MHI Receives Order for Large-scale PTA Plant from PKN ORLEN, Poland's Largest Oil Refining and Petrochemical Company

The plant on order will be built in Wloclawek, roughly 160 kilometers west-northwest of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. The new plant will employ Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation's proprietary processing method for PTA production. In addition to supplying the major equipment, MHI will provide detailed engineering, equipment procurement and on-site supervision of installation.

PKN ORLEN, a private-sector corporation, is one of the biggest companies in the central part of Europe that handles oil refining and petrochemicals. In addition to production and marketing of plastics and asphalt, the company operates about 2,000 petrol stations in Poland where it sells gasoline, diesel fuel, LPG and antifreeze fluid for automobiles.

PTA is a chemical used in making polyester resins and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles. In Poland, PTA demand for use in PET bottles has been increasing sharply in tandem with the country's economic growth brought on by its accession to the European Union (EU). The PTA plant construction project is aimed at responding to this robust demand.

To date, MHI has received two orders for 350,000 ton/year PTA plants - one from MCC PTA India Corporation Private Limited of India in 1997 (completed in 1999) and one from Shahid Tondgooian Petrochemical Company of Iran in 2000 (completed in 2006) - and one order for a 600,000 ton/year PTA plant for Ningbo Mitsubishi Chemical Co., Ltd. of China in 2004 (completed in 2006). All of these plants have employed Mitsubishi Chemical's processing method. MHI believes its technical expertise and the positive delivery track record of these plants contributed to the award of the latest order from Poland. Buoyed by the new order, MHI now aims to further strengthen its marketing activities for PTA plant projects.