Korean petrochemical conglomerate, Hanwha Total Petrochemical Co., Ltd., is reportedly investing around $500 million to expand its Daesan refining & petrochemical integrated facility in South Korea.
As per trusted sources, the planned investment is anticipated to increase the firm’s polypropylene capacity by nearly 60% to 1.1 million tons per year by the end of 2020. Moreover, the ethylene capacity is expected to simultaneously surge by 10% to 1.5 million tons.
Reportedly, the Daesan refining & petrochemical facility is one of Total’s six integrated facilities. It includes a steam cracker, a flexible condensate splitter as well as units that produce styrene, polymers, and aromatics. The Daesan project is a part of a series of ongoing investments that currently sums up Hanwha Total Petrochemical’s investments to around $750 million.
Sources claim that the plant following development will use propane as a raw material to produce polyethylene and ethylene and will enable Daesan to gain margins across the propylene-polypropylene value chain. Hanwha Total Petrochemical’s overall polymer yield is expected to help meet local demand and serve Asia’s fast-growing markets, cite sources. According to an official press release, Bernard Pinatel, President, Refining & Chemicals, Total, said that their recent investment in Daesan is in line with the firm’s growth strategy in the petrochemicals sector, which aims to meet global demand, to develop Hanwha’s world-class facilities and leverage competitively priced raw material. The polypropylene project complements the firm’s offering of high-value-added polymers to the fast-growing Asian market, Pinatel added.
Founded in 1952, Hanwha Group is renowned for its broad range of business portfolio in construction, manufacturing, services, finance and leisure industries. The Group consists of 56 domestic partners and 226 global networks, as of June 2016.
As the group’s joint partner, Total produces and markets fuels, natural gas and low-carbon electricity. The energy giant, with its 100,000 employees, offers safer, more affordable, cleaner and accessible energy solutions globally and is operational in more than 130 countries across the globe.
