Singapore Aromatics Co. Pte. (SAC) recently mothballed a 3-year old Singapore aromatics plant, but the $1.1 billion (Sing.) venture could resume operations as early as next August, say analysts in the region.
Late last year, ExxonMobil Corp. bought out its partners in the venture, BP Amoco Chemical Singapore Holding Co. and China American Singapore Co. Pte. Ltd. At that time, ExxonMobil confirmed it would temporarily idle the SAC plant until market conditions improved (OGJ, Dec. 20, 1999, p. 28).
The shut-down-the first major closure of a chemical plant in Singapore-is considered unlikely to trigger other companies to take similar action or damage the city-state's ambitions to develop a world-class chemical production hub on Jurong Island.
An ExxonMobil official confirmed that the 440,000 tonne/year aromatics complex, which began production in January 1997, was closed the weekend of Dec. 11. ExxonMobil has declined to reveal the duration of the shut-down. Most SAC employees reportedly were redeployed elsewhere in the organization or have left the company.
Analysts believe the plant could resume operations in August, when ExxonMobil brings on stream its $2 billion (US) world-scale ethylene plant on Jurong Island. There are expected to be some synergies between the two plants, with the white naphtha from the aromatics unit being a good ethylene feedstock, according to a US-based chemical consultant.
The aromatics plant, when operated at full capacity, would also produce 300,000 tonnes/year of Raffinate-1, another good feedstock for the 800,000 tonne/year olefins complex.
Full ownership of SAC by ExxonMobil will permit ExxonMobil to take full advantage of the potential synergies involved in jointly operating the two plants, said Ken Robertson, senior vice-president of ExxonMobil Chemical, in a Dec. 8 statement.
It was in that statement that the company said it would temporarily shut down the aromatics unit. But analysts say the resumption of operations at the plant-which has capacity to produce 350,000 tonnes/year of para- xylene and 90,000 tonnes/year of benzene-will depend on the paraxylene market in Asia.
Analysts say Singapore's ambition to develop its chemical sector into the second engine of its economy has not been hurt by the plant's closure. One analyst commented that the closure was mostly due to fallout resulting from the merger of Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp., which made a third aromatics plant in Southeast Asia redundant.
According to some analysts, the closely integrated nature of Singapore's chemical production hub on Jurong Island will ensure that the SAC plant is brought back on stream quickly.
