ExxonMobil Chemical's (Baytown, Texas / USA; www.exxonmobil.com) new large-scale cracker at Singapore’s Jurong Island has not only begun producing ethylene, but it has also doubled the steam cracking capacity at the complex, the company announced in a statement issued to the media at the start of June.

In the coming weeks, the mega-petrochemical facility, powered by a 375-megawatt cogeneration plant, will be boosting production at its three polyethylene plants, two polypropylene plants, a specialty metallocene elastomer unit and its expanded oxo-alcohol and aromatics units – see Plasteurope.com from 04.01.2013.

According to the release, the American company completed the facility expansion in December 2012 and, in doing so, also set an industry-leading record in construction safety with more than 83 million hours worked without an injury involving a lost day of work.

According to Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net), the naphtha cracker has nameplate capacity for 1m t/y of ethylene, 500,000 t/y of propylene and 340,000 t/y of benzene, now complements a 990,000 t/y cracker already in operation. In total, the expansion adds 2.6m t/y of finished product to the US petrochemical giant’s portfolio, including its first specialty elastomers and metallocene PE production in Asia Pacific. Two new 650,000 t/y LLDPE lines complement an existing 600,000 t/y LLDPE facility with a new 450,000 t/y PP plant operating alongside an older 400,000 t/y PP line.

“This expansion gives [our company] unparalleled feedstock flexibility in the industry and positions the Singapore petrochemical complex well to serve growth markets from China to the Indian subcontinent and beyond,” said Matthew Aguiar, chairman and managing director or the company’s Asia Pacific oeprations.