Joint venture partners Braskem SA of São Paulo and Mexico City's Idesa SA de CV say their $4.5 billion Ethylene XXI complex, under construction on Mexico's Gulf Coast, is 93 percent complete.
Braskem Idesa emailed a series of photographs May 11 showing progress at the 494-acre facility in the municipality of Nanchital, half a mile from Coatzacoalcos where much of Mexico's petrochemicals industry is concentrated.
It said pre-commissioning testing started in the first quarter. The complex is scheduled to go on stream late in 2015. Braskem's share of the venture is 75 percent, with Idesa owning the remaining 25 percent.
The complex includes an ethane cracker whose output will be 1.05 million metric tons of ethylene a year. Two polymerization plants will have a combined annual capacity of 750,000 metric tons of high density polyethylene. A third polymerization plant will produce 300,000 metric tons of low density PE annually.
Petrochemical complexes nearby include Pajaritos, Cosoleacaque, Morelos and Cangrejera.