S Korea’s S-Oil Shaheen project 55% complete; to start commercial ops in H2 ’26

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–S-Oil’s Shaheen crude-to-chemical project in Ulsan, South Korea is now 55% complete and is expected to start commercial operations in the second half 2026, the producer said on Monday.

Construction of the $7bn project at the Onsan Industrial Complex of Ulsan City started in March 2023, with mechanical completion targeted by the first half of 2026.

South Korean refiner S-Oil is 63%-owned by Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest crude exporter.

The Shaheen project – named after the Arabic word for “falcon” – will have a 1.8 million tonne/year mixed-feed cracking facility; an 880,000 tonne/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit; and a 440,000 tonne/year high density PE (HDPE) plant.

The site will have a thermal crude-to-chemical (TC2C) facility, which will convert crude directly into petrochemical feedstocks such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and naphtha, and the cracker is expected to recycle waste heat for power generation in the refinery.

The company currently produces a range of petrochemicals and fuels including benzene, mixed xylenes, ethylene, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), paraxylene, polypropylene, propylene, propylene oxide, biodiesel, and potentially bio-based aviation and other bio-derived products at its Onsan site.

S-Oil plans to supply feedstock to domestic petrochemical downstream companies mainly through pipelines.

“To this end, the construction of logistics-related infrastructure, such as a new pipeline network, is being carried out at the same time,” it said.

Long-term agreements for stable supply of raw materials are being signed between S-Oil and petrochemical companies located at the two industrial complexes in Ulsan, which would boost competitiveness of domestic value chain, the company said.