Following local media reports in March, ExxonMobil has confirmed it has agreed to buy the Singapore aromatics plant of Jurong Aromatics Corp. (JAC). Financial terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in the second half of 2017, were not disclosed.

The US oil, gas and chemicals group said the facility, said to be one of the world’s largest aromatics plants with a capacity of 1.4 million t/y, will enable the cost-competitive growth of its aromatics business. ExxonMobil added that proximity to its integrated refining and chemical complex in Singapore will strengthen both sites with product and logistical synergies.

“Our growth in Singapore is driven by the expected increase in global demand for chemical products over the next decade of nearly 45 percent, or about 4 percent per year, which is a faster pace than energy demand and economic growth,” said, Neil Chapman, president of ExxonMobil Chemical. “Nearly three-quarters of the increased demand is expected to be in Asia-Pacific as a result of its rising prosperity and a growing middle class.”

The country is home to ExxonMobil’s largest integrated refining and petrochemical complex, which processes 592,000 barrels of crude oil per day and includes two steam crackers. The addition of JAC’s aromatics plant will raise the US group’s aromatics production in Singapore to above 3.5 million t/y, of which 1.8 million t/y is paraxylene.

Later this year, a 230,000 t/y specialty polymers plant producing halobutyl rubber and performance resins for adhesive applications will start up in phases at the complex.