Cepsa expects Indonesian chemical JV to start up this year -exec

Golden Agri-Resources

09/05/2016 14:23

ABU DHABI, May 9 (Reuters) - The chemicals unit of Spanish 
energy firm Cepsa expects to start up its Indonesian joint 
venture by the end of this year, with exports due to commence in 
2017, a senior company official said on Monday. 
    Cepsa Quimica is building a plant to produce fatty alcohols 
in Sumatra in a 50/50 joint venture with Golden Agri-Resources 
Ltd (GAR), the world's second-largest palm oil plantation 
company. 
    Fatty alcohols are derived from natural fats and oils and 
are turned into products including detergents, soaps and 
cosmetics. 
    "We are targeting to produce 75 percent of capacity 
initially after commissioning by end of the year but it also 
depends on the markets," Jose Manuel Martinez, chief executive 
of Cepsa Quimica, told Reuters at a petrochemicals event in Abu 
Dhabi. 
    The emirate is home to International Petroleum Investment 
Co. (IPIC), which fully owns Cepsa. 
    When fully operational, capacity at the plant was expected 
to be 160,000 tonnes per annum of fatty alcohols, he said, 
adding it was aiming to export to markets around the world. 
    The chemicals unit of Cepsa, Spain's fourth-largest 
industrial group, accounts for 40 percent of the group's 
revenue. It has manufacturing facilities in Spain, China, Canada 
and Brazil. 
    Cepsa also plans to expand output at its Salvador de Bahia 
facility in Brazil to 260,000 tonnes per annum from the current 
220,000 tpa before end-2016, Martinez added. 
    The Spanish firm has partnered with Brazil's Deten to 
produce at the facility linear alkylbenzene (LAB), which can be 
used in the production of detergents, paints and cosmetics. 
     
 
 (Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Editing by David French and 
David Evans) 
 ((davidj.french@thomsonreuters.com; +971 4 362 5864; Reuters 
Messaging: davidj.french.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: CEPSA CHEMICALS/INDONESIA