Thai Company Seeks Third Partner for Belmont Cracker

 

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The state-owned Thailand company looking to build a $5 billion cracker plant in Belmont County is also looking for a third partner to finance the venture, published reports say.

Trade journals are quoting a Reuters story that quoted PTT Global Chemical’s finance executive vice president, Patiparn Sukorndhaman, as saying the company will sign a deal with Tokyo-based Marubeni Corp., a trading house, “in the second half of this year” and seek a third partner to provide additional financing.

PTT is expected to maintain 51% control of the venture.

JobsOhio announced April 22 that PTT and Marubeni will take the next 12-to-16 months to complete the detailed engineering design and permitting at the Ohio site. A final decision on whether to actually construct the ethane cracker plant is expected no later than the second quarter of 2017. Should the project move forward, construction would take three and a half years to complete.

PTT Global Chemical PCL is ranked in the Top 10 of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for the second consecutive year and was ranked 22nd among world-leading petrochemical companies on the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies listing. The company has seven main business lines and currently has the production capacity of chemical and petrochemical products of 8.8 million ton per year and the refinery capacity of crude oil and condensates of 280,000 billion barrels a day.

Marubeni Corp. was founded in 1858. Through its local and international network, Marubeni provides products and services in a broad range of sectors, encompassing import and export as well as transactions in the Japanese market.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.