LyondellBasell in MOU with Bora for China expansion

Chemical and fuel company LyondellBasell Industries said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to form a joint venture with China’s Bora Enterprise Group to build a chemical complex in northeast China.

LyondellBasell and Bora may invest as much as $12 billion over the next 10 years in a series of petrochemical projects in Liaoning’s Panjin city.

LyondellBasell will take a 50% stake in the chemical projects being built by the Chinese firm, it said.

Among the proposed phase-one investment with a total cost of 18 billion yuan ($2.54 billion) are the production of 800,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of polyethylene, 600,000 tpy polypropylene and 350,000 tpy styrene.

LyondellBasell currently operates three polypropylene compounding facilities in China located in Guangzhou, Suzhou and Dalian. ($1 = 7.0928 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Alexander Smith and David Gregorio)