Shell, BASF, Atofina approve Port Arthur C4 olefins complex

Shell Chemical Co. (Houston, TX), BASF Corp. (Mount Olive, NJ), and Atofina Petrochemicals, Inc. (Houston, TX), a subsidiary of France's TotalFinaElf SA, have approved creation of Sabina Petrochemicals LLC to build and operate a previously announced world-scale integrated C4 olefins complex in Port Arthur, TX.

The facility will consist of the world's largest butadiene extraction unit based on technology licensed from BASF AG, and an indirect alkylation unit based on UOP InAlk technology.

Shell will own approximately 60% of Sabina. BASF will own 24% of the complex, and Atofina, 16%. The three companies are in the final stages of negotiating definitive agreements for the venture.

The companies expect to begin construction in the second quarter of 2001, after obtaining regulatory permits. ABB Lummus Global Inc. and Zachry Construction Corp. have formed a joint venture to engineer, procure, and construct the facility. The parties expect to bring the complex on stream in the first half of 2003.

The Sabina complex will sit between Atofina's 180,000 bbl/d Port Arthur refinery and a naphtha steam cracker being built by BASF Fina Petrochemicals Ltd., a 60-40 venture of BASF and Atofina.

When the $1 billion BASF Fina naphtha steam cracker comes on stream during the first quarter of 2001, it will be the world's largest single-train olefins plant with capacity for 1.8 billion lb/y ethylene and 1.9 billion lb/y propylene.

The BASF Fina venture will supply one-third of Sabina's feedstock requirements. The rest will come from Shell's Deer Park, TX, olefins complex. The Deer Park unit has capacity for 2.1 billion lb/y ethylene and 1.1 billion lb/y propylene.

Sabina will operate a 900 million lb/yr butadiene extraction unit. The output will serve the growing rubber and plastic market in the Southeast Texas area of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange. Sabina plans to deliver butadiene to major customers by pipeline. It also plans secure feedstock pipeline connections to Shell's Deer Park, TX, facility.

The indirect alkylation unit will have capacity for 662 million lb/yr of Sabinate, Sabina's branded high-octane gasoline blending component.

Sabina expects that BASF will operate the butadiene extraction facility and indirect alkylation unit. The facility's world-scale size provides strong economies of scale, while the proximity of Atofina's Port Arthur refinery, the naphtha steam cracker, and the butadiene market provide synergies for operations and logistics.

Subscribe to our free e-mail newsletter.

Click for a free Buyer's Guide listing.