Inter Pipeline to build PDH, PP complex in Canada

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Inter Pipeline’s board of directors has approved the construction of a $3.5bn integrated propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) plant in Alberta, Canada, the company said on Monday.

Photo by PhotoAlto/REX/Shutterstock

The facilities, to be known as the Heartland Petrochemical Complex, will be designed to convert 22,000 bbl/day of propane into 525,000 tonnes/year of PP, Inter Pipeline said.

The propane will be sourced from Inter Pipeline’s Redwater Olefinic Fractionator, the company said, as well as from other local sources.

Inter Pipeline estimates construction, which has been ongoing, will be complete in late 2021.

“Driven by attractive feedstock and utility costs, the Heartland Complex is expected to be one of the lowest cost polypropylene producers in North America,” Inter Pipeline CEO Christian Bayle said. “This dynamic should result in attractive profit margins given the premium pricing this plastic currently receives in the North American market.”

Product storage facilities and rail loading assets are also included in construction plans, the company said.

The Heartland petrochemical complex would possess the first of potentially two PP plants in Canada that could be built.

CKPC, a 50:50 joint venture between Canada’s Pembina Pipeline and Kuwait’s Petrochemical Industries Co (PIC), may build a 550,000 tonnes/year PHD plant to feed a proposed 1.2bn lb/year (544,000 tonnes/year) PP plant. The joint venture has yet to announce a final investment decision (FID).

Inter Pipeline bought the Canadian business of Williams in 2016, which included plans for the plant.

Image: Polypropylene is used to make plastic like the one used in this bottle.