Cepsa expects Indonesian chemical JV to start up by end of this year
5/9/2016 12:00:00 AM
ABU DHABI, May 9 (Reuters) -- The chemicals unit of Spanish energy firm Cepsa expects to start up its Indonesian joint venture by the end of this year, with exports due to commence in 2017, a senior company official said on Monday.
Cepsa Quimica is building a plant to produce fatty alcohols in Sumatra in a 50/50 joint venture with Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), the world's second-largest palm oil plantation company.
Fatty alcohols are derived from natural fats and oils and are turned into products including detergents, soaps and cosmetics.
"We are targeting to produce 75 percent of capacity initially after commissioning by end of the year but it also depends on the markets," Jose Manuel Martinez, CEO of Cepsa Quimica, told Reuters at a petrochemicals event in Abu Dhabi.
The emirate is home to International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC), which fully owns Cepsa.
When fully operational, capacity at the plant was expected to be 160,000 tpy of fatty alcohols, he said, adding it was aiming to export to markets around the world.
The chemicals unit of Cepsa, Spain's fourth-largest industrial group, accounts for 40% of the group's revenue. It has manufacturing facilities in Spain, China, Canada and Brazil.
Cepsa also plans to expand output at its Salvador de Bahia facility in Brazil to 260,000 tpy from the current 220,000 tpy before end-2016, Martinez added.
The Spanish firm has partnered with Brazil's Deten to produce at the facility linear alkylbenzene (LAB), which can be used in the production of detergents, paints and cosmetics.
(Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Editing by David French and David Evans)
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