Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. is buying British Petroleum plc's massive petrochemical complex in Decatur, Ala.
The 1,000-acre site include more than 2 billion pounds of annual production capacity for purified terephthalic acid and paraxylene — both feedstocks used in the production of PET bottle resin. The site also makes specialty plastic feedstock naphthalene dicarboxylate (NDC).
No purchase price was disclosed in a Jan. 6 news release from the Houston office of London-based BP. Officials said in the release that the sale “is in line with BP's global petrochemicals strategy of pursuing a competitively advantaged portfolio.”
The Decatur site marked its 50th anniversary in 2015. BP acquired the site when it merger with Amoco in 1998. Even as it divests in Decatur, BP is spending $200 million on improvements at PTA production sites in Cooper River, S.C., and Geel, Belgium.
Bangkok-based Indorama already is building a major PET plant in Decatur through its AlphaPet unit. That plant will have annual production capacity of 1.2 billion pounds. The firm ranks as one of North America's largest PET makers.
In late 2015, Indorama announced plans to restart a dormant ethane cracker that it had acquired in Carlyss, La. That unit — with 815 million pounds of annual ethylene capacity and 70 million pounds of annual propylene capacity — is set to open before the end of 2017.