Idemitsu Kosan-Mitsui Chem’s Japan cracker merger moves to FEED phase

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Japanese producers Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsui Chemicals on Wednesday said that they are moving to the front-end engineering and design (FEED) stage of a plan to consolidate their ethylene facilities in Chiba into a single unit.

The two companies have completed the feasibility study for the project announced in late March, they said in a statement.

Under the plan, Idemitsu’s 413,000 tonne/year ethylene facility in Chiba will be closed, with operations to be combined with Mitsui’s plant.

Mitsui Chemicals has a bigger cracker with an ethylene capacity of 612,000 tonnes/year at the site.

The two companies plan to complete the consolidation project by fiscal year 2027, which ends on 31 March 2028.

The two plants are operated by their 50:50 joint venture company Chiba Chemicals, which was established in 2010.

“The feasibility study examined the impact of consolidating the ethylene facilities on feedstock procurement, as well as on the production and supply setup for the products involved,” they said.

“As the two companies reached the conclusion that consolidation will be feasible, they have agreed to move on to the FEED phase.”

The FEED phase typically involves scrutinizing a project’s challenges, risks, costs and the like in greater detail, and determining the basic specifications of the plant.