Market and product

BANGKOK (March 2, 8:55 a.m. ET) -- Petroleum Authority of Thailand plc said the Supreme Administrative Court has allowed construction to proceed at two of its projects in the Map Ta Phu industrial zone, but 15 others were still suspended. The court has released two projects, a PTT spokeswoman said.

These are the 150,000 metric ton per year bisphenol A plant and its further detailed engineering adjustment work.

A three to four month delay is expected in completing the BPA plant which was originally scheduled for completion by the third quarter of this year, the spokeswoman said.

BPA is a derivative of phenol and a feedstock of polycarbonate.

The spokeswoman said the two projects would still have to go through various environmental approvals.

PTT’s main projects that cannot start production includes the expansion of a high density polyethylene plant to 300,000 metric tons a year from 250,000 tons per ear. Test run are underway at the completed plant.

Test runs are also under way at PTT’s Bangkok Polyethyelene plc plant, where capacity has been doubled to 500,000 metric tons a year.

PTT’s 1 million metric ton per year ethane cracker is undergoing test runs, while a 400,000 metric ton per year linear low density PE and 300,000 metric ton LDPE plant have been completed.