Hyundai Oilbank, Lotte Chemical to build mixed-xylene, naphtha plant

18-Jul-13

South Korea's Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Chemical Corp plan to invest 1 trillion won (US$894 mln) jointly to produce a million tpa each of mixed-xylene and light naphtha from late 2016, as per Reuters. The new plant will be located in the city of Seosan, nearly 100 kms southwest of Seoul, where Hyundai Oilbank's 390,000 bpd refinery is located, its spokesman said. Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Chemical have signed a memorandum of agreement on the project. The mixed-xylene and light naphtha supplied by the project will replace about 2 trillion won of imports a year. Diesel and jet fuel produced during the mixed-xylene production will total about 3 trillion won in exports. The project's new plant will process about 110,000 bpd of condensate from H2- 2016. Both Hyundai Cosmo, jointly owned by Japan's Cosmo Oil Co and Hyundai Oilbank, and Lotte Chemical will use the mixed-xylene from the joint project. Lotte Chemical will consume the light naphtha for petrochemical production.