BP Amoco is Proceeding with LAO Plant in Alberta

Amoco Canada Chemical Co. has approved plans to proceed with its Prairie Rose linear alpha olefins (LAO) facility in Joffre, Alberta. The announcement also named Kellogg Brown & Root as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.

In April 1997, Amoco Canada (Calgary, AB), an affiliate of the newly merged BP Amoco, announced plans to build an LAO facility on leased land at the NOVA Chemicals Joffre site near Red Deer, AB. LAOs are used in the production of a wide range of consumer and industrial end-products including plastics, synthetic lubricants, and detergents.

"The Prairie Rose facility is key in supporting our global strategy for sustaining the lead in LAOs," said Janet Roemer, BP Amoco Chemical's general manager for LAOs. "Our unique technology allows us to produce more of those linear alpha olefins in greatest demand by polyethylene and synthetic lubricant manufacturers. The 50% expansion underway at our Feluy, Belgium plant will provide much needed capacity in the near-term, allowing us to meet customers' needs globally until Prairie Rose starts up in 2001."

The Prairie Rose facility will be Canada's only producer of LAOs. It will use ethylene upgraded in Alberta from natural gas to produce LAOs, up to 50% of which Amoco Canada Chemical expects to sell to Alberta polyethylene manufacturers. Currently, these producers import all of this feedstock from the U.S. The facility will be designed with a production capacity of 250,000 m.t./yr (550 million lb/yr), expandable to 375,000 m.t./yr (825 million lb/yr).

Amoco Canada Chemical Company is the petrochemical division of Amoco Canada Petroleum Co., which is a Calgary-based energy company involved in the exploration, production and marketing of natural gas, conventional and heavy oil, natural gas liquids and petrochemicals. BP Amoco is a global explorer and producer of oil, natural gas, refined products and chemicals.

Edited by Nick Basta