BP puts Alabama PTA Business up for Sale
Oil and petrochemicals producer BP is looking to sell its petrochemicals complex in Decatur, Alabama, USA, as part of the company’s broader reorganization. BP, which inherited the site through its merger with Amoco in 1998, said it will sell all or part of it and is determined to find a buyer “who will recognize its value.”
The site comprises five plants, three for producing purified terephthalic acid (PTA) with a combined capacity of 1 million t/y, one for paraxylene (PX) feedstock and one for naphthalene dicarboxylate (NDC), a specialty chemical used in new-generation polyesters and resins with applications in LCD flat-panel displays and ultra-thin data storage tape, among others.
BP said it is refocusing its strategy to pursue a competitively advantaged portfolio through world-scale, low-cost facilities using proprietary technology, including PTA. Tufan Erginbilgic, CEO of BP’s global downstream business, said the plan is to significantly improve cash break-even performance, enhance earnings potential and make the business more resilient to bottom-of-cycle conditions.
Currently, $200 million is being spent on upgrading PTA plants in Geel, Belgium, and Cooper River, South Carolina, USA – which BP says are the largest PTA production plants in Europe and the Americas, respectively. The revamp will lower operating costs, improve reliability and reduce emissions. The Cooper River project is due for completion by the end of 2016 – no date has been given for the Geel upgrade.
In July of this year, BP started operations at the new PTA plant of BP Zhuhai Chemical’s in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China. The joint venture’s third facility can produce up to 1.25 million t/y, making it the world’s largest single train PTA unit. BP is one of the world’s largest producers of PTA with a production capacity of 6.5 million t/y (net to BP) from six locations.
