Late 2018, Lotte Chemical Titan Will Ground Breaking Naphtha Cracker Factory Worth USD 3.5 Billion

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta, Lotte Chemical Titan, a South Korean petrochemical company will soon launch groundbreaking for the construction of a naphtha cracker factory by the end of 2018.

The plant, which has invested USD3.5 billion, is expected to support the reduction of petrochemical product imports by up to 60 percent.

"Naphtha cracker as petrochemical raw material, we are less so that it is still imported, but after this production, it can be substituted, in fact it will also produce ethylene, propylene and other derivative products so we will not import anymore," said Director General of Industry Chemical, Textile, and Various (IKTA) Achmad Sigit Dwiwahjono in Jakarta (19/05/2018).

He added that the Lotte project is in line with the Indonesian Government's efforts to prioritize the accelerated growth of the petrochemical industry as it meets the needs of production in many downstream sectors.

Sigit explained that Lotte is still completing the licensing process related to land acquisition, port development, and environmental impact analysis (AMDAL).

 Land that is now available 100 hectares, but they continue to look for additional areas that will be built integrated to produce a variety of products, "he said.

Sigit rate, the entry of investment in petrochemical industry in the upstream sector could be a long-term solution to improve national productivity, along with the development of petrochemical market in the country.

"Upstream industry investment is very large and must be integrated with derivative products, because if it stands alone will not be economical, definitely out of business," he said.

Lotte plant to be built in Cilegon, Banten targeted the total production capacity of naphtha cracker as much as 2 million tons per year.

"If the Lotte and Chandra Asri factories operate in 2023, Indonesia could reduce the import of petrochemical products by more than 60 percent," Sigit said.

As is known, PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk also plans to rebuild the second naphtha cracker processing plant (CAP2) which swallows an investment worth USD 4-5 billion.

With the additional investment of Lotte Chemical and Chandra Asri, Indonesia will be able to produce naphtha cracker based chemical raw materials of 3 million tons per year. In fact, Indonesia can position as the 4th largest producer in ASEAN after Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.