BP Planning New World-Scale PTA Plant In Belgium

28-Mar-2003

BP announced that it has begun detailed engineering design for the construction of a new world-scale purified terephthalic acid (PTA) production plant at its Geel petrochemicals site in Belgium. The detailed design for the new plant will be carried out by Technip Italy (the engineering centre for the Technip-Coflexip Group) over the next nine months. Subject to final BP and other approvals, the company anticipates construction on the new plant would begin in 2004 with the plant coming on stream in early 2006. The plans envisage construction of a 700,000 tonnes a year PTA plant at Geel. Output from the plant will be primarily targeted at the European market, particularly at fast-growing European polyethylene terephthalate (PET) production, for which PTA is a core feedstock. Iain Conn, chief executive, BP petrochemicals, said: "PTA is one of BP's core strategic petrochemical products and this investment will reinforce our global leadership position in the business." Mike Buzzacott, group vice president, BP petrochemicals, added: "This new plant will use our latest generation technology and be extremely well placed to meet the growing demand for PTA across Europe. It also underlines the importance of the Geel site to BP, building on the first-class people, experience and infrastructure available there." The new plant will confirm Geel as one of BP's main petrochemical manufacturing sites worldwide. The new PTA unit will bring Geel's total PTA production capacity to approximately 1.7 million tonnes a year. In addition to PTA, the Geel site also produces approximately 420,000 tonnes a year of paraxylene, the feedstock for PTA production, 120,000 tonnes a year of purified isophthalic acid (PIA), and 480,000 tonnes a year of polypropylene.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/21636/bp-planning-new-world-scale-pta-plant-in-belgium.html