The SK Advanced JV of Korea’s SK Gas (45%), Saudi private petchems firm Advanced (30%) and Kuwaiti state petchems firm PIC (25%) is partnering Korea’s PolyMirae –itself a JV between Korean conglomerate Daelim and US petchems firm LyondellBasell – to develop a 400,000 t/y polypropylene plant at Ulsan, Korea. Advanced announced on the Saudi stock exchange (Tadawul) last week that the partners have awarded Korea’s SK Engineering & Construction a 406.8bn Won ($351mn) engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the plant, with work scheduled to begin in Q1 2019 with a view to commercial operation in the first half of 2021.
SK Advanced currently operates a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant at Ulsan, with capacity to produce 600,000 t/y of propylene (MEES, 27 May 2016). Three-quarters of the PDH plant’s output is currently exported to China, but this will be diverted to feed the polypropylene plant once it is operational. The new plant will incorporate LyondellBasell’s proprietary Spheripol technology. (CONTINUED - 155 WORDS)