Poland’s PKN Orlen has announced a petrochemical investment program amounting to approximately 8.3 billion zloty ($2.3 billion), described as its largest on record. The company said the investment would enable deeper integration of its refining and petrochemical segments and further diversity its revenue sources.

The projects will both add new capacity and expand existing output of products such as aromatic derivatives, olefins and phenol at its sites in Plock and Wloclawek by 2023. An undisclosed portion of the sum will also be invested in the company’s R&D center.

Once completed, the program could add as much as 1.5 billion zloty to its annual EBITDA, meaning that the investment would be returned in five to six years, Daniel Obajtek, CEO and president of PKN Orlen’s management board, said. The company also noted that the program would bring tangible benefits to the Polish economy by helping the country transition from a net importer of petrochemicals to a net exporter.

“The investment program will increase our petrochemical production capacity by approximately 30%. Importantly, the new products will be sold on the local market, improving Poland’s balance of trade in petrochemicals,” Obajtek said. According to the Plock-based group, the value of Poland’s petrochemicals and base plastics market will double by 2040.

The company is currently constructing a metathesis plant in Plock, which will add 100,000 t/y of polymer-grade propylene, taking total output to 550,000 t/y. The project, costing more than 400 million zloty, is scheduled to go online in the second half of 2018.  Technology has been licensed from Lummus Technology, a division of US contractor CB&I (now part of McDermott International), which is providing technical and engineering consultancy services.