Kazakh investor for $1bn Mogilevkhimvolokno project
Belneftekhim and its subordinate organizations have put together a government program for the development of the national petrochemical industry till 2015 and till 2020. The program is supposed to be discussed and approved by the Council of Ministers Presidium in December 2012.
In particular, the program provides for implementing a $1 billion project at OAO Mogilevkhimvolokno in association with the Kazakh company KazMunayGas. An agreement on cooperation with KazMunayGas was reached during the visit of Prime Minister of Belarus Mr Mikhail Myasnikovich to Kazakhstan in November 2012, BelTA reports.
The project will include a complex to make terephthalic acid out of Kazakh paraxylene. Terephthalic acid will then be processed by OAO Mogilevkhimvolokno to make polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and after that polyester fiber. In comparison with the present technology that uses dimethyl terephthalate to make PET the new complex will be much more effective as far as energy costs involved in the manufacturing process are concerned. Mogilevkhimvolokno will build a new complex able to make about 600,000 tonnes of polyester fiber per annum. The company plans to export about half of it.
The Belneftekhim Press Secretary said that the Kazakh side is now busy with pre-investment preparations relating to the analysis of the project. The program provides for finishing the project in 2020, said the source.
The Belarusian state petrochemical concern Belneftekhim unites over 60 corporations. It accounts for over 30% of Belarus' industrial output. Belneftekhim enterprises manufacture over 500 kinds of petrochemical and chemical products. About 70% of the output is exported to over 100 countries across the globe.
