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Singapore’s aromatics binge

Business, China, Fibre Intermediates, Projects, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand
By John Richardson on 03-Sep-2010

By Malini Hariharan

Jurong Aromatics Corp (JAC), part of a rare breed of standalone aromatics projects, is finally seeing some progress.

At a time when most new aromatic projects are integrated with refinery operations, JAC plans to build a condensate splitter and an aromatics facility to produce 800,000 tonnes/year of paraxylene (PX), 450,000 tonnes/year of benzene and 200,000 tonnes/year of orthoxylene in Singapore.

Financing of the much-delayed $1.5bn project, first mooted in 2007 but held up by the 2008 financial crisis, is now likely to be completed by end-2010 with support coming from two South Korean government export agencies.

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The Export-Import Bank of Korea is expected to provide a direct loan of $330 million and a 100 percent guarantee for a further $270 million. Another $600 million tranche will be fully guaranteed by Korea Trade Insurance Corp.

The project is now targeted for completion in 2014.

South Korean major SK Energy and Chinese polyester maker Jiangsu Sanfangxiang Group are the key promoters of JAC. The other major shareholders are Vijay Goradia and M Y Ling, founding members of the Continental Chemical Group, Swiss oil trader Glencore, Singapore’s EDB Investments, and downstream petrochemical player Thai KK Industry Co Ltd.

JAC has already awarded a construction contract to SK Engineering & Construction Co.

It has also committed to take space at the Jurong Rock Caverns, the 1.48 million cubic metre underground oil storage facility that is due to launch the first two of five caverns in 2013.

The aromatics project, another example of Singapore’s success in attracting investors, will be geared to meet Chinese demand. Offtake of the PX output is likely to be guaranteed by promoter Jiangsu Sanfangxiang which is building a 600,000 tonnes/year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant in Jiangsu, China.

The project is a rare combination of Korean, Chinese, Swiss, American and Thai investors coming together. Trust Singapore to provide fertile ground to make this happen.