BP Strengthens Asian PTA Presence

08-May-2003

BP announced today that it has increased its interests in its Taiwanese and Korean PTA * joint ventures. BP now owns 59.02 per cent of China American Petrochemical Company in Taiwan and 47.41 per cent of Samsung Petrochemical Company in Korea. As a result of the two deals, BP's equity PTA* capacity in Asia has increased by 14 per cent to around three million tonnes a year.

Steve Welch, BP group vice-president, petrochemicals, said: "PTA* is one of BP's core petrochemical products. These acquisitions significantly reinforce our PTA* business in the important fast-growing Asian market."

Sue Rataj, Business Unit Leader, PTA Asia, added: "These acquisitions underscore BP's commitment to our PTA business in Asia and in particular to SPC and CAPCO. These companies were two of the first PTA producers in Asia and are among the largest PTA producers in the world. CAPCO and SPC run first class operations. We look forward to an exciting future and closer connections with the two companies."

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CAPCO is the largest producer of PTA in Asia operating six production units with a total capacity of 2.1 million tonnes per annum. BP acquired the incremental 9.02 per cent interest in CAPCO from Central Investment Holding Company (CIHC). As a result, BP now controls 59.02 per cent of the equity in CAPCO while Chinese Petroleum Corporation and CIHC retain 25.00 per cent and 15.98 per cent respectively.

SPC is the third largest producer of PTA in Asia operating four PTA units in Korea to produce a total of 1.4 million tonnes per annum. BP and SPC recently completed a number of transactions with minority shareholders of SPC increasing BP's ownership of SPC from 35 per cent to 47.41 per cent. BP's ownership of SPC is now equal with Samsung's.

* PTA is a key feedstock for the production of polyester. The main uses for polyester include clothing, textiles, home furnishings, industrial applications, PET bottles and food packaging.

* Production recently started from two new PTA units in Asia. In January, BP Zhuhai successfully commissioned a 350,000 tonnes a year unit in southern China. In April, CAPCO started producing from its new 700,000 tonnes a year unit in Taiwan.

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