Borealis AS has begun an engineering study for expansion by as much as 25% the capacity of the ethylene and propylene cracker at its Porvoo complex east of Helsinki.
A Borealis official said production of polyolefins rose 10% during 1994 via use of a production unit that had been idle for years.
Also, a 120,000 metric ton/year, grassroots polyethylene plant is to go on stream at Porvoo by the end of the year.
The official said those factors created a gap in Borealis' ethylene balance, giving the company a choice of expanding its ethylene production or buying feedstock.
Borealis is said to be "fairly serious" about completing the ethylene project at a total cost of 300-400 million markka ($85-115 million).
Go-head is likely toward the end of this year. Construction would then take place in spring 1997 during a 2 month plant shutdown.
Borealis said the expansion would involve addition of a cracker furnace, debottlenecking, and revamping of present equipment.
The expansion would boost Porvoo's ethylene capacity to 287,000 metric tons/year from 230,000 metric tons/year at present. The project also would raise propylene capacity to 167,000 metric tons/year from 140,000 metric tons/year.
Borealis is the polyolefins joint venture between Finland's Neste Oy and Norway's Den norske stats oljeselskap AS formed last year (OGJ, Aug. 29, 1994, p. 78).
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