PKN Orlen, a Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer, will increase the annual production of propylene at its Plock (Poland) facility by 100 thousand tonnes. The metathesis unit built at the Plock production plant will deliver polymer grade propylene. The plant’s production capacity will increase to 550 thousand tonnes of propylene from the current 450 thousand tonnes per year. The project execution cost is approximately Polish Zloty (PLN) 400 million (about $ 100 million).
“Our objective is to effectively diversify revenue sources and strengthen the efficiency of the Orlen Group’s downstream segment. We want to maximise capacity utilisation in Poland and the Czech Republic, and push for greater integration between petrochemical and refining areas, which will give us flexibility required to respond to market changes in demand for fuels and petrochemicals. We will focus on products with a broad range of applications in the plastics industry, because the industry’s purchasing power is growing and its medium-term prospects point to a steadily upward trend,” explained Wojciech Jasinski, president of the management board of PKN Orlen.
The metathesis unit will be built under a licence purchased from Lummus Technology Inc, a company of the CB&I group, specialising in a wide range of energy infrastructure solutions. Under the agreement, the contractor will also provide technical and engineering consulting services.
The current strategy up to 2017 provides for the Orlen Group’s capital expenditure on key petrochemical projects of PLN 1.6 billion (about $ 400 millon).
