential partners, he added.

For now, Braskem is focusing on building its presence in Latin America by accessing competitive raw materials. The company is building polyolefins projects in Venezuela with state-owned Pequiven, and is studying a project in Peru with Peruvian state oil company PetroPeru.

Braskem has also resumed talks on the construction of a bi-national petrochemical complex on the Bolivian border.

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By: Anna Jagger
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