Total Starts Ethane-Based Petrochemical Production at Antwerp

Total SA’s refining and chemicals platform in Antwerp has started up production of ethylene using ethane feedstock, which is extracted from natural gas and is significantly cheaper than oil-derived feedstock. The investment in Antwerp makes the site more flexible and opens access to the most competitive feedstock, it said.

Total has invested nearly $60 million to revamp one of the platform’s two steam crackers and to adapt the site’s terminal to enable the import of 200,000 tonnes of ethane per year by ship from Norway.

The project optimizes supply by providing flexibility to use either ethane, butane or naphtha as feedstock; advantaged feedstock could therefore account for more than 50 percent of supply. The platform upgrades are expected to be completed in the second half of 2017.

“Antwerp project is part of Total’s strategy of upgrading its major integrated platforms and expanding its petrochemicals business to take advantage of low cost feedstock. The group recently launched two such projects on its giant sites in the United States and South Korea,” said Bernard Pinatel, president, Total refining & chemicals.

Antwerp facility will also construct a new refining complex - to convert larger volumes of heavy fuel oil into light products for which there is growing demand - as well as a unit to process refinery off-gas for use as petrochemical feedstock.

With three production sites, Antwerp facility is an integrated platform for both refining (338,000 barrels per day) and petrochemicals (1.1 million tonnes per year of ethylene). The platform produces products used in a number of consumer and industrial applications, such as packaging and automotive components.