Page 24 - Plastics News June 2017

COMPANY NEWS

Borealis to build dedicated ExxonMobil anno unces

automotive compounding plant completion of 2 new high
in North America performance PE plants at Texas

orealis has decided to build a dedicated automotive xxon Mobil Chemical Company announced the
Bpolypropylene (PP) compounding plant in Taylorsville, Emechanical completion of two new 650,000 tpa high
Alexander County, North Carolina. This decision performance polyethylene lines at its plastics plant in
demonstrates the continuing commitment of Borealis to the Mont Belvieu, Texas. The company expects production
global automotive to begin in Q3-2017. The finished polyethylene product
industry. Together will be shipped to customers around the world. Part of
with B o r o uge, a previously announced multi-billion dollar expansion
a joint venture project in the Baytown area, the polyethylene lines
between Borealis will process ethylene feedstock from the new steam
a n d t h e Abu cracker currently under construction at the Baytown
Dhabi National complex. “As an early mover to complete a polyethylene
Oi l C omp a n y project fueled by the shale gas revolution, this world-
(ADNOC), we are scale, state-of-the-art facility will double the plant’s
increasingly well production capacity, making it one of the largest
positioned to serve polyethylene plants in the world,” said Neil Chapman,
our automotive president of Exxon Mobil Chemical Company. The
customers on a Baytown expansion project is one of 11 Exxon Mobil
global basis. North Carolina has been selected for announced as part of its 10-year, US$20 bln Growing
its strategic location and proximity to the company's the Gulf initiative. Projects planned or under way are
customer base, as well as for the business-friendly and expected to create more than 35,000 construction
supporting environment of the State and the County. The jobs and more than 12,000 full-time jobs. This project
new facility will help to secure the position of Borealis facilitates ExxonMobil Chemical to economically deliver
as a local supplier to automotive OEMs and their Tier
partners in North America and serves to strengthen our
leading position in Europe, Brazil and China. With this
investment, Borealis will step up its capacity, capabilities
and support infrastructure, ensuring that its customers in
North America receive the same high level of service as in
the other regions. "We are very excited to be expanding
our automotive business in North America and look
forward to working more closely with our customers in the
region to deliver our global material innovations locally,"
says Ken Wiecoreck, President of Borealis Compounds
Inc. The North Carolina plant is scheduled to become
commercially operational in early 2019 and will initially
produce PP compounds in the Daplen™ family of PP a rapidly growing demand for high-value polyethylene
thermoplastic olefins (TPO) and in the Fibremod™ range products. These high-performance products provide
of PP short glass fibre (SGF) reinforced materials. The sustainability benefits such as lighter packaging weight,
plant will complement the existing Borealis Automotive lower energy consumption and reduced emissions. The
Compounding assets located in New Jersey, as well as the finished polyethylene product will be distributed to
current production via tolling partners. customers worldwide.

Plastics News | June 2017 24