Jurong Island
Source of picture: www.pcs.com.sg
By John Richardson
SINGAPORE plans to eventually raise its ethylene capacity to 6-8m tonne/year from the 4m tonne/year which will be reached when ExxonMobil's second cracker complex at Jurong Island is on-stream, Liang Ting Wee, Director of Energy and Chemicals at the Economic Development Board (EDB), has told the blog.
This confirms what industry sources have been telling us for several weeks now - that the country could build several new cracker complexes after the ExxonMobil start-up, which is expected by 2012.
Speculation is intense as to whom the investors might be and we are attempting to confirm various rumours. We will keep you posted.
Feedstock options being assessed for the new ethylene capacity include more use of refinery bottoms - refinery products from the bottom of distillation columns which can have low alternative value in fuels markets.
The Shell Chemicals and ExxonMobil existing crackers - and the second ExxonMobil plant - already make use of these refinery products, thanks to the companies' mixed-feed cracker technologies.
Another option being evaluated is liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as Singapore continues with its evaluation of an LPG terminal.
Qatar Petroleum might end up being a key LPG, and also condensate, supplier to Singapore following its acquisition of stakes in Petrochemical Corp of Singapore and The Polyolefins Co last November.
