Hanwha Total Expands with US Shale Feedstock

A 50-50% joint venture between Total and Hanwha is to invest nearly $500mn to expand a petrochemical plant further so as to run more feedstock resulting from the US shale gas glut.

Hanwha Total Petrochemical will expand its Daesan complex in South Korea (see banner photo above, courtesy of Total) to increase polypropylene capacity by close to 60% to 1.1mn metric tons per year by the end of 2020 and to increase ethylene capacity by 10% to 1.5mn mt/yr, Total said December 3. The joint venture is already implementing $750mn of investments to boost production capacities there by 50% for polyethylene to 1.1mn mt/yr, and by 30% for ethylene to 1.4mn mt/yr, by end-2019.

"All these investments are designed to take advantage of competitively-priced propane feedstock, which is abundantly available due to the shale gas revolution in the US," said Total. 

The Hanwha Group, founded 1952, is a South Korean conglomerate spanning the manufacturing, construction, finance, and service sectors.  

Propane is one of the Liquid Petroleum Gases (LPGs) often found in natural gas production, but LPGs trade as a separate commodity from natural gas. Ethane is also found in natural gas production well-streams, typically in proportions of between 1% and 6% by content.