Lotte BP Chemicals, a joint venture between South Korea’s Lotte and UK energy and chemicals group BP, will expand capacity for acetic acid at Ulsan, South Korea. Investment costs are expected to be $175 million.

The partners are planning to add 100,000 t/y of acetic acid capacity by May 2019 through debottlenecking. At the same time, they will double existing capacity of 200,000 t/y for vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) by adding a second plant by the end of 2020.

Commenting on the plans, Nigel Dunn, BP petrochemicals vice president for acetyls, said: “Building on the long-standing success of our partnership with Lotte, this expansion will allow us to continue to meet Korea’s growing demand for these key petrochemicals.”

Earlier this month, Lotte subsidiary Lotte Chemical Titan broke ground on its proposed 1 million t/y steam cracker and derivatives project in Cilegon, Banten, Indonesia. The $3.5 billion project is expected to complete in 2023.