Expansions: Advanced Petrochemical starts up PDH/PP plant in Jubail; ExxonMobil starts up US$10 bn petchem complex in China

Saudi Arabia’s Advanced Petrochemical Co. has completed the construction and started operations at its propane dehydrogenation plant (PDH), which has a designed production capacity of 843,000 tonnes/year of propylene using Catofin technology, as well as two PP trains, each with a nameplate capacity of 400,000 tonnes/year of PP using Spheripol and Spherizon technologies from LyondelBasell. The company already produces 450,000 tonnes/year of PP at Jubail.

The plants, operated through Advanced Polyolefins Industry Co, are located in Jubail Industrial City.

Advanced Polyolefins is a joint venture, with 85% owned by Advanced Global Investment Co. (AGIC) and 15% by SK Gas Petrochemical Pte Ltd. (SKGP).

According to sources, Advanced Polyolefins secured financing from several banks in 2022 totalling SAR6.1 billion to establish the complex in Jubail Industrial City. The complex includes three plants for processing propane gas, propylene, and isopropanol, with a total project cost estimated at approximately SAR7 billion.

In other news, US-based energy giant ExxonMobil has started operation of its US$10 billion landmark chemical complex in southern China, the country's first major petrochemical project wholly owned by a US company.

Located in the Daya Bay Petrochemical Industrial Park in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, the first phase of the project consists of a flexible feedstock steam cracker with a capacity of 1.6 million tonnes/year of ethylene, a key building block for plastics and fibres used in a wide range of products like packaging.

Also included are two linear low-density polyethylene lines with a total capacity of 1.2 million tonnes/year, a single low-density polyethylene line with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes/year, and two differentiated polypropylene lines with a total capacity of 950,000 tonnes/year.

Jean-Marc Taton, Chairman of ExxonMobil China, stated that it represented another milestone in the company's global commitment to manufacturing and technological leadership. "The project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget, with record safety performance, thanks to teamwork between ExxonMobil, our partners, and the people in Dayawan, Huizhou, Guangdong."

Hailing the establishment of this complex as "the latest chapter" in the long story of ExxonMobil's presence in China, the company's senior vice president Jack Williams said at the launch ceremony that the project will serve as an anchor for Guangdong to develop a robust petrochemical industry.

The multi-billion-dollar chemical complex began construction in 2020, and is an iconic project in China involving 2 phases that is wholly owned by a foreign investor. In 2023, ExxonMobil announced the groundbreaking of its R&D centre named Dayawan Technology Centre (DTC) near the complex, the company's first comprehensive R&D centre equipped with a pilot plant outside its North American headquarters.

Huizhou, a coastal city in southern China, is home to a cluster of major petrochemical companies, including Shell, BASF and Clariant. Within this ecosystem, the Daya Bay Petrochemical Industrial Park has become one of China's leading refining and chemical production centres, with an annual oil refining capacity of 22 million tonnes and ethylene production capacity of 3.8 million tonnes.

ExxonMobil's chemical complex is expected to boost China's ethylene production capacity and elevate the technological standards of its petrochemical sector, supporting key industries such as electronic chemicals, fine chemicals and biomedicine, said Ji Hongbing, vice president of the Guangdong Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association.

The launch comes amid China's ongoing efforts to improve access for foreign investors.

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