Start up of two feedstock plants by Petron Corp in Bataan

01-Feb-08

Oil giant Petron Corp. plans to commence production at two petrochemical feedstock plants in Bataan by end of February. Petron will inaugurate the 19,000 bpd Petro Fluidized Catalytic Cracker (PetroFCC) and a 140,000 tpa propylene recovery unit (PRU) at its Bataan refinery. PetroFCC and PRU are core components of the company's US$300 mln refinery phase 1 which also includes the BTX unit that will produce the benzene, toluene and mixed xylene products. The two units, scheduled to start operating within February, is part of the Petron's Refinery Master Plan which will enable it to further diversify its business and sustain its growth momentum. The PetroFCC, which is the first "cracking" unit of its kind in the world, will significantly improve operating efficiencies at the company's 180,000 pd since it converts black products (fuel oil) to more high-value white products (LPG, gasoline, diesel etc.) and enables the extraction of the petrochemical feedstock propylene. From the PetroFCC, the propylene stream is purified in the PRU which will produce petrochemical grade propylene.