$5.4 bln southern Vietnam petrochemicals complex begins commercial operations

The $5.4 billion Long Son Petrochemicals Complex (LSP) in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province has begun commercial operations, Thailand’s Siam Cement Group (SCG), the project investor, announced Monday.

LSP CEO Kulachet Dharachandra said the complex entering commercial operations would boost long-term growth and competitiveness of the petrochemicals and plastics sectors in Vietnam.

LSP will enhance its competitiveness and flexible production by diversifying its material inputs. LSP will utilize ethane as an input material, in addition to the current sources of naphtha and propane, the executive added. Using ethane can reduce carbon emission, he noted.

SCG Chemicals Public Company Limited (SCGC), a subsidiary of SCG, started land preparation for the Long Son Petrochemicals Complex in 2018, started up all utilities in 2022, and conducted a full complex test run in December 2023.

In March, it said the complex had recorded an “unexpected technical difficulty” during the whole complex test run. This prompted the firm to announce a deferment to the official launch of commercial operations from August to October.

At full capacity, the complex’s annual output will include 1.4 million tons of polyethylene and polypropylene.

SCG also highlighted the high potential of the Vietnamese market at 3.5 million metric tons annually (MTA), higher than the complex’s capacity of 1.4 MTA. The facility’s existing capacity is less than one MTA, it said.