Borealis Holding AS has decided to complete construction of a polyethylene plant at Porvoo, Finland, which had been put on hold by parent company Neste Oy.
The 120,000 metric ton/year plant is slated to go on stream in fourth quarter 1995, having originally been expected in production this year.
A depressed polyolefins market and surplus capacity in European polyethylene production caused the postponement.
"We are cautiously optimistic about the polyolefins market," said a Borealis official, "but the main reason the project was revived is to increase Borealis' competitiveness in polyethylene."
The plant is designed to produce a high proportion of specially products by means of proprietary technology.
Borealis said the plant's medium, high, and linear low density PE grades will complement the company's other products. The product mix had yet to be determined.
Total investment in the plant is estimated at $110 million. More than half the capital has been spent, with detailed engineering at an advanced stage and much of the equipment delivered.
"We do not intend to add to overcapacity problems in the market," said the Borealis official. "We have just started a feasibility study on conversion of a PE plant in Beringen, Belgium, to polypropylene production."
Borealis was created Mar. 1 by a merger of the petrochemical businesses of Finland's Neste and Norway's Den norske stats oljeselskap AS. The merger was said to have created the world's fifth largest polyolefins producer and the largest in Europe.
Borealis is reckoned to have capacity to produce 1.5 million metric tons/year of polyethylene and 650,000 metric tons/year of polypropylene (OGJ, July 25, p. 40).
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