Market sources in the Philippines informed SSESSMENTS.COM that JG Summit Petrochemical Corporation had decided to postpone the start-up of the expanded capacity of its downstream units due to the coronavirus pandemic. The expansion was initially expected to come online in June but virus containment measures affected work, and now the company plans to start-up the units in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The capacity expansion includes a new 70,000 tons/year butadiene extraction unit, a 250,000 tons/year HDPE unit, and an expanded 300,000 tons/year PP plant. JG Summit will also defer the start-up of a new aromatics plant to the fourth quarter due to the same reason. The aromatics plant will have a capacity to produce 46,000 tons/year of solvent-grade mixed xylenes, 76,000 tons/year of toluene, and 126,000 tons/year of benzene.
As SSESSMENTS.COM noted, JG Summit completed work to increase ethylene production by 50% to 480,000 tons/year and propylene output by 25% to 240,000 tons/year in February.
