Korean refiner to more than double paraxylene, benzene capacity by 2011

12-Jun-09

S-OIL Corporation, one of the leading oil refiners in Korea, has announced plans to invest 1.4 trillion won to complete its Onsan refinery expansion project in Ulsan by June 2011. Under the project, the company will construct facilities for producing 900,000 tpa of paraxylene and 280,000 tpa of benzene. The facilities are built on an 184,500 m2 site. Post completion, S-OIL's paraxylene and benzene production capacities will more than double to 1,600,000 tpa and 580,000 tpa respectively. Furthermore, it plans to raise its refining capacity to 630,000 bpd from the current 580,000 bpd in order to additionally secure naphtha, a feedstock for petrochemical production. Expecting the global petrochemical industry to bounce back from 2011, the company expects to become a strategic supplier of paraxylene in Asia Pacific region. The growth in the region's paraxylene demand will be driven by China's polyester industry, the company projects.