S-Oil eyes H1 ’18 mechanical completion of Korea RUC/ODC project

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–S-Oil expects the mechanical completion and commissioning of its residue upgrading complex and olefin downstream complex (RUC-ODC) project in the first half of 2018, the South Korean producer said on Monday.

The project in Ulsan is expected to produce 405,000 tonnes/year of polypropylene (PP); 300,000 tonnes/year of propylene oxide (PO); 21,000 bbl/day of gasoline; 14,000 bbl/day of alkylate and 370,000 tonne/year of methyl tertiary butyl ether, based on information posted on the company’s website.

S-Oil expects to shell out Korean won (W) 4,800bn ($4.2bn) for the project.

When the project is completed, petrochemicals will account for 13% of S-Oil’s overall product portfolio from 8% currently. Within the petrochemical segment, the share of olefins will increase to 37% from 8%, while the share of paraxylene (PX) will shrink to 46% from 71%.

Details of the project were included in the presentation of S-Oil’s second-quarter financial results.

The company posted a 3.8% increase in second-quarter net profit to W445.2bn as better margins offset the double-digit decline in revenues.
($1 = W1,135)