Philippine petrochem industry to get a boost by revival of Bataan plant

15-Mar-05

The Philippine government has, in recent months, laid emphasis on a thrust to revitalize and strengthen the mid-stream petrochemical industry, which will eventually lead to the establishment of the much-delayed naphtha cracker plant. With this in view, the government has initiated recommissioning of a polyethylene plant. Bataan Polyethylene Corp, formerly owned and operated by a consortium of British Petroleum (BP) of the UK, Petroliam Nasional Bhd. of Malaysia, Sumitomo Corp. of Japan, and some local investors, had a nameplate capacity of 275,000 tpa. The plant using the award winning BP innovene gas phase process was decommissioned in 2003. Pan Pacific Capital Advisors Pte. Ltd. of Singapore and the Metro Alliance Holdings and Equities Corp. (MAHEC), have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to recommission the Bataan polyethylene plant. The funds to be initially made available will cover the cost of recommissioning the Bataan polyethylene plant and the purchase of start-up feedstock to prepare it for operations. MAHEC last year acquired 100% ownership of the Bataan Polyethylene Corp., operator of the polyethylene plant, by way of debt and equity purchase.