The completion date of a PET resin and feedstocks project in Texas has been pushed back to 2023.
"The current construction [cost] estimate is significantly higher than the estimate at the time of completion of acquisition … largely attributable to higher labor costs prevailing in the Gulf Coast region," officials with Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. said in a March 19 filing with the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
Bangkok-based Indorama in 2018 formed Corpus Christi Polymers LLC — a joint venture with Alpek SAB de CV and Far Eastern Investment Ltd. — to acquire the site in Corpus Christ, Texas. M&G Group of Italy had begun construction before filing for bankruptcy. All three partners already produce PET resin at their own sites in North America.
Indorama officials added that the JV's managing board has extended project approval through 2020 "to optimize project construction efficiency in order to build a competitive PTA-PET asset at the site." They also set a 2023 completion date for the project.
Indorama "does not expect to make any additional cash contribution [to the JV] during the year 2020," they said. "The site will be adequately preserved during this period for seamless restart of construction."
The complex was believed to be 80 percent completed when the JV acquired it for $1.125 billion in early 2018. When completed, it is expected to be the largest single line vertically integrated PTA-PET production facility in the world and the largest PTA plant in the Americas.
The site's annual PET production capacity will be 2.4 billion pounds, while its PTA output will be almost 2.9 billion pounds. Under terms of the JV, each of the three partners has the right to receive one-third of the capacity of PTA and PET produced at the Corpus Christi plant. Each also will independently sell and distribute those materials.