Braskem (São Paulo / Brazil; www.braskem.com.br) and Peru’s state-owned Petroperu (Lima; www.petroperu.com.pe) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to analyse the feasibility of an integrated ethylene and PE project in Peru. The complex would produce 1.2m t/y of ethylene and PE, using ethane from the natural gas reserves located in Las Malvinas region, Braskem said.

Braskem and Petroperu are reviving the project, which was originally announced in 2008 but was later put on hold – see Plasteurope.com of 08.01.2010. Braskem said the project would form part of the Integrated Southern Project, which includes the construction of both the Southern Andean Gas Pipeline by Kuntur and a petrochemical complex in the south of Peru.
“The project’s great advantage lies in its strategic location on the Pacific coast and in its capacity to serve not only the Peruvian market, but also other countries in the Andean region,” it added. The complex is expected to be located in Ilo in the south of Peru.

Braskem has successively increased its global activities, acquiring assets in the US and neighbouring Latin American States including Colombia and Mexico (see Plasteurope.com of 16.11.2011).