ExxonMobil Chemical’s Singapore plant in operation

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

ExxonMobil Chemical Co. said July 3 that its world-scale Singapore chemical plant on Jurong Island has begun operations. Additional equipment testing will continue as the plant gradually comes up to full processing capability over a period of months.

The grassroots US$2 billion facility has four plants designed to produce a wide range of petrochemical products. An 800,000-ton-per-year steam cracker produces ethylene, propylene and other products for several downstream chemical plants in and around Singapore. The facility also includes a 480,000-ton-per-year polyethylene plant, the largest single reactor plant of its type in the world, a 315,000-ton-per-year polypropylene plant, a 150,000-ton-per-year oxo alcohol plant and a 155-megawatt cogeneration unit that provides power to both the refinery and the chemical plant.

The project work force peaked at more than 7,400 people from 41 countries.