LyondellBasell Announces Startup Of 400 KTA / Year South Korean Joint Venture Facility

LyondellBasell today announced the successful startup of Ulsan PP Co., Ltd.’s 400 kiloton per annum (KTA) polypropylene production facility. The facility, located in the southeastern port city of Ulsan, South Korea, is one of the largest of its kind in Asia. Ulsan PP Co., Ltd., is a joint venture between PolyMirae Company Ltd., (a 50:50 partnership of LyondellBasell and DL Chemical) and SK Advanced.

“Through the pandemic, Asian demand for polypropylene remained strong. Now, with the global economy recovering as well, this joint venture is extremely well positioned to meet even greater demand in the region,” said Ken Lane, LyondellBasell Executive Vice President, Olefins and Polyolefins.

The facility uses LyondellBasell’s fifth generation Spheripol PP process technology. Under the joint venture agreement, PolyMirae will offtake and sell all polypropylene produced by the facility to customers throughout Asia. The companies broke ground on the facility in 2019.

About SK Advanced
SK Advanced is a joint venture between Korea’s SK Gas, Saudi Arabia’s APC and Kuwait’s PIC, a subsidiary of Kuwait’s state-run oil company, Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC). SK Advanced won the Industrial Peace Prize of Ulsan city for its efforts to maintain an accident-free workplace and build excellent labor-management relations since 2016.

About PolyMirae
PolyMirae is a 50:50 joint venture between DL Chemical and LyondellBasell, both of which are well-respected companies worldwide, and is a leading polypropylene production company in Korea. With DL Chemical’s outstanding accumulated onsite operational experience and LyondellBasell's core technologies and worldwide sales network, PolyMirae was founded on September 1, 2000, in order to produce and supply the best polypropylene in Asia.

About DL Chemical (50% partner in PolyMirae)
DL Chemical is a leading petrochemical company with more than 46 years of operational experience and unique technological know-how. Based in Korea, the company was the first petrochemical firm in the country to commercialize metallocene polyethylene and polybutene, as well as the first to export polybutene technology to the U.S. DL Chemical is the world’s largest producer of polybutene with a production capacity of 200 KTA year.