Venezuelan companies to invest $10 Bln to double petrochem output

12-Jul-05

The Venezuelan petrochemical production is currently going through severe bottlenecks due to feedstock shortages. The petrochem industry in the Western region of the country has been has been hurt by a deficit of natural gas, forcing groups like El Tablazo (which groups 16 companies) to operate at 70% of installed capacity. Propane is to be supplied from eastern Venezuela to El Tablazo, which was built to process 400 million cubic feet a day and currently receives barely 150 million cubic feet daily In the face of this shortage, Venezuela plans to invest in the petrochem sector to exploit its natural-gas reserves - South America's largest. Venezuelan companies are planning to spend about US$10 billion through 2012 to more than double the country's petrochemical output to 25 million tons by 2012, up from about 11.4 million tons. Half the investments are to be made by the state petrochemical company while the remainder is to be made by private partners. A rise in Venezuelan petrochemical revenue from the current US1.1 billion to US$10 billion by 2012 is estimated