CPC Taiwan Plans to Build Petrochemical Complex in Indonesia

Taipei, April 16, 2010 (CENS)--State-run CPC Corp. Taiwan plans to establish a large-scale petrochemical complex in Indonesia, by transplanting the equipment of its oil refinery and third naphtha cracking plant in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, there and mobilizing mid- and downstream factories to make associated investments, a project which could cost several hundreds of billions of NT dollar, said Chu Shao-hua, president of the company yesterday (April 14).
The project, the firm`s largest-ever overseas investment plan, targets to tap the fast expanding ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), where it will face the competition of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), its major rival on the domestic front, once again, as the latter is gearing up to establish a petrochemical complex in Vietnam.
Chu stated that the project is meant to better utilize the two plants` equipment after their expected closure, rather than selling them as scrap metal, an arrangement which in the case of the third naphtha cracking plant can save 30-40% cost in plant construction, compared with the cost for a new plant with similar capacity. The company plans to invite its mid- and downstream clients to make related investments for the production of petrochemical derivatives, so as to find outlet for ethylene and other petrochemical materials turned out by its facilities.
CPC Taiwan will join hands with those petrochemical firms to set up a company for the construction and management of the facilities. Chen Lu-wei, vice president of the company, is reportedly visiting Indonesia to study its investment climate.
An executive of CPC Taiwan pointed out that due to good maintenance, the equipment of Kaohsiung refinery and the third naphtha cracking plant has at least another 10-20 years of life. If the project proceeds smoothly, the company plans to start dismantling and exporting the equipment of the third naphtha cracking plant after its decommissioning in 2012, before doing the same for Kaohsiung refinery.
The projected complex will be able to refine 100,000-200,000 barrels of oil daily and turns out 730,000 metric tons of ethylene a year, as well as such downstream derivatives as PE (polyethylene), SM (styrene monomer), and AN (acrylonitrile).