PTT Chemical expects 29% growth

PTT Chemical expects its olefins and plastic pellets production to increase by 29%, from 3.57 million tons last year to 4.8 million tons this year, despite the suspension of the sixth gas separation plant, The Nation reports. President and Chief Executive Officer Veerasak Kositpaisal said the company had fed ethylene and propylene from the second and third gas-separation plants to the new cracker plant, which has a petrochemical production capacity of 1 million tons per year. The Supreme Administrative Court has given the company the go-ahead for its butane-1 tank and jetty projects. Seven other projects remain suspended, including the sixth gas-separation plant. The suspended projects of PTT Chemical include the expansion phase of the high-density polyethylene production, ethanolamine, ethylene and propylene. (February 26, 2010)