5 year investment program planned by Cepsa to expand petrochem capacity

24-Sep-08

As part of a €3.5 bln global investment plan, Spanish oil and chemicals major Compañía Española de Petróleos, (CEPSA) plans to expand its petrochemicals capacity. Current production includes purified terephthalic acid (PTA), additives dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) and purified isophthalic acid (PIA). CEPSA is also installing a 500,000tpa PTA facility in Montreal, Canada. Cepsa also plans to augment refining capacity at plants in southern Spain over the five years. It's existing refineries are at La Rábida and at San Roque, both units in Huelva. Capacities at San Roque, operated by subsidiary Interquisa include 450,000 tpa of PTA, and DMT and PIA production. PTA capacity is being planned to increase by 350,000 tpa. Details of the planned five-year investment program will be revealed in October. At present the group has confirmed it will include expansion of La Rabida refining capacity by 4.5 mln tons and the construction of a 2 mln tpa chemical hydrocracker.