27th Oct 2005 07:00
Total S.A.26 October 2005 Total and Samsung to expand the capacity of the Daesan plant in South Korea Paris, October 26, 2005 - Total and Samsung have decided to expand their commonpetrochemicals plant in Daesan (50%/50%) located on the west coast of SouthKorea. The global investment close to 600 million dollars will both expand andmodernise the facilities improving the overall energy efficiency. The steam cracker will be revamped to achieve a capacity of 850,000 tons peryear of ethylene versus a current capacity of about 650,000 tons per year. Anolefins conversion unit will be added to increase the production of propylene.The project also includes a new polypropylene line more than doubling thecurrent capacity of 250,000 tons and a debottlenecking of the styrene monomerunit. In the first phase of the project, the steam cracker and the styrene monomerwill be revamped by mid-2007. In the second phase of the project, the newpolypropylene and olefins conversion units will start-up approximately sixmonths later. The project will reinforce Total Petrochemicals commercial position within thefast growing Asian markets. Much of the new styrene monomer and polypropyleneproduction from the Daesan plant will supply the Chinese packaging, automotiveand consumer products markets. This investment supports Total's strategy to further develop in Asia with atarget to double its polymer equity production by 2010. ****** Samsung - Total Petrochemicals joint venture was created in April 2003, bothpartners retaining a stake of 50%. The company employs 960 persons and had aturnover of 2,3 Billion US dollars in 2004. The plant currently produces 650,000tons of ethylene, 675,000 tons of styrene, 315,000 tons of propylene, 600,000tons of paraxylene and 670,000 tons of polyolefins per year. ****** Total is the fourth largest oil and gas company in the world with operations inmore than 130 countries. Total's activities cover the whole energy chain of thepetroleum industry: exploration, oil and gas production, refining and marketing,trading and power generation. The Group is also a major player in chemicals.Total has more than 111,000 employees worldwide. More information can be foundon the company's website: www.total.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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