The Board of Investments (BOI) recently approved three petrochemical projects of conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc. (JGSHI) worth Php15.8 billion.
Two pioneering projects of wholly-owned JGSHI subsidiary JG Summit Petrochemical Corp. (JGSPC) got the nod under the Preferred Activities of the existing Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) with the endorsement of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
The first JGSPC project is a Php4.2 billion plant for the production of butadiene and raffinate. The other JGSPC project is a Php3 billion project for the production of benzene, toluene, mixed xylene, C8+/C9+ Cut and non-aromatics.
Another wholly-owned JGSHI subsidiary, JG Summit Olefins Corp. (JGSOC) was given the greenlight for the expansion of its Naphtha Cracker that will produce additional Polymer Grade Ethylene, Polymer Grade Propylene, Mixed C4 and Pyrolysis (Py) gas with a project cost of Php8.6 billion.
JGSPC is part of the JG Summit Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the country.
“We very much welcome investment projects such as these. The company’s initiative and innovation in expanding their petrochemical plants is definitely a big boost to the manufacturing industry and its sub-sectors,” Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said.
“Parameters in innovativeness/novelty of the activity, innovativeness/novelty of products or processes or equipment to be developed, level of technological expertise required, impact on increasing the level of science and technology in the Philippines and possibilities for commercial operation comply with the requirements for a pioneer status of the projects,” the DOST said in its endorsement letter.
The JGSPC projects will generate 112 jobs once fully operational in 2021. The firm is expected to produce butadiene and raffinate at 70,000 MT and 89,000 MT annually, respectively. Its other petrochemical products will yield benzene at 126,000 MT annually, toluene (76,000 MT), mixed xylene (46,000 MT), C8+/C9+ Cut (18,000 MT) and non-aromatics (29,000 MT).
The JGSOC project, on the other hand, is expected to enlist 21 personnel when the expansion operations start in July 2021. It will churn out additional amounts of ethylene (160,002 MT per year), propylene (51,000 MT), Mixed C4 (26,418 MT) and Py Gas (78,876 MT).
These projects will be located in the JG Summit Petrochemical complex in Batangas City. JGSPC currently operates two polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) plants with a combined capacity of 320,000 metric tons (MT) annually of PE and 180,000 MT of PP. The complex also houses the country’s first and only naphtha cracker facility, also a BOI-registered project of JGSOC. From the time the naphtha cracker started commercial operations in 2014, the upstream JGSOC has been able to provide the downstream JGSPC with a stable and competitive source of feedstock for its polymer plants.
The naphtha cracker expansion project of JGSOC in the next five years worth Php8.6B will allow the JGSPC to pursue construction of additional new or expanded downstream units, to help further maximize the potential derivatives value from each of the newly-registered derivatives.
As soon as these projects become fully operational, the firm will directly sell butadiene, benzene, and other petrochemical products to China, Korea and other Asian countries.