By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
S-Oil, the third-largest oil refiner in the country, plans to invest about 1.4 trillion won ($1.52 billion) to create large-scale petrochemical facilities in Ulsan, according to the company Friday.
In a press release, the oil refiner announced the plan to construct the No. 2 Aromatic Complex, which would produce 900,000 tons of para-xylene and 280,000 tons of benzene a year, at its Onsan refinery in Ulsan for completion by June 2011.
``The board of directors of the company approved the investment plan in a board meeting at the headquarters in Seoul on Friday,'' S-Oil said in a press release.
Once the construction is completed, the company's production capacity would grow to 1,600,000 tons of para-xylene, more than double the current, and 580,000 tons of BTX (benzene, toluene and xylene) a year.
``An additional profit of about 315 billion won would be created on average every year,'' a company spokesman said.
The No. 2 Aromatic Complex primarily consists of No. 2 Xylene Center and Aromatizing unit. No. 2 Xylene Center will produce para-xylene, which is used as feedstock to produce terephthalic acid (TPA), according to the company.
TPA is used to produce synthetic fiber. The aromatizing unit will reform naphtha produced from crude oil refining process into BTX, which is basic raw material of petrochemical products.