Amoco to build PTA plant

Amoco to build PTA plant

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): U.S.-based Amoco Corp is investing 1.2 billion ringgit (US$480 million) to build its biggest purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant to manufacture the raw material for polyester here, a report said yesterday.

Amoco Chemical (M) Sdn. Bhd., the local wholly-owned unit of Amoco, said the plant would form the petrochemical giant's international base for PTA production.

"It will also provide us with the platform for further expansion in terms of plants and product line in the future," Amoco Chemical's managing director Woodrow Garmon told the Star daily.

The plant, located at Gebeng industrial estate in central Pahang state, was already 65-percent completed and was scheduled to begin operations in the middle of next year, Garmon said.

"About half of the production will be sold in Malaysia," he said, with the rest to be exported.

Amoco Corp has more than $28 billion in worldwide assets with plants in the United States, Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Taiwan and South Korea, officials said.

Another plant in Indonesia is currently under construction.