Mobil Chemical Corp. has formed a 50-50 joint venture with Pequiven, the petrochemical unit of state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA (Pdvsa), to develop a $1.5 billion grassroots olefins complex at Jose, Venezuela.
The project includes an 830,000 metric ton/year ethane-based ethylene cracker and related facilities to produce 480,000 tons/year of polyethylene and 430,000 tons/year of ethylene glycol. Pdvsa's Corpoven unit will supply the cracker with associated gas from eastern Venezuela's San Joaquin field.
The new Jose complex will be one of the lowest-cost olefins producers in the world, said Mobil Chemical Pres. Raymond McGowan. It will complement Mobil's olefins plant at Beaumont, Tex. and enable the company to make different grades of polyethylene. Jose will provide Mobil's first ethylene glycol production in the Americas.
"Interest in the Jose complex has been extremely high due to its combination of abundant feedstocks and natural gas, low-cost hydroelectric power, and strategic location," said Pequiven Pres. Arnold Volkenborn.
The Jose project marks the fourth time in a little over a year that Mobil has increased its presence in Vene- zuela.
Last month, Mobil and Lagoven formed a 50-50 joint venture to produce heavy crude oil from the Orinoco belt, upgrade it in Jose, and complete processing in Mobil's 180,000 b/d refinery in Chalmette, La. (OGJ, Sept. 23, Newsletter).
Last year, Mobil purchased a 50% share of the Venezuelan firm that operates the nation's largest privately held lube blending plant (OGJ, Aug. 28, 1995, Newsletter). And Mobil and partners Veba Oel and Nippon Oil acquired a production sharing contract in Venezuela's La Cieba block (OGJ, Aug. 5, p. 25).
Mobil also has been boosting its olefins capacity, with recent plans to expand ethylene capacity at its Beaumont plant by 40% (OGJ, Nov. 20, 1995, p. 40), to expand the Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, petrochemical complex (OGJ, May 20, p. 39), and study feasibility of a $1.5 billion ethylene/ propylene complex in Singapore (OGJ, Apr. 15, p. 37).
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