CPC Corp. (Taipei, Taiwan), a state-owned energy group, says it has scrapped plans to build a petrochemical complex at the Mundra special economic zone in India’s Gujarat State. CPC had been in talks with the Adani (Ahmedabad, India) conglomerate to form a joint venture (JV) for the project. However, after assessing the likely investment costs, based on estimates from the consultant Axens Horizon, CPC says the proposed project would be too expensive.
The project would have cost an estimated NT$400 billion ($12.95 billion), according to Axens, which carried out an assessment from July to November last year. This was more than twice CPC’s original estimate. CPC says it has decided to find another location in India for the petrochemical project and will establish an office in the country to learn more about its investment environment, taxation system, and related regulations.
Adani last week announced a partnership with BASF to evaluate a petrochemical JV at Mundra in the C3 value chain. That project will include a propane dehydrogenation facility, together with oxo alcohols, acrylic acid, and acrylates plants, and will cost an estimated $2.3 billion.
CPC says that under the Taiwan government’s New Southbound Policy, it will continue to seek investment opportunities in India. CPC says it is in talks with Indian companies including state-run Indian Oil, and Oil & Natural Gas Corp., on cooperation and investment opportunities.
Indian Oil said last year that CPC planned to invest $6.6 billion at Indian Oil’s Paradip refinery to build a steam cracker and downstream petchem units. CPC has been looking to invest outside Taiwan because it is almost impossible to obtain permits for petrochemical projects in that country. The company is also in talks with Pertamina to establish a petchems JV in Indonesia.
By Natasha Alperowicz
Source: Chemical Week
Eastman is investing up to US$1 billion in building what it says is the world’s largest molecular plastics recycling facility in France. The new facility would use Eastman’s polyester renewal technology to recycle up to 160,000 metric tons of hard-to-recycle plastic waste annually – enough plastic waste to fill Stade de France national football stadium 2.5 times.
Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution has opened the books to investors to raise up to $10.8 billion in the country’s largest initial public offering (IPO), according to a term sheet seen by Reuters. The shares will be sold in a price range of 257,000 won to 300,000 won ($216.19-$252.36) apiece to raise between $9.2 billion and $10.8 billion, the term sheet showed.
The SHYNE (Spanish Hydrogen Network) project is the largest multisectoral consortium in Spain, created to promote the decarbonization of the economy through renewable hydrogen. SHYNE will have a total investment of €3.23 billion euros that will serve to develop more competitive technologies and evolve both the Spanish industry and its infrastructure towards decarbonization, generating more than 13,000 jobs.
