LG Chem, South Korea’s biggest chemicals company, has decided to scrap plans to build a €3.84 bln polyethylene complex in Kazakhstan amid sharply rising costs and low oil prices, as per plasticsnews.
The company agreed in 2011 to construct the complex, due to produce up to 840,000 tpa of ethylene and 800,000 tpa of PE, near the western Kazakhstan city of Atyrau. This was part of a 50:50 deal agreed with two Kazakh companies, state owned United Chemical Company (UCC) and the private firm SAT. But the Korean chemicals giant now says it prefers to divert the investment funds into “more promising” business areas.
“The Kazakhstan project lost its lustre because of a steep increase in facility investment amid growing uncertainty. On a business front, LG’s top management reached a consensus that it wasn’t promising,” LG Chem told the Korean Times in a statement this week. Announcing its decision, the company said it would also drop a plan to invest in polysilicon, a key part of solar cell manufacturing, due to the worsening market situation. This project has been on hold since it was first announced in June 2011, would have involved the construction of a €373m plant to produce 5,000 tpa of polysilicon.
02-Feb-16 
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