PTT Global Chemical

PTTGC is a petrochemical company that specializes in synthesizing olefins and aromatics. It was founded in 2011 and is a subsidiary of PTT Public Company Limited.[1]

It was listed on the top 10 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) for two consecutive years and is ranked 19th on the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies listing.[2]

PTTGC owns and operates production support facilities, such as jetty and buffer tank farm services for liquid chemical, oil and gas. Minor activities are production and distribution of electricity, water, steam and other utilities.[3]

In 2014, PTTGC Netherlands, a subsidiary of PTTGC, acquired part of french oil company Vencorex, totaling their stake in the company to 85%. This acquisition was completed to improve the production of Toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and Hexamethylene diisocyanate, along with their derivatives. These chemicals are used as feed stock in manufacturing polyurethanes, commonly used in foams and coatings for the automobile and construction industries.[4]

The company operates in 8 business areas:

1.      Group Performance Center – Refinery and Shared Facilities

2.      Group Performance Center – Aromatics

3.      Group Performance Center – Olefins

4.      Polymers Business Unit

5.      EO-Based Performance Business Unit

6.      Green Chemicals Business Unit

7.      Phenol Business Unit

8.      Performance Materials & Chemical Business Unit[5]

GROUP PERFORMANCE CENTER-REFINERY & SHARED FACILITIES

As Thailand’s leading refiner and distributor of petroleum products, GC owns and operates a modern complex refinery equipped with hydrocracker and visbreaker units, capable of converting low-value fuel oil to more valuable middle-distillate products. Our average refining capacity stands at 145,000 barrels per day of crude and 135,000 barrels per day of condensate. Additionally, our refining process is flexible, ready to be adjusted to accommodate customer demand and volatility in the market. Below is a summary of our refined products and their usage:[6]

GROUP PERFORMANCE CENTER - AROMATICS

GC produces and distributes aromatics products, namely paraxylene, benzene, orthoxylene, mixed xylene,toluene, and cyclohexane. These products are used as feedstock in various industrial processes.

Aside from these products, GC’s aromatics plants yield multiple by-products, including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), light naphtha, heavy aromatics,and condensate residue. LPG and light naphtha are used as feedstock in our olefins plants, while heavy aromatics and condensate residue are used as feedstock in our refinery to produce jet fuel, diesel, and fuel oil.[7]

GROUP PERFORMANCE CENTER – OLEFINS

Olefins products obtained from GC’s olefins plants mainly consist of ethylene and propylene. The chart below shows the feedstock for the production and their sources, as well as intermediate and downstream products

The olefins plants also yield various by-products, such as pyrolysis gasoline, mixed C4, tail gas, cracker bottom, and hydrogen. GC enriches the values of these by-products through synergy with the refinery and aromatics plants. For example, pyrolysis gasoline is turned into aromatics products; cracker bottom is distilled into petroleum products; hydrogen is used in the refinery as a substitute for hydrogen produced by the Hydrogen Manufacturing Unit (HMU), which otherwise requires a higher production cost; and mixed C4 is turned into butadiene and butene-1 at the by-product value-added plant.[8]

POLYMERS BUSINESS UNIT

Polymers are downstream petrochemicals primarily used as feedstock for everyday plastic products. They are commonly molded into multiple shapes and forms of plastic packaging, such as bags, bottles, containers for food and general goods, lubricant containers, buckets, and crates. Polymers are also used as feedstock for other downstream industries, such as electrical appliances, polyester fibre, fishery, agriculture, and construction.[9]

EO-BASED PERFORMANCE BUSINESS UNIT

To supplement value to current olefins products and satisfy rising demand from the industrial sector and general consumers, GC recognizes the need for high-value products which has not manufactured in Thailand yet. This is not only for import substitution, but also to raise Thailand’s petrochemical competitiveness.[10]

GREEN CHEMICALS BUSINESS UNIT

Green chemicals are products manufactured from natural feedstocks such as palm oil, palm kernel oil, vegetable oil, animal fat, corn, sugar made from sugarcane, and cassava. These products can be used in various downstream industries, such as personal care, pharmaceuticals, food, biochemicals, and bioplastics industries.[11]

PHENOL BUSINESS UNIT

Phenol is used as feedstock for the production of downstream products, such as engineering plastics. These products are in high demand in high-growth industries, including automotive, electrical appliance and electronics, and construction. PTT Phenol Co.ltd is wholly owned (100%) by the PTT Global Chemical Co.ltd. or PTTGC since 2 May 2013. [12]

PERFORMANCE MATERIALS AND CHEMICALS BUSINESS UNIT

Performance materials and chemicals are major components in burgeoning downstream industries, such as the automotive, construction, and engineering plastic industries. In August 2006 PTT PLC became a shareholder of HMC Polymers and in 2017 transferred its share to its chemical flagship PTT Global Chemical Public Company Limited (GC).[13]

The American subsidiary of PTTGC plans to invest US$100 million for detailed engineering design of a world-scale cracker on a site in Mead Township on the west bank of the Ohio River in Belmont County, Ohio. It will take up to one year to determine the feasibility of an ethane cracker in collaboration with two consortiums of engineering firms led by Bechtel Enterprises Holdings Inc and Fluor Corporation, which will conduct the preliminary front-end engineering design work and cost estimates. The construction would require a multibillion-dollar investment. The ethane cracker would process ethane extracted from the region's Marcellus and Utica Shale formations into ethylene, which is a basis for common plastics and resins. PTTGC wants to finalise their investment decision in 2016 or 2017. Should the project go ahead, it would need approximately three and a half years to complete the construction of the ethane cracker facility.[14]

PTTGC wants to reduce external sales and exports of its upstream products, by investing in more of its own downstream plants. The amount of US$1 billion has been allocated for its Map Ta Phut retrofit project in Rayong, which will be converted from using ethane gas to using naphtha instead. Eighty percent of naphta was previously sold to the more innovative Siam Chemicals Group or to export markets. The feedstock conversion will enable PTTGC's olefins factory to produce a wider range of chemicals. PTTGC plans to build its own plants or expand production of products such as polyethylene, ethylene glycols and ethylene oxide, butadiene and polystyrene. PTTCG could produce in collaboration with joint-venture partners polypropylene, acrylic acid, super acrylic polymer, styrene monomer, methyl methacrylate styrene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and styrene-acrylonitrile polymers, solution styrene-butadiene rubber, thermoplastic elastomers, polybutadiene and several polymer compounds.[15]

PTTGC has allocated three percent of its net profit for research and development on high-value products. It wants to increase the revenue from high-value products from currently 4–20 percent of its petrochemical revenue in the next 10 years. PTTGC will set-up a joint venture with one of Thailand's leading sugar producers, to build a bio-plastic industrial estate with an estimated investment of five billion baht (US$143 million). The site will be in central Thailand, to benefit from growing sugarcane, producing sugar, making ethanol, generating electricity from biomass-based power plants and setting up a bio-plastic manufacturing plant in the same area.[16]

Updated 30th March 2020[17]

GC have always pursued businesses with sustainability as commitment to balancing the economy, social and the environment, known as the Drive Sustainability Strategy. GC have ranked in Chemical Sector by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI). [18]Moreover, GC are the only Thai business as a member of United Nations Global Compact at the LEAD level[19]. In addition, GC have won several awards on ESG (Environmental – Social –Governance) by many local and international investors and institutions, including SET Sustainability awards of Honor[20], and MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International).[21]

• PTT Global Chemical
• PTTGC America