Energy and petrochemicals group MOL (Budapest; https://molgroup.info/en) said it has laid the cornerstone for its new HUF 65 bn (about EUR 175 mn) propylene plant at its domestic site in Tiszaújváros.

The greenfield facility, due to start up in 2024, is to have a capacity of 100,000 t/y, which MOL said would cover a quarter of its material requirements for three of its product lines. The Hungarian government is supporting the project to the tune of HUF 5 bn.

The plant is to feed the company’s 200,000 t/y polyols complex under construction at the site. Altogether, the group said it is investing some USD 4.5 bn (EUR 4 bn) in its strategy to turn Tiszaújváros into the premier chemicals capital of the region and reduce the share of non-fuel products in its portfolio.

Over the past five to ten years, MOL said it has turned the Hungarian location into a “unique chemicals centre” with a new butadiene plant operated by subsidiary Tiszai Vegi Kombinat (TVK) and a synthetic rubber plant (see Plasteurope.com of 16.11.2019).

The EUR 1.3 bn polyols facility is MOL’s largest industrial investment of the last 30 years. Start-up was initially slated for 2020, but it was delayed by the pandemic. Now the plant is expected to begin operations in H2 2022 (see Plasteurope.com of 18.03.2021).

“With the construction of the propylene plant, MOL has reached an important milestone on the road of chemical transformation and energy transition,” CEO Zsolt Hernádi said. He noted that the modernisation of the company’s Olefin-1 plant is also “progressing well.”