South Korea’s Hanwha Solutions has submitted a bid for a 50% stake in Sasol’s Lake Charles Chemical Project (LCCP) in Westlake, Louisiana, industry sources informed SSESSMENTS.COM. Sasol is seeking to liquidate its assets amid unprecedented global market disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The sources estimated that the acquisition would cost between KRW2 trillion-4 trillion ($1.7 billion-3.4 billion).
Hanwha Solutions admitted that the current market conditions are favourable for such an acquisition but declined to confirm the bidding submission. SSESSMENTS.COM on June 6 reported that Ineos, CPChem, and LyondellBasell had submitted bids to acquire a large stake in the complex. At the time, the bidding process had entered the second round.
LCCP has a 1.54-million tons/year ethane cracker that began operation in 2019. It also houses six downstream units to produce LDPE, LLDPE, ethylene glycol, ethylene oxide, ethoxylates, Ziegler alcohol, and Guerbet alcohol. The surplus ethylene output will be sold on the merchant market and supply a 470,000 tons/year HDPE plant in Texas that Sasol operates in a 50/50 joint venture with Ineos.
