SCG aims to fire up $5.4 bln Long Son Petrochemicals Complex in August

The $5.4 billion Long Son Petrochemicals Complex (LSP) in Vietnam’s southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau is set to restart activities in July-August for a final test run before commencing commercial operations in August.

Thailand’s The Siam Cement Group (SCG), the parent company of project investor SCG Chemicals Public Company Limited (SCGC), revealed the information in its first quarter performance review.

SCG also noted that the project safely and successfully completed its first test run in January-February, before it was shut down in March-June due to technical issues.

In March, SCG said that Long Son Petrochemicals Complex’s downstream plants for high-density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polypropylene (PP) and utilities had already passed inspections in December 2023.

However, a test run for the whole facility, which includes the olefins downstream and upstream plants, uncovered "an expected technical difficulty which is currently under investigation", 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. At full capacity, its annual output will include 1.4 million tons of polyethylene and polypropylene. The complex’s feedstocks include propane and naphtha.

Reviewing sales in Q1/2024, SCG said it recorded global revenue of $3.4 billion, down 3% year-on-year.

Regarding markets, Thailand, its home market, accounted for 56% of the total. Outside Thailand, ASEAN held the second-highest portion with THB32.4 billion ($882.8 million), or 26% of the total. Within ASEAN, Vietnam had the biggest slice of the pie with THB12 billion, SCG added.