Sasol's new 1.5 million mt/year cracker in Lake Charles, La., is starting up but the new associated 420,000 mt/year low density polyethylene plant will come online four to six weeks later than planned, the company told S&P Global Platts.
The company had planned to start up the LDPE plant next month but it has taken longer than expected to complete the construction, as well as the cleaning and preparation of critical equipment, the company said.
The $12.6-12.8 billion project has experienced lengthy delays and cost increases. The complex also includes six chemical manufacturing plants. Approximately 90 percent of the cracker's ethylene output will be converted into a diverse slate of commodity and high-margin specialty chemicals for markets.
Sasol selected Fluor Technip Integrated as the primary engineering, procurement and construction management contractor.