Indonesia’s petrochemical industry is set to receive USD 20 bn (about EUR 14 bn) in investments, the German foreign trade and inward investment agency Germany Trade and Invest (gtai, Berlin / Germany; www.gtai.de) reports, adding that the drive for petrochemical feedstocks is linked to the processing industry’s increasing demand for plastics. Referring to data published by the Indonesian Aromatics, Olefins and Plastics Industry Association (INAplas; www.inaplas.org), gtai says many large projects are in the pipeline and will be realised soon.

PE and PP manufacturer PT Chandra Asri (Ciwandan-Cilegon, Banten Province; www.chandra.asri.com) is said to be planning to invest USD 2.3 bn in its facilities, with about USD 1 bn earmarked for the construction of a new naphtha cracker whose nameplate capacity remains unclear. The company’s current capacity stands at about 525,000 t/y of ethylene, 480,000 t/y of PP and 320,000 t/y of PE. Other important mid-stream producers include PT Polychem Indonesia (Tangerang, Banten Province; www.polychemindo.com) at 300,000 t/y of PE, and PT Titan Petrokimia Nusantara (Merak, Banten Province; www.titangroup.com), with a nameplate capacity of 450,000 t/y of PE.

As far as downstream activities are concerned, gtai’s report says PT Bakrie Energy International aims to invest USD 300m into the manufacture of liquified petroleum gas, chemical fertilisers and ammoniak. The Bakrie Group (Jeddah / Saudi Arabia; www.bakrienergy.com) subsidiary reportedly is on the lookout for suitable production sites. PT Tri Polyta Indonesia (Jakarta; www.tripolyta.com), Indonesia’s largest PP resin manufacturer, intends to invest about EUR 25m to increase capacity by 30% to 480,000 t/y. The company’s new plant in Cilegon (Banten Province) is supposed to go on stream in 2011. PT Tri Polyta currently controls about 40% of Indonesia’s PP market.

Other players are expanding their PP activities as well. By mid-2010, PT Polytama Propindo wants to up capacity from its current 286,000 t/y to 436,000 t/y. In Balongan, the state-owned petroleum company PT Pertamina currently is building a 250,000 t/y PP plant, expected to go on stream in 2012. What’s more, PT Trans Pacific Petrochemical is planning a 300,000 t/y PP plant in Tuban, set to begin operations in 2013.

From 1999 to 2008, Indonesia’s PP consumption grew by about 5.6% each year. INAplast believes the country’s PP capacities will reach 1.1m t/y in 2011. In 2015, the group forecasts this will have reached 1.5m t/y, an increase of 130% over the 655,000 t/y produced in 2008. In neighbouring Singapore, ExxonMobil (Baytown, Texas / USA; www.exxonmobilchemical.com) currently is building the island state’s largest integrated petrochemical complex, scheduled to begin operations this year. The site will be able to produce 1m t/y of ethylene, 1.3m t/y of PE and 450,000 t/y of PP.