PET resins specialist M&G Chemicals (Luxembourg; www.mg-chemicals.com) is to increase capacity at its Corpus Christi, Texas / USA facility by over 100,000 t/y of PET, bringing its total output at the site to more than 1.1m t/y. PTA production will increase by the corresponding amount. The original capacity plan for the Corpus Christi facility was 1m t/y of PET and 1.2m t/y of PTA, parent company M&G Group (M&G, Tortona / Italy; www.gruppomg.com) said.

The expansion is currently under construction and is scheduled to come on stream in the second half of 2016. The PET part of the facility is on schedule, but delays in the supply of critical equipment for the PTA expansion are presently being assessed. M&G said it is working on back-up plans to ensure no impact on PET start-up.

M&G Chemicals CEO Marco Ghisolfi said: “We strongly believe in our Corpus Christi project, which is the most advanced ever in this industry. We decided to increase our investment in order to make it even more efficient. Most of the increased capacity has already been committed in the market. A portion of the capacity will also be used to displace our current imports from Mexico.”