MOL Group to invest $ 1.9 bn in petrochemicals business

Hungarian oil & gas company MOL Group will invest up to $ 1.9 billion until 2021 to develop its petrochemicals business. The investment is part of MOL’s plans to earmark a total of around $ 2 billion as strategic capex for 2017-2021 related to the implementation of the new long-term strategy. This is above the annual organic capex expected at $ 1-1.1 billion.

The yield improvement of propylene and investment into attractive propylene derivatives will be the main direction in the next five years for the company’s petrochemical business. In order to allow further diversification in the propylene value chain, MOL Group will invest more than $ 500 million into its steam crackers in Hungary and Slovakia. 

The group will also invest in propylene oxide based polyols, a high-value product applied in the automotive industry, packaging and furniture manufacturing. MOL Group would become the sole fully integrated supplier in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the region which is driving the European supply growth. Moreover additional investments are being planned for another possible product entry.

According to Zsolt Hernádi, chairman & CEO, MOL Group, as a result of the company’s industrial transformation, the first phase strategic projects in petrochemicals are expected to contribute $ 250-300 million annually to its EBITDA.