Kraton quits Taiwan SEBS venture: plans to go it alone

ERJ staff report (DS)

Houston, Texas - Kraton Performance Polymers has said it will build a stand-alone plant to make SEBS and other materials in Asia. At the same time, Kraton said it is withdrawing from a joint venture in the region which was to have built a similar plant.

Kraton said a previously announced Framework Agreement between the company and Formosa Petrochemical Corporation ("FPCC") expired on September 30, 2012. The expired agreement had governed the formation of a proposed 50/50 joint venture to build, own and operate a 30 kiloton HSBC (Hydrogenated styrenic block copoymer) plant at FPCC's petrochemical site in Mailiao, Taiwan.

Kraton said progress on the HSBC joint venture project had been significantly delayed while FPCC waited initially for environmental permit approval, and subsequently while FPCC sought resolution regarding conditions on which the permit was finally approved in July, 2012. FPCC considered the conditions to be too restrictive and limiting on its overall operation in Mailiao, Taiwan.

”we are pleased to announce we are moving forward with a stand-alone HSBC expansion project in the Asia Pacific region," said Kevin M. Fogarty, Kraton's President and Chief Executive Officer. The company was unable to say where the unit would be located, or when it might come on stream, but said, “We believe a significant amount of the engineering and design work conducted to date will be applicable to the alternate location.”

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Press release from Kraton