World’s Biggest Naphtha fed Steam Cracker Project Announced in South Korea

S-Oil Corp in South Korea has launched its plan of large-scale petrochemical plant integration with Shaheen refinery on March 9. This collab includes a Naphtha-fed steam cracker, which will be able to manufacture 1.8 MT/year of Ethylene and is likely to be completed by the year 2026.

The plant will increase Naphtha’s demand by 10 million barrels in South Korea as it is going to be the primary feedstock of this massive project. This is largest petrochemical project in the history of the nation was officially launched by S-Oil on March 9. The petrochemical facility, which will manufacture up to 3.2 million mt/year of core petrochemical feedstocks like Ethylene, Propylene, Butadiene, and Benzene from Naphtha, is set to begin commercial operations in 2026, according to the sources from the company.

The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol met in Seoul in November to finalize the Won 9.26 trillion ($7 billion) project, which is the largest investment Saudi Aramco has made in South Korea. Also, the complex will feature a "TC2C facility" that transforms crude oil directly into petrochemical feedstocks like LPG and Naphtha, a polymer factory that creates high-value petrochemical feedstocks for plastics and other synthetic resins, as well as additional structures like storage tanks. The new TC2C facility will raise the supply scenario of Naphtha in the South Korean market.

The fourth-largest crude importer in the world will ultimately rely more heavily on Middle Eastern crude exporters, particularly Saudi Arabia, as South Korean refiners are unlikely to have any interest in Russian crude oil or Naphtha that has been sanctioned. In order to further improve its energy security and contribute to bettering the economics of importing Persian Gulf sour crude, the South Korean government has increased efforts in recent months to deepen diplomatic and economic connections with key Middle Eastern crude producers and this inauguration of this S-Oil’s Naphtha fed complex is a major step towards the goal.