Dubai-based MEGlobal International FZE, a subsidiary of Kuwait’s first international petrochemical joint venture Equate Petrochemical Co., has officially started up MEGlobal Americas Inc.’s monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant that recently completed construction at Dow Chemical Co.’s currently expanding Oyster Creek petrochemical complex in Freeport, Tex. (OGJ Online, Nov. 16, 2016).
The 750,000-tonne/year MEG plant, which also will produce diethylene glycol, began official production on Oct. 14, Equate said.
With access to shipping routes to customers around the world, the new plant expands the company’s MEG business to help meet fast-growing global demand, said Naser Al-Dousari, Equate’s executive vice-president.
Equipped with Dow’s METEOR technology for its production processes, MEGlobal’s plant leverages the US shale gas advantage by using ethylene feedstock from Dow’s Oyster Creek petrochemical complex.
MEGlobal previously confirmed the plant will begin shipping finished product by November (OGJ Online, Sept. 12, 2019).
First announced in March 2016, the grassroots MEG plant comes as part of MEGlobal’s program to create greater flexibility to satisfy grown demand for ethylene glycol products in the US and Asia-Pacific markets, as well as strategy to expand the company’s global footprint (OGJ Online, Mar. 28, 2016).
Equate Petrochemical is an international JV of Kuwait’s state-owned Petrochemical Industries Co., 42.5%; Dow, 42.5%; Boubyan Petrochemical Co., 9%; and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Co., 6%.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
