The message said, the company is planning concrete plan for the new facility including capacity, and is predicted to officially announce the item by November or December. The source also said that the third facility is built to keep pace with the capacity expansion at downstream polyether polyols facilities in the next five years.
Premise for the new facility has not been decided yet and depends on economic feasibility. Compared with China, price gap between upstream propylene and PO is wider in Middle East. The company may tend to build the facility in Middle East.
For the moment LyondellBasell owns two sets of joint device in Asia, one 200kt/y PO facility in Chiba was co-established with a Japanese firm while another 285kt/y PO/SM facility located in Ningbo, China.
About LyondellBasell: LyondellBasell is the world's third-largest independent chemical company with 2009 sales of $30.8 billion. The company manufactures products at 59 sites in 18 countries, including joint ventures. Key uses for LyondellBasell's products include rigid and flexible packaging, transportation fuels, containers, plastic pipe, detergents, cosmetics, electronics, appliances, automotive parts, paints and coatings, furnishings, construction and building materials and other industrial and consumer goods applications.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1403616.html
