LyondellBasell unit targets Asia, M.E.

LyondellBasell Advanced Polyolefins (APO) plans to significantly raise its Asian investment, with new plants slated in Russia, the Middle East, and India. The APO unit will have a capacity of more than 2.2 billion pounds in 2008. The unit also aims to boost the Asian segment’s share of its global sales from 10% to roughly 25% by 2013. APO’s headquarters was transferred in January from Frankfurt to Hong Kong. The company plans to start a polypropylene compounding operation in India in the second quarter of 2009, and will make further investments for an approximately 66.1 million pound capacity in Russia, and around 44.1 million pound in Saudi Arabia in 2009. A new plant in China and additional capacity in Thailand will boost the company’s Asia-Pacific capacity to almost 419 million from 375 million pounds. (May 2, 2008)