Petrocorp to raise capacity of PP plant

The Petrochemical Corp. of Asia-Pacific (Petrocorp) expects to substantially increase the capacity of its polypropylene plant (PP) to 110,000 metric tons (MT) this year from only 30,000 MT last year, Petrocorp president Antonio Garcia said Wednesday.

Garcia said they intend to further increase production to 160,000 MT next year as they expect more foreign partners to come in and invest in the project.

"We are ready to produce. If the market demands, we will go to 200,000 MT," he said, noting that the plant has a capacity of 225,000 MT per year.

The plant shut down last April 2000 due to the economic slump but reopened in December of the same year. The closure had raised concerns from the petrochemical industry as this might jeopardize Petrocorp’s participation in a consortium that would build the country’s first naphtha cracker plant in Mariveles, Bataan.

"The market last year was very bad," Garcia said, but added they are optimistic about the future of the PP project this year.

He said they are bullish about the prospects of the plant. The bulk of the plant’s output or about 80 percent will go to domestic market while the balance of 20 percent will be exported.

Petrocorp is eyeing to export to Japan, China, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Vietnam in the last quarter of this year. At present, there are only two PP plants in the country. Aside from Petrocorp, the other plant is owned by JG Summit and Marubeni which has a capacity of 180,000 MT per year.

According to Garcia, they were able to tap Japan-based firms Sumitomo Corp. and Itochu Corp. to infuse about three percent each in the PP plant. Petrocorp owns about five percent of the company.

Petrocorp is eyeing 10 percent of the cracker plant project. The government, through the petrochemical arm of the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), will spearhead the construction of the cracker plant.

PNOC-Petrochemical Development Corp. started accepting in January tender offers from potential financial advisors for the planned $600-million naphtha cracker project.

PNOC-PPDC is eyeing a 34-percent stake in the cracker project, to be constructed within its petrochemical park in Mariveles, Bataan.