Winning a FEED Contract from INEOS
SK Engineering & Construction (SK E&C) has become the first Korean builder to enter the Western European propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant market by winning a front end engineering design (FEED) project for a PDH plant in Belgium.
SK E&C announced on June 18 that it has signed a FEED contract with INEOS, a global chemical company, for a PDH plant in the Antwerp Petrochemical Complex in Belgium.
PDH is a process for producing propylene by removing hydrogen from propane gas. Produced propylene is mainly polymerized into polypropylene and used as a raw material for packaging film, adhesive tapes, fibers and carpets. Propylene, along with ethylene, is a basic raw material for petrochemical products.
The project is to conduct FEED work for a PDH plant with an annual production capacity of 750,000 tons at the Antwerp Petrochemical Complex, 50 km north of the Belgian capital of Brussels. Antwerp, one of Europe's three major petrochemical centers along with Amsterdam and Rotterdam, is the second largest city in Belgium. SK E&C will carry out the FEED project for about 12 months. The company was also selected as the preferred bidder for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to carry out the mammoth-sized project.
"We expect this FEED contract to lay the groundwork for our penetration into the Western European plant market," said Ahn Jae-hyun, CEO of SK E&C. “Based on this PDH FEED contract, we will strengthen our strategic partnership with INEOS down the road."