Argentina’s petrochemicals production capacity is expected to remain flat at 4.316m t/y over the next four years to 2016, says market research company GlobalData (London / UK; www.globaldata.com). The capacity has remained at this level since 2010, when expansions in the vinyls and styrenics segments added 42,000 t in output. The vinyls capacity was raised by 40,000 t/y to 491,000 t/y and the capacity for styrene and its derivatives was raised by 2,000 t/y to 267,000 t/y.

Argentina also has the capacity to produce 2.102m t/y of olefins and derivatives, 838,000 t/y of aromatics and derivatives and 618,000 t/y of methanol and derivatives, GlobalData says in a new report, “Argentina petrochemicals industry, 2000-2016”.

The main petrochemicals producers are Dow Chemical (Midland, Michigan / USA; www.dow.com), Repsol (Madrid / Spain; www.repsol.com), Petrobras Argentina (www.petrobras.com.ar), Solvay (Brussels / Belgium; www.solvay.com) and Mexico’s Alfa (www.alfa.com.mx), which together accounted for more than 80% of Argentina’s petrochemicals capacity in 2011, the report found. The figures are corroborated by Plasteurope.com's Polyglobe capacity database (www.polyglobe.net).

Argentina’s main petrochemicals production complex is located in Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires state, where Dow operates a cracker and PE complex. Polyglobe shows that this site alone can turn out more than 1.6m t/y of feedstocks and polymers. Dow revealed plans earlier this month to invest ARS 67m (EUR 10.7m) to upgrade its Bahia Blanca cracker and PE operations. The upgrade, which will not raise capacity, is expected to be completed in Q3 2013. The country’s main vinyls production, which is operated by Solvay, is also located in Bahia Blanca.

Major producers of styrene and its derivatives include Petrobras Argentina, which has plants in Puerto General San Martin in Santa Fe province and in Zarate in Buenos Aires, and BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com), which has a plant in General Lagos in Santa Fe, GlobalData said. Polyglobe data show the German chemical giant can turn out 14,000 t/y of EPS at the site.

For more information, see "Argentina Petrochemicals Industry Outlook to 2016 - Market Size, Company Share, Price Trends and Capacity Forecasts", GlobalData 2012, Contact: Kevin McHugh, Tel: +44 (0) 1204 543528 or e-mail kmchugh@globaldata.com