Kazakhstan seeks finance for US$4.4 bln PE plant, in talks with S Korea, Japan, Abu Dhabi

17-Mar-11

Kazakhstan is in talks with South Korea’s Hanwha Chemical Corp., Japan’s Marubeni Corp. (8002) and the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government as it seeks financing for a US$4.4 bln polyethylene (PE) plant, as per Bloomberg. Discussions are underway with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), and LG Chem Ltd. for partner on a “parity basis,” as per Kazakhstanskaya Pravda. In March 2010, Sinopec was awarded a contract to build a 300 bln tenge polypropylene plant in western Kazakhstan. The polypropylene plant will form part of a gas chemicals complex, which will be able to produce 500,000 tpa polypropylene and 800,000 tpa polyethylene once it reaches full capacity in 2015. Sinopec has agreed to buy and export all the polypropylene produced at the facility. The Export-Import Bank of China will provide a US$1.26 bln loan for the project.