$5.4 bln southern Vietnam petrochemicals complex to begin commercial operations next month

Thailand’s Siam Cement Group (SCG) says “whole complex restart and test runs” are being conducted at the $5.4 billion Long Son Petrochemicals Complex (LSP) in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province towards beginning commercial operations next month.

SCG, parent company of project investor SCG Chemicals Public Company Limited (SCGC), revealed the information in a recent report.

The October start marks a delay of two months from the previous target of August.

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

The SCG report 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.

It also emphasized Vietnam’s market attractiveness, citing growing foreign direct investment (FDI), per capita GDP and rapid urbanization. Vietnam’s economy can reach a growth of 6.9% annually, driven by the manufacturing and service sectors, SCG added.

SCGC 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.