Published on October 12, 2017

South Korea based Lotte Chemical Corp believes that petrochemical market is likely to get stabilize by year 2020. The major reason behind this is lowering of oil prices in international market. “By 2020, petrochemical markets are likely to be stable to firm as oil prices are expected to remain stable at $60,” Kim said in his first interview since starting as CEO in March. “Given that, the profitability of petrochemical makers with naphtha crackers, like us, is likely to change little.” The petrochemical maker is on track to increase its global ethylene capacity by 40 percent to 4.5 million tonnes per year (tpy) by the end of 2018, expanding its Yeosu plant in South Korea and building an ethane cracker with Axiall in Louisiana. The plant in Louisiana will help the company to diversify away from mainly naphtha as a feedstock at its plants. “Of the expected total capacity of 4.5 million tonnes, if we make 1.5 million tonnes with ethane crackers, it will help us diversify 30 percent of our raw materials to ethane or liquefied petroleum gas,” the chief executive said. “By doing so, we can make stable profits and become a sustainable petrochemical company even if oil prices rise to $100.”