SK Advanced and PolyMirae Company, the two multinational joint ventures based in Korea, recently signed a $447 million contract to build a large polypropylene facility with a 400,000-ton capacity in Ulsan, about 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to Ulsan City on Monday.

The two agreed to launch a new legal entity in the second half of this year to run the new facility which will be located near SK Advanced’s propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant in the city and open in 2021. Construction begins as early as January of 2019.

SK Advanced is a joint venture between Korea’s SK Gas, Saudi Arabia’s APC and Kuwait’s PIC, a subsidiary of Kuwait’s state-run oil company, Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC). SK Advanced runs the PDH plant with an annual capacity of 600,000 tons.

PolyMirae, the largest shareholder of the polypropylene plant and the only PP producer in Korea, is a joint venture of Korea’s Daelim and Dutch Lyondell Bassell Industries.

The investment is expected to create 1,200 new jobs and add direct and indirect production value worth 4.7 trillion won over the next six years, Ulsan City said.

Propylene is a key component in many types of plastics, chemical intermediates and fibers used for a wide range of industrial and commercial products.

By Seo Dae-hyun and Minu Kim

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