Shell opens Jurong Island MEG plant

The plant, which is one of the largest mono-ethylene glycol plants in the world, was launched last Friday, 11 December.

MEG is a key ingredient in polyester fibres and PET resins that go into familiar items like bottles, films, liquid crystal displays, and engine coolants. The plant will be Shell’s first using their proprietary OMEGA process which is meant to be more environmentally beneficial in that it consumes less steam and produces less carbon dioxide and by-products.

Its capacity of 750,000 tonnes of MEG per annum makes it one of the largest in the world, reinforcing Shell’s ambitions to maintain a leading position in the expanding Asian petrochemicals market.

The Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex also includes a new 800,000 tonnes per annum ethylene cracker, a butadiene plant and modifications to Shell’s Bukom refinery, which is projected for launch in early 2010.

Mark Williams, Shell Downstream Director, said: “SEPC is our largest investment in Singapore and our largest petrochemicals investment to date, reinforcing our intention to continue to grow our Chemicals business selectively and to anticipate the needs of our customers in Asia. When SEPC is fully operational it will be our biggest, fully-integrated refinery and petrochemicals hub, from which we will enjoy economic and efficiency benefits in terms of feedstocks, operations and logistics.”

Speaking at the opening of the plant, Minister for Trade and Industry Mr Lim Hng Kiang said, “Against the backdrop of the Copenhagen Summit, such environmentally friendly processes will increasingly become a necessity – but this need not mean it must cost more. The capital cost of the OMEGA process is approximately 10% lower than other plants of the same production capacity.”

He also spoke of the plant as part of the government’s plans to widen Singapore’s lead as a global chemicals hub of “world-class competitiveness with sustainability”.

The new plant is on Jurong Island in Singapore, an ideal location to serve Asian customers from within the region. Asia currently accounts for around 70 per cent of global MEG consumption and much of the new capacity will be destined for China where the demand for MEG continues to grow.