ExxonMobil to acquire troubled petrochemical plant

This article is more than 12 months old

Jacqueline Woo, The Straits Times

May 12, 2017 06:00 am

Energy giant ExxonMobil's operations here looks to get a major boost with the purchase of the assets of troubled Jurong Aromatics Corporation (JAC).

JAC owns a petrochemical plant on Jurong Island that is one of the largest in the world but it has faced a slew of problems since it opened in 2014.

The acquisition is expected to be completed in the second half of this year, said ExxonMobil in a statement yesterday. It did not disclose the sum involved in the deal.

"Integration of this aromatics plant with ExxonMobil's existing manufacturing facility will provide product and logistical synergies that will enable our continued growth and competitiveness," said Mr Gan Seow Kee, chairman and managing director of ExxonMobil Asia Pacific.

Singapore is home to ExxonMobil's largest integrated refining and petrochemical complex, which has a crude oil processing capacity of 592,000 barrels a day.

The acquisition of the JAC aromatics complex, which has an annual production capacity of 1.4 million tonnes, will increase ExxonMobil's Singapore aromatics production to over 3.5 million tonnes a year, of which 1.8 million tonnes is paraxylene - used to make fabrics and plastic bottles. 