Korean engineering and construction major Hyundai E&C has broken ground on Saudi oil giant Aramco‘s mega petrochemical project in South Korea being set up at an investment of $7 billion.
To be located in Ulsan city, the Shaheen Project will convert crude oil into 3.2 million tonnes per annum of petrochemical feedstock.
The key Aramco facility will feature a steam cracker with a production capacity of 1,800KTA of ethylene, a TC2C facility for converting crude directly into petrochemical feedstock, a polymer facility, and other facilities such as storage tanks, said the statement from Hyundai E&C.
Shaheen is a vital project for the South East Asian country, in which S-Oil has made significant investment of 9.26 trillion won to boost its value-added petrochemical production facilities.
Aramco holds a majority stake of over 63% in S-OIL through its subsidiary Aramco Overseas. Through this mega Korean investment, Aramco is eyeing high value-added petrochemical products such as polyethylene (PE).
The Shaheen petrochemical project will feature a steam cracker with a production capacity of 1,800 kilotons per annum (KTA) of ethylene.
As per the agreement, Hyundai E&C is the project lead and will work along with its key subsidiary Hyundai Engineering (Hyundai ENG), Lotte E&C, and DL E&C on the construction.
To be divided into three packages; Hyundai E&C will carry out Package 1 with Hyundai ENG, DL E&C to build steam cracker and TC2C facilities, while Package 2 involving the installation of HDPE (high-density polyethylene), LLDPE (linear low-density polyethylene) production facilities and automated warehouses will be led by Hyundai ENG and Lotte E&C, and Package 3 for tank construction by Lotte E&C. The project is scheduled for completion in 2026.
