BP agrees third latest generation PTA licence with Ningxia Baota
BP and Ningxia Baota Chemical Fibre Co., Ltd. (a majority owned subsidiary of Baota Petrochemical Group) have signed an agreement to license BP’s latest generation purified terephthalic acid (PTA) technology, the third such deal agreed by BP. Ningxia Baota intends to build a 1.2 million tonnes per annum (tpa) unit at the Ningxia Ningdong Energy and Chemical Zone in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, to produce PTA, the primary feedstock for polyesters used in the textile and packaging industry. Baota expects the PTA plant to come on stream in 2018.
“This is the first third-party PTA licence for BP in China since our recent decision to license the use of our market-leading technology. Baota is a renowned petrochemical company in China and I’m proud that they’ve chosen BP’s advantaged technology,” said Rita Griffin, Chief Operating Officer of BP’s Global Petrochemicals Business. “We have now licensed this latest PTA technology in India, Oman and China – three significant growth markets – and have our own world-scale plant running at Zhuhai in Guangdong, China. We see great potential long-term in the polyester supply chain.”
“Our PTA technology has significantly lower capital and operating costs relative to conventional PTA plants. The technology is substantially more energy efficient, uses less water, and produces less solid waste. We continue to invest heavily in our proprietary technology to maintain BP’s PTA technology as the global leader and as the technology of choice for the future. Innovations are constantly being developed and these will be available to our licensees including Baota.” said Dan Leonardi, BP’s Vice-President for Technology & Licensing, Petrochemicals.
Mr. Gao Guozheng, Chairman of Ningxia Baota Chemical Fibre Co., Ltd. and Chief Executive of Baota Petrochemical Group, Ningxia Region said: “This investment is highly strategic for us, fulfilling the local requirements for PTA at the lowest possible cost and contributing to the economic development in Ningxia region. We appreciate the quality of BP PTA technology and look forward to a long term successful cooperation with BP.
Further information:
BP Press Office, London, +44 (0)207 496 4076, bppress@bp.com
BP Press Office, China, +86 (0)10 6589 3878, bpchinapress@bp.com
Notes to editors
BP
BP’s Global Petrochemicals Business has total (net to BP) capacity at 18 locations in ten countries of 18.3 million tpa including 6.7 million tpa of PTA.
BP is one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, serving millions of customers every day in around 80 countries, and employing around 85,000 people. BP’s business segments are Upstream (oil and gas exploration & production), and Downstream (refining & marketing). Through these activities, BP provides fuel for transportation; energy for heat and light; services for motorists; and petrochemicals products for plastics, textiles and food packaging. It has strong positions in many of the world's hydrocarbon basins and strong market positions in key economies.
BP’s PTA technology was originally developed in the USA during the 1950s and through successive iterations has continued to improve in terms of its capital and operating costs. BP’s latest iteration of PTA technology has been licensed to JBF Industries in India with 1.25 million tpa capacity and to Oman International Petrochemical Industries Company in Oman with 1.1 million tpa capacity. It is also in use at the BP Zhuhai joint venture in China whose latest facility of 1.25 million tpa capacity started production in Q1 2015.
Baota Petrochemical Group
Baota is a private company engaged in refinery, petrochemical, finance, education and technology. Baota Petrochemical Group Co., Ltd. is the core parent company of Baota, which owns six second-level parent companies, one listed company and one fund management company and its 148 affiliated subsidiaries. Baota has developed five petrochemical production bases in China, such as Yinchuan, Ningxia autonomous region, Zhuhai, Guangdong province and Kuishan, Xinjiang province. The Group owns a total of 20 billion yuan in assets and has 12,000 employees. It has also been ranked 6th among the Top 100 Enterprises in Ningxia autonomous region and 39th among China Top 500 chemical enterprises.
For more information, please refer to: http://www.nxbtsh.com/.
Cautionary statement
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning BP’s expectations regarding the licensing agreement signed between BP and Ningxia Baota Chemical Fibre Co., Ltd. (Baota) concerning BP’s latest generation purified terephthalic acid (PTA) technology, including Baota’s intentions and expectations regarding the construction of a new unit and the estimated completion time thereof; BP’s plans and expectations regarding, knowledge transfer services and the development of Baota staff; BP’s expectations that BP’s PTA technology will maintain its position as a global leader and as the technology of choice for the future; and that BP will continue to develop and implement innovations such technology; and Baota’s expectations that the license will contribute to the creation of the most competitive polyester value chain in the Ningxia, China. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will or may occur in the future. Actual results may differ from those expressed in such statements, depending on a variety of factors including changes in public expectations and other changes to business conditions; the receipt of relevant third-party and or regulatory approvals; future levels of industry product supply; demand and pricing; economic and financial conditions generally or in various countries and regions; the timing and nature of maintenance outages; operational problems; political stability and economic growth in relevant areas of the world; changes in laws and governmental regulations; regulatory or legal actions; the actions of competitors, trading partners and others; natural disasters and adverse weather conditions; wars and acts of terrorism, cyber-attacks or sabotage; and other factors discussed under "Risk factors" in our Annual Report and Form 20-F 2014 as filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
