Braskem confirms interest in Brazil/Bolivia ethylene, PE project

23 April 2012 16:25  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--Braskem remains interested in a potential ethylene and polyethylene (PE) project based on Bolivian gas, an executive with the Brazilian producer said on Monday.

The best location for the project would be the border area between Bolivia and Brazil, said Sergio Thiesen, a business development director with Braskem.

“Braskem has an ongoing interest to build ethylene and PE units based on the ethane content in the natural gas that goes to Brazil,” he said in a statement to ICIS.

“In our opinion, the best technical solution is to build this plant in the border between both countries.”

Bolivian state-owned oil and gas company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) is studying an ethylene and PE project in Yacuiba, in Bolivia’s Gran Chaco province, near a planned liquid separation plant located before the line enters into Argentina.

Braskem does “not have details relating to this new approach that YPFB is considering”, Thiesen remarked.

YPFB’s proposed project in Yacuiba has been modified and is now expected to include 1.05m tonnes/year of PE, according to Jorge Buhler, director of US-based Polyolefins Consulting.

Previously, the PE capacity was planned to be 600,000 tonnes/year. The project is scheduled to start up in 2016, Buhler said.

Last year, YPFB selected Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas as the main contractor for the engineering, procurement and construction of the Yacuiba liquids separation plant. Start-up is expected in 2014, when the plant will start processing natural gas exported to Argentina, Buhler said.

By: Anna Jagger
+44 20 8652 3214

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