W9.26tr project on track to begin commercial production in second half of 2026
S-Oil’s Shaheen project is expected to strengthen Korea’s ailing petrochemical industry upon completion through its strong cost competitiveness and higher energy efficiency, the oil refiner said Monday.
According to S-Oil, the 9.26 trillion won ($6.43 billion) project -- the single largest investment in the history of Korea’s petrochemical sector -- now stands at about 55 percent completion after breaking ground in March 2023. S-Oil said the project is on track to be mechanically completed in the first half of next year.
Once the Shaheen project’s commercial production begins in the second half of 2026, the new plant will be able to produce 1.8 million tons of ethylene, 770,000 tons of propylene, 200,000 tons of butadiene and 280,000 tons of benzene per year.
“Downstream businesses will be able to save transportation costs within the value chain through timely and stable supply of feedstock, which will eventually create a competitive petrochemical industry cluster,” said an S-Oil official.
“This will work in favor of the local economy and national (petrochemical) industry’s competitiveness in the long term.”
As part of the Shaheen project, S-Oil is building a steam cracker; thermal-crude-to-chemicals, or TC2C, facilities; a polymer plant and storage tanks near the oil refiner’s Ulsan Complex in Onsan National Industrial Complex.
S-Oil, which is 63.4 percent owned by Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, noted that the Korean project will debut the actual application of TC2C technology developed by Aramco. According to S-Oil, the new separation and catalyst technology will deliver three to four times higher feedstock petrochemical yield than conventional processes.
S-Oil also emphasized that the Shaheen project features various ways to reduce carbon emissions and save energy, including a 150-megawatt power plant run on a natural gas turbine. The whole electricity generated from the natural gas turbine will be used at the Shaheen project. On top of that, the high temperature gas produced from this power generator will turn into high pressure steam through a heat waste recovery boiler to be used for the plant’s operation.
“Considering the Shaheen project’s new technologies for saving energy and reducing carbon emissions as well as its operation efficiency, we expect it to be an important turning point in strengthening the fundamental competitiveness of the petrochemical industry’s sustainable growth, which has played a pivotal role in the country’s economy,” said the S-Oil official.
hwkan@heraldcorp.com
