Libya’s NOC on 23 November announced the first polyethylene production in 12 years from the Ras Lanuf industrial complex 550km east of Tripoli (see map, p3) with output of 240 tons/day. Ethylene feedstock comes from the complex’s steam cracker, which restarted in May after a 10-year outage (MEES, 19 May).
The complex’s centerpiece 220,000 b/d Ras Lanuf refinery was shuttered in 2013 due to drawn out legal disputes between NOC and the plant’s erstwhile 50% owners, Emirati firm Trasta Energy. NOC agreed to buy out Trasta as part of a resolution last February (MEES, 4 March). (CONTINUED - 231 WORDS)