Riyadh – Mubasher: Advanced Petrochemical Co on Sunday announced it has signed a joint venture (JV) agreement between SK Advanced Company Ltd and PolyMirae Company Ltd to set up a polypropylene plant in South Korea with a production capacity of 400,000 metric tonnes per annum.

It is worth noting that SK Advanced is a joint venture company in South Korea, in which Advanced Petrochemical holds a 30% stake through Advanced Global Investment Company along with SK Gas and Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC).

Meanwhile, PolyMirae, a leading South Korean specialty Polypropylene producer, is a 50:50 joint venture between LyondellBasell and Daelim.

The estimated total investment will reach around $420 million that would be financed with 60% debt and 40% equity, Advanced Petrochemical said in a filing to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

The Saudi petrochemical company would own a 49.99% stake in the new joint venture, according to the filing.

The new joint venture is projected to commence construction of the plant in January 2019, and to begin commercial operations from 2021.

SK Advanced will supply the joint venture with Propylene on a long-term basis, the Tadawul-listed company noted.

SK Advanced operates a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant in South Korea since 2016 with a production capacity of 600,000 metric tonnes per annum of Propylene, while PolyMirae currently operates four PP Spheripol production lines in South Korea with a total capacity of 700,000 metric tonnes per annum.